Contents

1. Panchayati Raj in India: Historical Background and Evolution 122

1.1. Ancient Period 122

1.2. Medieval Period 122

1.3. Colonial Period 122

1.4. Mahatma Gandhi and Panchayati Raj 123

1.5. Post Independence period 123

2. 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 124

2.1. Introduction 124

2.2. Mains features of the act 124

2.3. Administrative Structure of the PRIs 125

2.4. Elections to the PRIs 125

2.5. State Election Commission 125

2.6. Financial Powers of the PRIs 125

2.7. State Finance Commission 126

2.8. Role of Panchayati Raj in the democracy 126

2.9. Challenges related to PRIs 127

2.10. 2nd ARC recommendation for rural governance 127

3. The provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), 1996 128

3.1. Objective 128

3.2. Definition of Village and Gram Sabha 128

3.3. PESA and Gram Sabha 129

3.4. Importance of PESA 129

4. Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) 129

4.1. Historical Background 129

5. 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 130

5.1. Main features of the act 130

5.2. Constitution of Municipalities 130

5.3. Composition of Municipalities 131

5.4. Reservation of Seats 131

5.5. Duration of Municipalities 131

5.6. Powers, authority and responsibilities of Municipalities 131

5.7. Impact of the act on the Urban governance 131

5.8. Challenges related to ULBs 132

5.9. 2nd ARC recommendation on Urban governance 132

6. UPSC Previous Years Prelim Questions 133

7. UPSC Previous Year Mains Questions 133

8. GS Mains Test Series Questions 134

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