Empowering rural local bodies: Fully in letter, partially in spirit

The landmark 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution, which empowered the rural and urban local bodies, respectively, have completed 25 years of their existence. The amendments and subsequent Acts in various state legislatures in the last 25 years — yes, the change was gradual and not yet complete — established and empowered institutions of local self-governance, namely the gram (village) panchayat, block panchayat, and district panchayat in the rural, and the municipalities (councils and corporations) in the urban.

The amendments and Acts gave them taxation powers and powers to finance basic services that the populace needed. But have they really