Journal Articles

INDIA’S grand experiment with local governance began with the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments in 1992. Since then, a lot of changes have taken place, including the opening of the economy, increase in social mobility, changes in the party system, rapid advancement in technology, among others. This issue of Seminar is an attempt to take a stock of this experiment 30 years later – what we have achieved and where we failed?

It is true that there have been efforts to give legal status to local self-governments across rural and urban India since independence, and the third-tier structure with radical promises is a product of the long conversation on the relationship between democracy and decentralization.