Gujarat: Panchayati Raj and Urban Local Bodies · GPSC (Gujarat)

This page applies the official line on local self-government to Gujarat, which has a long record of panchayati raj.

What the official syllabus says

GPSC Main Examination, Paper V: General Studies-II, (A) Indian Polity and Constitution:
Local self-government institutions.

Village panchayats under Bombay State laws before 1960
Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1961: three-tier system of gram panchayat, taluka panchayat and district panchayat
Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993: the State law bringing the system into line with the 73rd Amendment
Link with Balwantrai Mehta, who chaired the 1957 committee on democratic decentralisation and later served as Chief Minister of Gujarat

Gram Sabha: all voters of the village; meetings, social audit and approval of plans
Gram Panchayat: Sarpanch, Upa-Sarpanch, members; Talati-cum-Mantri as secretary
Taluka Panchayat: President, Taluka Development Officer (TDO)
District (Jilla) Panchayat: President, District Development Officer (DDO)
Committees: executive committee, Samajik Nyay Samiti (social justice committee) and other committees
Functions under the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993; sources of revenue: taxes, fees, grants
Samras gram panchayats: incentives for villages that choose their panchayat by consensus

Water and Sanitation Management Organisation (WASMO), set up by Gujarat in 2002: community-managed village water supply
Pani Samitis (village water and sanitation committees) of the gram panchayat
Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) in Gujarat's villages

MGNREGA works planned by the Gram Sabha and executed by the gram panchayat
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin): selection of beneficiaries
Sakhi Mandals under the rural livelihoods mission and their link with panchayats
District planning: district plans that bring together panchayat and municipal plans

Gujarat State Election Commission: delimitation of wards, rotation of reserved seats, conduct of elections
Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward classes and women
State Finance Commission and devolution of funds to panchayats and municipalities
Union Finance Commission grants to local bodies

Scheduled Areas of Gujarat in the tribal belt along the eastern border
Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 and the rules Gujarat has framed under it
Powers of the Gram Sabha over minor forest produce, water bodies and land

Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949: municipal corporations of the large cities such as Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot
Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963: nagarpalikas (municipalities)
Municipal Commissioner (executive) and the elected Mayor and standing committee
Notified areas, such as industrial estates
Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act, 1976: town planning schemes and urban development authorities (for example the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority)
Urban missions in Gujarat: Smart Cities Mission (cities including Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Gandhinagar and Dahod), AMRUT, Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), bus rapid transit and metro rail projects

The constitutional framework (73rd and 74th Amendments) is on Local Self-Government Institutions; urbanisation in Gujarat as a geographical topic is in General Studies-III.