Learn about 73rd Amendment Act

Village panchayats have existed at the local levels in India for a long time now. Despite its efficient working before 1992, the panchayats had some inherent weaknesses as well. The most difficult one was the inability to act as the people’s authority and be irresponsible to the necessities of the people at the local levels. One can state various reasons for the same, it may be due to lack of financial resources with the Village panchayat to meet the needs and necessities of the people, scheduled castes and various other weaker sections were not represented like the other people of other categories and the absence of regular elections at the village level. Thus, it was deemed necessary to take care of such issues, so the 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution was passed to strengthen the government at the local-self level. 

About 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution

Passed in 1992, the 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution is an amendment to the Constitution that directed on standardising the village bodies of Gram Panchayats and gave them a much-needed title of local self-government. With this Act, a new part of Part IX was added to the Constitution which contains various provisions from Article 243 to 243O to resolve the issue and weaknesses existing in the system of Panchayat at the village local levels. 

Main provisions of the 73rd Amendment Act 

There were various distinct provisions of the 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution. Some of them are: 

1) Panchayati Raj Institutions or the PRI’s were accorded the place of a major constitutional body in the Constitution. 

2) Each state was permitted to set up the institutions of Panchayati Raj Institutions at the local, village and territorial levels of the state. This provision was introduced with Article 243-B of the Indian Constitution. 

3) Being able to function or be elected for a tenure of five years now, the State authority had the power to bestow various responsibilities that it thinks as fine to the local self-government. 

4) Independent elections would now be conducted every five years, for electing the panchayat bodies in different territories of the state government. 

5) The problem of non-representation of the weaker sections was also removed with this Amendment and thus, now these sections of the society had an equal representation in the PRIs of the various villages. 

6) Interestingly, the problem of adequate finance with the village bodies also got eradicated and now the Finance Commission body at the State level was given a duty to evaluate all the finances of the local self-government. 

Main features of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act

The 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution focused on various distinctive areas of problems. The main features of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act are: 

A) Gram Sabha 

Gram Sabha refers to a constitutional village body that Article 243 (b) of the Indian Constitution has the power to perform the functions that are bestowed to this body by the State Legislature. 

B) State Election Commission

State Election Commission is the body that takes care of the Independent elections which are conducted every five years, for electing the panchayat bodies in different territories of the state government. The responsibility of controlling, maintaining and preparation of the electoral rolls lies in the hands of the State Election Commission. 

C) Three-tier system 

With this, Panchayati Raj Institutions would be set up at three levels of a particular state, village level, the intermediate level and the district levels. This provision is passed on through Article 243-B of the Indian Constitution. 

D) Composition of the Panchayats

With accordance to the Article 243-C of the Indian Constitution, the power of deciding the composition of the panchayat raj bodies will be decided by the State Legislature. The members in a particular body would depend on the population of that particular area. 

E) Manner of Election 

Direct elections are to be conducted for electing the bodies at the village, intermediate and the district levels. However, the responsibility of the election and the choice of the chairman from that elected body is indirectly in the hands of the body elected through direct elections. 

F) Reservation of the Seats

The problem of non-representation of the weaker sections was also removed with this Amendment and thus, now these sections of the society had an equal representation in the PRIs of the various villages. It is Article 243-D that provided for the provisions related to the reservation of the backward classes of the society. Notably, the act has given or reserved 1/3rd seats in the Panchayat bodies for the women who belongs the the category of SC’s and ST’s. 

G) Duration of Panchayats 

With Article 243E of the Indian Constitution, it is decided that the panchayat bodies are elected by direct elections for every five years. In fact, if a new panchayati body is elected in between the tenure of the existing panchayat body, then the new ones will work for the remaining tenure of the existing panchayati raj body. 

H) Duties of the Panchayats

The State authority has the power to bestow various responsibilities that it thinks as fine to the local self-government. Further, the panchayat bodies makes and takes detailed care of the economic development and the social justice of the area which is accorded to it. The legislations made by the central and the state government are taken into consideration by the panchayats, who implements these policies at the ground level, thus increasing the reach of the policies. 

I) Finance Commission 

The Governor of the state holds the responsibility of setting up a State Finance Commission to look after the finances of the local level areas. Further, it is this body, which decides the proper and necessary division of the taxes between the state authorities and the panchayat bodies. It is the Consolidated Funds of the State that funds the activities of the State authorities and the village level bodies under the state. 

Conclusion 

Even after setting up of a particular body for managing the finances of the village bodies, still the panchayat bodies face the flaw of the absence of funds. It is with these less available funds, that the body has to rely on for funding all their activities of the territorial levels. Apart from this, it also faces a problem of political intervention from the various leaders of the state authority which hampers the efficiency of the policies. But even after these structural flaws, the Act still has uplifted the position of the local self-governing bodies and has dealt with various issues from the grassroot levels.