India is a developing country. One sorely required ‘development’ is local governance. While it served the much smaller population, the governance systems have practically collapsed if judged by modern  international standards.

Everyone is first looking at the macro, national level governance. And rightly so! The top Institutions need urgent repair and modernisation. Since Mr. Narendra Modi came to power, this work has started in earnest. The “development” or “Vikas” agenda of the GOI has put to shame the work previous governments did over 7 decades.

Yet, it was a Congress PM – Mr. Rajiv Gandhi – who brought in the constitutional amendments # 73 & 74 in December 1992.
Through these amendments, local self-governance was introduced in rural and urban India.

The Acts came into force as the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 on April 24, 1993 and the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992 on June 1, 1993.

These amendments added two new parts to the Constitution, namely, 73rd Amendment added Part IX titled “The Panchayats” and 74th Amendment added Part IXA titled “The Municipalities”.

The Local bodies – ‘Panchayats’ and ‘Municipalities’ – came under Part IX and IXA of the Constitution after 43 years of India becoming a republic.

But, sadly, his own party men in the states ensured these amendments never were implemented in spirit or letter. In other words, they simply extended the power of the state governments to the roadside grassroots.

The governance structures never grew to handle the enormous task. Instead, they merely made the already fat bureaucracy even fatter and service levels dipped to the pits.

This is the central theme of my current work. A ground level focus on governance.
In addition, I continue to do the de-addiction work I started 40 years ago, probono.

I’m on most social media platforms. Do send me a message with your feedback, suggestions, and comments! I love to hear from people.