Panchayat Service Delivery and Infrastructure Standard in India

Abstract

The decentralisation of governance structures at the grass root has got momentum in India through statutory provisions by the Union government and similar importance was given by all the state governments. The 73rd Amendment Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha with near unanimity on the 22nd and 23rd December, 1992 respectively. This Bill was ratified by 17 State Assemblies in 1993 and came into force as ‘Constitution 73rd Amendment Act’ from 24th April, 1993. The Act provides constitutional status to the Panchayats and gives it uniformity by making the three-tier system a permanent feature. Panchayat Raj was included in Article 243 of the Indian Constitution after the 73rd Amendment. Under the Act, the panchayats were constitutionally agree as institutions of local governance and recognised as responsible instructions for act on fulfilling the services need for the local communities. The Gram Panchayats are given more importance and guided to plan, execute, implement and monitor the projects on its own and also implement the central and state sponsored development schemes. The state governments were encouraged to enable and strengthen the panchayats by allocating needed powers, functions and functionaries. Twenty nine functional domains were earmarked to plan and implement activities with the aim of achieving overall development of the local regions.