No other socio-political programme launched by the Government in Independent India had generated so much enthusiasm and participation of the people as the Panchayati Raj Institutions. But the sad irony is that when the potential of these institutions was being liberated, a contrary move was contrived towards their decline and possible demise. The Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, assumes special significance against the background of recent efforts by several other State governments to radicalise the working of the Panchayati Raj institutions in their respective States to ensure devolution of power to the people at village level. That the present Jammu and Kashmir Government had taken the lead in reviewing the Panchayat Act enacted thirty years earlier speaks volumes for its political will and flair for dynamism. The revised Act of 1989 envisages significant changes at the district level and below to promote and develop panchayati raj in the State as an instrument of vigorous local self-government. Panchayati Raj in Jammu and Kashmir is the outcome of a year long interaction among scholars on the subject and specialists in Jammu and Kashmir affairs. The distinguished contributors to the volume have presented the issue in the larger national perspective.
