Democratic Decentralisation in India: Empowering Local Governance through Constitutional Amendments

Picture a country where governance does not flow from just Delhi or state capitals, but also from village squares, gram sabhas, and ward committees. That is the vision democratic decentralisation tried to realise – and the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments of 1992 were the turning point that made it a constitutional reality. These two amendments redefined how power is distributed, how citizens engage with the state, and how local development is planned and delivered.

What democratic decentralisation really means 🔗

Democratic decentralisation is not just about moving files from a higher desk to a lower one. It is the systematic transfer of political authority, functions, and financial resources from the Union and state governments to elected local bodies. The idea rests on a simple principle: decisions about local life are best made by people who live that life. When decisions happen at the local level, local problems are better understood and solved, and decision-making is no longer confined to distant offices.

The roots of this idea run deep. Ancient village sabhas, Lord Ripon’s 1882 resolution on local self-government, and Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of self-reliant village republics all fed into the thinking. Yet for decades after Independence, panchayats and municipalities remained weak, underfunded, and often suspended by state governments at will. That changed only in the early 1990s.

Why the amendments were needed 🔗

Before 1992, local bodies existed on paper but lacked constitutional backing. Village panchayats operated under varying state laws, elections were often delayed or skipped altogether, and urban municipalities were regularly superseded by state governments. Representation of women, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes was minimal. Autonomy was largely symbolic. Funds, functions, and functionaries remained with higher tiers.

The architects of the reform recognised that a vast and diverse country cannot be governed effectively from the top alone. With the objective of having a more democratic form of governance, the 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts were introduced, and these amendments played a major role in decentralising power by transferring it from central and state governments to local bodies. The 73rd Amendment came into force on 24 April 1993, and the 74th followed on 1 June 1993.

The 73rd Amendment: empowering rural India 🔗

The 73rd Amendment added Part IX to the Constitution, containing Articles 243 to 243-O, and introduced the Eleventh Schedule with 29 subjects that can be devolved to panchayats. It created a uniform three-tier structure: Gram Panchayat at the village level, Panchayat Samiti at the intermediate or block level, and Zila Parishad at the district level. States with populations under twenty lakhs were permitted to skip the intermediate tier.

Core features that changed the game 🔗

Regular elections: Panchayats must be elected every five years, conducted by an independent State Election Commission. This ended the era of indefinite suspensions.

Gram Sabha as the foundation: The Gram Sabha – the assembly of all registered voters in a village – was envisaged as the deliberative heart of the system. It was empowered to conduct social audits and hold elected representatives accountable.

Reservation for marginalised groups: Seats and chairperson positions were reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population, and at least one-third of all seats for women. Many states later pushed this further – over two-thirds of states and two Union Territories with panchayati raj institutions have made provisions for 50% reservation for women.

State Finance Commission: Each state must constitute a Finance Commission every five years to recommend how taxes, duties, and grants should be shared between the state and local bodies.

The 74th Amendment: transforming urban governance 🔗

As cities expanded rapidly in the early 1990s, the 74th Amendment stepped in to give urban local bodies (ULBs) constitutional status. It added Part IX-A with Articles 243-P to 243-ZG, and the Twelfth Schedule listing 18 functional items for municipalities.

Three tiers for three types of urban areas 🔗

The amendment classified urban local bodies based on the character of the settlement. Nagar Panchayats were created for transitional areas moving from rural to urban character; Municipal Councils for smaller urban areas; and Municipal Corporations for larger cities. The classification of an area as transitional, smaller urban, or larger urban is based on population size and density, revenue generated for local administration, percentage of employment in non-agricultural activities, and economic importance, among other factors.

Key provisions at a glance 🔗

Direct elections for ward-level representatives, reservations for SCs, STs, and women, Ward Committees in larger municipalities, a State Election Commission for conducting polls, and Metropolitan and District Planning Committees for integrated development planning – these together created a framework where city governance was no longer at the mercy of state executive whims.

Special provisions for tribal and scheduled areas 🔗

One of the most sensitive questions was how to extend decentralisation to areas governed by the Fifth and Sixth Schedules, where tribal communities follow distinct customary systems. The 73rd Amendment did not automatically apply to Scheduled Areas. Parliament addressed this gap through a separate law.

The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, commonly known as the PESA Act, was enacted on 24 December 1996 to extend the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution to Scheduled Areas, with certain exceptions and modifications. It currently applies to ten states: Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Telangana.

What PESA gives tribal communities 🔗

PESA is often called a “constitution within the Constitution” because it places the Gram Sabha at the centre of tribal self-rule. Reservation of seats for Scheduled Tribes must correspond to their population in the panchayat area, STs are guaranteed at least 50% of the seats, and every chairperson position at all levels of panchayats in these areas must be held by an ST.

