Panchayati Raj, which has become the third tier of governance with the Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, is of far-reaching significance for decentralised governance in India. The author takes the reader on a journey into the vicissitudes of local government in India, from the years of Community Development through the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, the post-Nehruvian days of its decline and the re-emergence of the second generation with the Ashoka Mehta committee report, culminating in the present amendment. The first-hand account of the experience in local government of West Bengal, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and even far away China, and of issues like the involvement of political parties, the role of women in panchayati raj, and the like, makes this volume fascinating reading. The author, while acknowledging the potential of creating a cascading federalism which the amendment unfolds, rightly perceives the risk of it remaining on paper unless continuous efforts are not made to convert it into a peoples movement.
