The 73rd Amendment gave constitutional status to rural local government, mandating a three-tier system of elected panchayats at village, block and district levels with regular elections and reservation of seats for women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Its Eleventh Schedule listed twenty-nine functions, including land improvement, water and rural housing, for devolution to panchayats, and it required District Planning Committees to integrate rural and urban plans. Enacted alongside the 74th Amendment, it framed planning at the rural-urban edge. Devolution of real powers and finances has, however, remained patchy.
It constitutionalised rural self-government and, with its district planning committees, the formal machinery for integrating rural and urban spatial planning.
See it on the timeline →