Class 11 Political Science Chapter 8 Local Governments NCERT Solutions

Q. Constitution of India visualised village panchayats as units of self-government. Think over the situation described in the following statements and explain how do these situations strengthen or weaken the panchayats in becoming units of self-government.
(a) Government of a State has allowed a big company to establish a huge steel plant. Many villages would be adversely affected by the steel plant. Gram Sabha of one of the affected villages passed a resolution that before establishing any big industries in the region, village people must be consulted and their grievances should be redressed.
(b) The government has decided that 20% of all its expenditure would be done through the panchayats.
(c) A village panchayat kept on demanding funds for a building for village school, the government officials turned down their proposal saying that funds are allocated for certain other schemes and cannot be spent otherwise.
(d) The government divided a village Dungarpur into two and made a part of village Jamuna and Sohana. Now village Dungarpur has ceased to exist in government’s books.
(e) A village panchayat observed that water sources of their region are depleting fast. They decided to mobilise village youth to do some voluntary work and revive the old village ponds and wells.

Answer:
(a) Weakens. The big decision (permission for the steel plant) was taken at the State level, without consulting the affected villages’ Gram Sabhas beforehand. The Gram Sabha’s resolution is a good step in itself, but it shows that real power still rests at a higher level.
(b) Strengthens. Channelling a large share of government spending through panchayats gives the local level real resources and decision-making power, which is the basic condition for self-government.
(c) Weakens. The Gram Panchayat has no power to spend funds even for a basic need like a school building, budget heads being fixed from above limits local autonomy.
(d) Weakens. Changing a village’s very name and boundary from above without consultation treats the Gram Panchayat as just an administrative unit of the government, rather than an autonomous self-governing body.
(e) Strengthens. The Gram Panchayat identified a problem in its own area (depleting water sources) and solved it using its own resources (voluntary labour), without waiting for orders from above, this is self-government in its truest form.

Q. Suppose you are entrusted to evolve a local government plan of a State, what powers would you endow to the village panchayats to function as units of self-government? Mention any five powers and the justification in two lines for each of them for giving those powers.

Answer:
1. Power to levy and collect its own taxes: unless the Gram Panchayat has its own source of revenue, it will remain dependent on higher governments for everything, which destroys autonomy.
2. Power to prepare the budget and decide expenditure: villagers themselves know the village’s priorities best, so the right to decide where money is spent should rest with them too.
3. Power to plan and implement the 29 subjects (Eleventh Schedule): the right to plan on local-development subjects such as agriculture, health and education should rest with the panchayat, so that plans are made according to local need, not imposed from above.
4. Power to supervise and hold local staff accountable: government employees working at the local level (such as teachers, health workers) should also be answerable to the Gram Panchayat, so that schemes are actually implemented on the ground, not just on paper.
5. Power to call meetings of the Gram Sabha and enforce its decisions: the Gram Sabha is a forum for direct democracy, making its decisions binding on the panchayat is essential for ordinary people’s participation to be meaningful.

Q. What are the provisions for the reservations for the socially disadvantaged groups as per the 73rd amendment? Explain how these provisions have changed the profile of the leadership at the village level.

Answer:
Reservation provisions: seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population, at least one-third of seats are reserved for women at every level, and this women’s reservation applies within the seats fixed for SC, ST and OBC too, that is, one-third of the SC/ST/OBC seats are also reserved for women of that group. Chairperson posts such as Sarpanch/Adhyaksha are reserved in the same proportion.
Change in the profile of leadership: this reservation brought about 32 lakh elected representatives into local government, of whom about 13 lakh are women, that is, more than ten lakh women and socially disadvantaged people found themselves in decision-making positions for the first time. Women like Geeta Rathore (Sarpanch of Jamonia Talab Gram Panchayat, Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh), who won first from a reserved seat and later from a general seat, show that reservation can give women real leadership experience and acceptance.

