To what extent, in your opinion, has the decentralisation of power in India changed the governance landscape at the grassroots?
Approach · directive: “to what extent”
What it asks · Give a reasoned view on how far the 73rd and 74th Amendments have changed governance at village and town level: real gains, and gaps in functions, funds and functionaries.
The question has 2 parts — answer each
- Take a position: how far decentralisation under the 73rd and 74th Amendments has changed grassroots governance — the real gains
- Qualify it: the gaps in functions, funds and functionaries that limit the change, and what would complete it
Open with · The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) gave panchayats and municipalities constitutional status, regular elections and a list of functions.
Cover
- Institutions: over 2.5 lakh panchayats and thousands of urban local bodies hold regular elections under State Election Commissions, and gram sabhas give citizens a forum.
- Inclusion: reservation for SCs, STs and at least one-third of seats for women has brought millions of new leaders into public life.
- Delivery and planning: panchayats run MGNREGA, sanitation and water works, prepare Gram Panchayat Development Plans and hold social audits; PESA empowers tribal areas.
- Limits: functions, funds and functionaries are unevenly devolved; State Finance Commissions are weak, own revenue is low, and line departments keep control.
- Distortions: proxy rule by relatives of women representatives, elite capture and bureaucratic overreach dilute empowerment.
- Urban gap: municipalities lack control over water, planning and policing, and parastatal agencies sideline elected councils.
- Way forward: activity mapping, adequate Finance Commission grants, capacity building, e-governance and empowered gram sabhas.
Close with · Decentralisation has changed who participates and what is delivered, but genuine self-government awaits real devolution of powers and money.
Add value (verified)
- Article 243G makes devolution of powers and authority to panchayats a matter for State law, which explains uneven devolution across states. The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2024), Article 243G — Legislative Department ↗“the Legislature of a State may, by law, endow the Panchayats with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2022, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 224 words (UPSC limit 150) · Minimalist IAS
The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) gave panchayats and municipalities constitutional status, regular elections and a list of functions. In my view they have changed who governs at the grassroots substantially, but what those bodies control only partly.
What has changed
- Institutions: over 2.5 lakh panchayats and thousands of urban local bodies hold regular elections under State Election Commissions, and the gram sabha gives villagers a forum.
- Inclusion: reservation for SCs, STs and at least one-third of seats for women has brought millions of first-time leaders into public life.
- Delivery and planning: panchayats run MGNREGA, sanitation and water works, prepare Gram Panchayat Development Plans and hold social audits; PESA extends self-rule to Scheduled Areas.
Where the change stops short
- Functions, funds, functionaries: Article 243G leaves devolution to State law, so it is uneven; own revenue is low, State Finance Commissions are weak and line departments keep control of staff and schemes.
- Distortions: proxy rule by relatives of women members, elite capture and bureaucratic overreach dilute empowerment.
- Urban gap: municipalities lack control over water, planning and policing, and parastatal agencies sideline elected councils.
Completing the change
- Activity mapping of functions, assured Finance Commission grants, capacity building, e-governance and empowered gram sabhas.
Decentralisation has changed who participates and what gets delivered; genuine self-government at the grassroots still awaits a real transfer of powers, money and staff.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.