The document discusses local self-government in Kerala. It describes the three tiers of local government - gram panchayats at the village level, block panchayats covering multiple villages, and district panchayats. There are also municipalities and municipal corporations in urban areas. The key responsibilities of local governments include infrastructure development, sanitation, healthcare, education, and agriculture. While local governments have empowered grassroots development, some limitations include potential for discrimination or narrow-mindedness if not balanced with national interests. Overall, local governments now handle many responsibilities for human and social development.

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AN ASSIGNMENT ON SOCIAL SCIENCE
Submitted by,
SREEKUTTY.P.B
SOCIAL SCIENCE
Reg.No:16914383012
Submitted To,
Mrs.Anitha .S
Lecturer,Social Science
SNTC,Sreekandeswaram

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Sl.No. Content Page No.
1 Introduction 4
2 Local Self Government in Kerala
(a) Grama Panchayat
(b) Block Panchayat
(c) District Panchayat
(d) Municipalities
(e) Municipal Corporations
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3 Limitation of Local Self Government 7
4 Conclusion 8
5 Reference 8

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INTRODUCTION
Decentralization of powers is a pre- requisite of a democratic country. Local
self-government implies the decentralization of powers so that the elected bodies may
function independently with authority and resources to bring about “economic
development and social justice”.The local government of the state of Kerala comprises
of 978 Grama Panchayats, 152 block Panchayats, 14 District Panchayats,87
municipalities and 6 municipal corporations. Altogether there are 1214 local self-
government bodies of Kerala. Thus the panchayats and the municipal administration
altogether constitute the local self-government of Kerala.
On the basis of 73rd and 74th amendments acts of the constitution, the Panchayat Raj
and the municipality act came into effect on the 23rd of April and 30th of May 1994
respectively. As a result the powers were decentralized, the responsibilities and
projects of the government were transferred to the local self-government on 2nd
October, 1995.The name of the local administration department of Kerala was changed
by the government into Department of Local Self-government and certain changes
were incorporated in the secretariat pertaining to the administrative issues of urban
areas. The department of Urban planning was changed into Department of Town and
Country Planning.
The Local self-government playing significant role in the formulation of policy and
implementation of developmental works at the grass roots level through the gram
sabhas. Director of pachayat and the director of municipal administration constitute
the two field departments of the local administration department of local self-
government of Kerala. A secretary to government heads this department. The local
self-government of Kerala exercises great power and is effective in implementing
developmental programs in the state.

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Local Self Government in Kerala
The Panchayat Raj institutions installed in the state have three tiers,namely the Gram
Panchayat,the Block Panchayat,the District Panchayat and the Nagarapalika
institutios,Municipalities and Corporations.
Sl.No. Types of Local Government Total numbers
1 Gram Panchayat 978
2 Block Panchayat 152
3 District Panchayat 14
4 Municipality 87
5 Corporation 6
Total in the State 1237
GRAM PANCHAYAT
At the bottom level, the Gram Panchayaths have close interaction with the
people at mass level and they are entrusted to prepare the blue print of the plan
incorporating the assessed needs of the area. These have to be incorporated and
implemented in the Ninth five year plan.
The functins of gram panchayat Includes:
 Supply of water
 Construction, repair and maintenance of roads
 Construction of bridges
 Public health, hygiene and sanitation
 Development of agricultural activities, etc.

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BLOCK PANCHAYAT
The block Panchayat is a union of nine or ten Gram panchayats functioning at the
block level and occupies the middle position between the Gram panchayat and the
district panchayat . An expert committee is also constituted at the block panchayat
level. An expert committee is also constituted at the block panchayat level.
The state government appointed an expert committee named voluntary technical
corps(VTC) at every block level comprising officials and non-official experts
including retired personnel’s to approve the projects to be incorporated at the block
panchayat level.Now 152 Block Panchayat there in Kerala.
DISTRICT PANCHAYAT
The district panchayats, 14 in number in the state have to code-draft the district level
plan document by reviewing the plan documents prepared and submitted by their
respective block panchayat administrative units.at the district level, they have to
prepare a single district level, they have to prepare a single district plan document
bycodifying the entire block level documents. In addition to it there are other
constitutional bodies like municipalities and Municipal Corporation at the district level.
Therefor at the district level, codified single plan document has two corollas, one
meant for panchayat raj system, and the other for the Nagarpalika system. For this
purpose, a district level planning committee was formulated in official experts.
MUNICIPALITIES
There are 86 Municipalities in Kerala(26 new),Municipalities are the Urban local
governments that deal with civic functions and local development functions in the
municipal area.

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MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS
There are 6 Municipal Corporations in Kerala, Municipal Corporations in India are
Urban Local Government that works for the development of a large city .The growing
population and Urbanization in various cities of India were in need of a local
governing body that can work for providing necessary community services like health
care,educational institutions ,housing, transport etc.
LIMITATION OF LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENT
The local self-government system has some obvious limitations. It has been alleged
that the services rendered by the local self-government often becomes discriminatory.
The local self-government often makes residential arrangements for the elderly people
or hostel accommodation for the handicapped students which may be considered as
discriminatory services. If the administration is run by the local self-governmental
institutions, it may encourage not only regionalism but also narrow-mindedness and
such a tendency will always go against the democratic system practiced in the national
level. However, refuting these allegations the exponents of the local self-government
institutions hold the view that such local self-governments are the basis of democracy
and the best way to develop political consciousness among the people. Through the
local self-government the regional and local interests convert into national interest.

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Conclusion
In short, most of the responsibilities relating to human and social development have
been passed down to local governments. Welfare and poverty reduction are now
largely dependent on local governments who also have considerable area of
responsibility in the primary sector.
Reference
1.www.lsg.kerala.gov.in
2.The Kerala Economy :Growth and Survival - Dr.P. Surendran