Q. What were the main differences between the local governments before 73rd amendment and after that amendment?

Answer:
1. Constitutional status: earlier, local bodies depended on the will of State governments, which could dissolve them; now the three-tier Panchayati Raj structure has constitutional status.
2. Regular elections: earlier, elections were not held regularly; now elections every five years are mandatory, and fresh elections within six months if dissolved.
3. Reservation: earlier, there was no constitutional provision for reservation for women or SC/ST; now one-third of seats are reserved for women, and SC/ST get reservation proportional to population.
4. State Election Commissioner and State Finance Commission: there is now provision for an independent State Election Commissioner to conduct elections, and a State Finance Commission to decide financial transfers, no such independent institution existed earlier.
5. List of subjects: now 29 subjects are clearly assigned to panchayats in the Eleventh Schedule, earlier no such defined scope was fixed.

Q. Read the following conversation. Write in two hundred words your opinion about the issues raised in this conversation.
Alok: Our Constitution guarantees equality between men and women. Reservations in local bodies for women ensure their equal share in power.
Neha: But it is not enough that women should be in positions of power. It is necessary that the budget of local bodies should have separate provision for women.
Jayesh: I don’t like this reservations business. A local body must take care of all people in the village and that would automatically take care of women and their interests.

Answer:
All three speakers have a partial point, but no single one gives the full picture. Alok is right that without reservation, women’s participation in local power would have remained almost negligible, figures show that lakhs of women were elected after reservation was introduced, which is a major achievement in itself.
But Neha’s point is just as important, merely holding a post does not automatically secure women’s interests, if the budget of local bodies does not have separate provision for women’s needs (such as drinking water, safety, health), the effect of holding power remains limited. Research also shows that women representatives often prioritise issues like water and sanitation, so their voice in the budget matters.
Jayesh’s point is weaker, leaving things to the hope that a body will “take care of everyone” has historically meant women’s needs get neglected, that is exactly why reservation was needed in the first place. Without reservation, power structures remain naturally male-dominated.
My opinion is that reservation is a necessary first step, but not sufficient on its own, it should be combined with clear budget provisions for women and capacity-building.

Q. Read the provisions of the 73rd Amendment. Which of the following concerns does this amendment address?
(a) Fear of replacement makes representatives accountable to the people.
(b) The dominant castes and feudal landlords dominate the local bodies.
(c) Rural illiteracy is very high. Illiterate people cannot take decisions about the development of the village.
(d) To be effective the village panchayats need resources and powers to make plans for the village development.

Answer:
(a) is addressed. Regular elections every five years, and re-election within six months if dissolved, keep elected representatives continuously accountable to the people, this fear of losing their seat is what secures accountability.
(b) is addressed. The provision of reservation for women and SC/ST directly addresses this exact concern, that dominant castes and feudal landlords should not have a one-sided hold over local bodies.
(d) is addressed. The 29 subjects of the Eleventh Schedule and the provision for a State Finance Commission for financial transfers are added precisely to give Gram Panchayats real power and resources to plan.
(c) is not directly addressed by the Amendment, the 73rd Amendment has no provision for removing illiteracy or solving it, this is a separate concern linked to education policy.

Q. The following are different justifications given in favour of local government. Give them ranking and explain why you attach greater significance to a particular rationale than the others. According to you, on which of these rationales the decision of the Gram panchayat of Vengaivasal village was based? How?
(a) Government can complete the projects with lesser cost with the involvement of the local community.
(b) The development plans made by the local people will have greater acceptability than those made by the government officers.
(c) People know their area, needs problems and priorities. By collective participation they should discuss and take decisions about their life.
(d) It is difficult for the common people to contact their representatives of the State or the national legislature.

Answer:
My ranking: (c) > (b) > (d) > (a). I placed (c) at the top because it touches the core principle of democracy itself, the right to decide about one’s own life, the other three justifications are practical consequences of this same basic principle.
The Vengaivasal Gram Panchayat’s decision was mainly based on (c). In 1997, the Vengaivasal Gram Panchayat in Tamil Nadu decided that the land of the village’s community pond should stay in collective use rather than being allotted 2 hectares each to 71 government employees, because the villagers knew their own area’s needs (the pond’s importance for irrigation and water) better than the district administration did. The Collector of Kancheepuram reversed this decision, a single-judge bench of the Madras High Court upheld the Collector, and the Division Bench later ruled in the Panchayat’s favour, this case shows how local knowledge and administrative decisions from above can come into conflict.