Gram Sabhas in these areas have powers that go beyond ordinary panchayats: control over minor forest produce, consultation rights before land acquisition, management of minor water bodies, regulation of local markets, and the authority to approve development plans. State legislation on panchayats in Scheduled Areas must be in consonance with the customary law, social and religious practices, and traditional management practices of community resources.

For the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram, governance is managed through the Sixth Schedule’s Autonomous District Councils and Regional Councils, which have their own legislative and executive powers.

The rise of new grassroots leadership 🔗

Perhaps the most remarkable outcome of these amendments has been the emergence of leadership from sections of society that had been systematically excluded from formal politics. India today has approximately 31 lakh elected representatives in local governments, of whom nearly half – around 14.5 lakh – are women, a scale of representation unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

This is not just a statistical achievement. Women sarpanches and ward councillors have reshaped governance priorities at the grassroots. Women leaders have often reoriented governance priorities toward basic services, social welfare, and community well-being, while simultaneously challenging entrenched gender norms. Dalit and Adivasi representatives, many of whom are first-generation political actors, have used their positions to push for water supply, school infrastructure, health services, and fair access to schemes.

That said, challenges remain. Proxy leadership – where husbands or male relatives effectively run offices held by women – continues to exist. Caste-based discrimination, limited training, and inadequate financial devolution dilute the transformative promise of reservation.

Planning and implementing local development 🔗

Panchayati Raj Institutions and urban local bodies are now responsible for a wide swathe of development work – drinking water, sanitation, primary health, school infrastructure, rural roads, housing for the poor, livelihoods, and welfare schemes for SCs, STs, women, and children. The Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP), prepared with community consultation, is a practical illustration of participatory planning at work. The PESA-GPDP Portal, launched in 2024, facilitates hamlet-wise planning to ensure development aligns with tribal priorities.

Where decentralisation still falls short 🔗

The constitutional framework is strong, but implementation has been uneven. Three recurring problems surface across studies and government reviews.

Incomplete devolution of 3Fs: Functions, funds, and functionaries often remain with state line departments. States need to proactively devolve functions, powers, and responsibilities to local bodies, as mandated by the Constitution, but progress varies sharply from state to state. Kerala and Karnataka have gone further than most, while several states have devolved only a fraction of the listed subjects.

Financial weakness: Most local bodies rely heavily on tied grants and have limited capacity to raise their own revenue. Without fiscal autonomy, political autonomy is limited in practice.

Capacity gaps: Many elected representatives, particularly first-time entrants from marginalised backgrounds, need training, technical support, and mentoring to function effectively. Initiatives like the Sashakt Panchayat-Netri Abhiyan aim to address this, but scaling remains a challenge.

Delayed municipal elections: In several cities, prolonged administrative rule without elected councils continues to weaken urban democracy, raising concerns about accountability and citizen voice.

Why this matters beyond policy 🔗

Democratic decentralisation is not just an administrative arrangement. It is a statement about what kind of democracy the country aspires to be – one where power is not hoarded at the top but shared with the village, the ward, and the neighbourhood. The 73rd and 74th Amendments, along with PESA, built the constitutional scaffolding. Whether that scaffolding supports a genuinely participatory democracy depends on sustained political will, citizen engagement, and the continued strengthening of the third tier.

The story is still unfolding. Every gram sabha that actually meets, every ward committee that genuinely deliberates, and every woman sarpanch who breaks through proxy politics adds a new line to it.

What do you think? If you had to identify one reform that would most strengthen local self-government today, would it be stronger fiscal devolution, better capacity building for elected representatives, or more active citizen participation in gram sabhas and ward committees? And how do you see the role of young people in deepening democratic decentralisation at the grassroots?

References

1. https://decodedpolicy.com/decentralization-and-local-governance-in-india-73rd-74th-amendments-achievements-and-challenges/
2. https://sociology.institute/india-democracy-development/73rd-74th-amendments-indian-local-governance/
3. https://www.drishtijudiciary.com/to-the-point/ttp-constitution-of-india/73rd-and-74th-constitutional-amendment-acts
4. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2112762
5. https://www.ih21.org/aktuality/decentralisation-in-urban-india-beyond-the-73rd-74th-amendments
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PESA_Act
7. https://visionias.in/current-affairs/monthly-magazine/2026-01-28/polity-and-governance/panchayats-extension-to-scheduled-areas-act-1996
8. https://www.nextias.com/blog/pesa-act-1996/
9. https://www.ijllr.com/post/impact-of-women-s-reservation-in-panchayats-transforming-grassroots-democracy-in-india
10. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2207293&reg=3&lang=1
11. https://www.dalvoy.com/en/upsc/mains/previous-years/2021/public-administration-paper-ii/73rd-74th-amendments-decentralization