Leaderspeak | AIILSG & LGs
AIILSG continues to work for robust local governance All India Institute of Local Self-Government, established in 1926, will complete 100 years of its existence in three years’ time. In all these years, the institute has worked closely with municipal corporations, Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI) to empower their workforce and elected representatives to work efficiently for local development. Urban and rural local governance, as envisaged by the Father of Nation, has grown strong in many states but a lot of work still has to be done to improve local governance in the country
Ranjit S Chavan | President, AIILSG
he concept of local self-governance is not new to India. It is as old as India itself. The reference to Gram Sangh or panchayats has been found in ancient stories and religious texts too. However, the constitutional recognition of local governments in India came with the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act in 1992, and these local institutions were officially declared as the third tier of governments. Since then, LGs have been active at the grass-root level and making the lives of the people easier. Though their style of functioning was different from one state to another, the constitutional amendments gave them a standardized working framework. At present, there are over 250,000 local government bodies, rural and urban, across India. If we look at just the number of towns in India, there are over 8000. There are nearly 3.1 million elected representatives and 1.3 million women representatives. It is mandatory under the CAAs to have at least onethird of women elected representatives in local bodies. Some states have taken
34 April 2022 | www.urbanupdate.in
this a step further. As many as 20 states have increased the representation of women in rural local bodies to 50 per cent. It has improved the way women are represented at the local level of politics. Since the local government is the first step into the political and administrative domain, the new entrant needs rigorous and extensive capacity building to be effective. Almost 25 years have passed since local governments got constitutional validity but the capacity building of officials and elected representatives is still required to make governance efficient and effective. With the changing development requirements of cities and villages, the skill sets of officials need to be updated. The government of India has also taken note of the need for training for local government officials and elected representatives. Almost every mission launched since has a component to train and capacitate officials and elected representatives. It is true for the recently launched missions like Jal Jeevan Mission, Smart Cities