Q. Which of the following according to you involve decentralisation? Why are other options not sufficient for decentralisation?
(a) To hold election of the Gram Panchayat.
(b) Decision by the villagers themselves about what policies and programmes are useful for the village.
(c) Power to call meeting of Gram Sabha.
(d) A Gram Panchayat receiving the report from the Block Development Officer about the progress of a project started by the State government.

Answer:
(b) is the most accurate instrument of real decentralisation, because the actual power to make decisions rests with the villagers themselves, which is the true purpose of decentralisation, not just an institutional structure but a genuine transfer of decision-making authority.
(a) is not sufficient. Holding elections for the Gram Panchayat is a necessary first step, but if the elected panchayat does not have real decision-making power and resources, holding elections by itself is not decentralisation, merely building an institution.
(c) is not sufficient. The power to call a Gram Sabha meeting is necessary, but if the meeting only conveys decisions already made from above, without any real power to decide, it too remains a mere formality.
(d) does not involve decentralisation, this is only the presentation of a progress report on a scheme planned from above, the Gram Panchayat has no visible power to change or decide on this scheme, it is merely an exchange of information.

Q. A student of Delhi University, Raghavendra Parpanna, wanted to study the role of decentralisation in decision making about primary education. He asked some questions to the villagers. These questions are given below. If you were among those villagers, what answer would you give to each of these questions? A meeting of the Gram Sabha is to be called to discuss what steps should be taken to ensure that every child of the village goes to the school.
(a) How would you decide the suitable day for the meeting? Think who would be able to attend/not attend the meeting because of your choice.
(i) A day specified by the BDO or the collector. (ii) Day of the village haat. (iii) Sunday. (iv) Naag panchami/sankranti.
(b) What is a suitable venue for the meeting? Why?
(i) Venue suggested by the circular of the district collector. (ii) Religious place in the village. (iii) Dalit Mohalla. (iv) Upper caste Tola. (v) Village school.
(c) In the Gram Sabha meeting firstly a circular sent by the district collector was read. It suggested what steps should be taken to organise an education rally and what should be its route. The meeting did not discuss about the children who never come to school or about girls’ education, or the condition of the school building and the timing of the school. No woman teacher attended the meeting as it was held on Sunday. What do you think about these proceedings as an instance of people’s participation?
(d) Imagine your class as the Gram Sabha. Discuss the agenda of the meeting and suggest some steps to realise the goal.

Answer:
(a) The most suitable day would be one when most people have not gone out for farm work or wage labour, and women are also free from housework, a day fixed from above (i) or a religious festival (iv) risks ignoring local needs. The haat day (ii) is unsuitable because people are busy buying and selling that day and cannot attend the meeting with full attention. Sunday (iii), as shown in (c), keeps important people like women teachers away. So the best approach is for the Gram Sabha itself to ask the villagers and fix a day convenient for the majority, rather than a day imposed from above or by custom.
(b) The village school (v) is the most suitable venue, being directly linked to education, neutral, and accessible to all castes and communities. A religious place (ii) may make some communities uncomfortable, choosing the Dalit Mohalla (iii) or the upper-caste Tola (iv) would signal bias and reduce other groups’ participation, and a venue fixed by the district collector (i) is not necessarily convenient for local people.
(c) This is a poor example from the point of view of participation. The agenda for the meeting was set from above (by the collector’s circular), the village’s real issues, such as children who never come to school, girls’ education, and the condition of the school building, were not discussed at all, and holding the meeting on a Sunday kept an essential voice, the woman teacher, away. This shows that merely calling a Gram Sabha meeting is not enough unless the agenda and timing are decided keeping local needs and everyone’s participation in mind.
(d) Suggestions for a class discussion: decide the day and time of the meeting by asking the villagers, include making a list of out-of-school children and finding out why in the agenda, discuss separately the obstacles to girls’ education (such as safety, housework), take the views of both parents and teachers on the school building and timetable, and keep both the time and venue convenient for women and marginalised communities to ensure their participation in the meeting.