Kerala Local Self Government

In 1957, while the Balwant Roy Mehta Committee was still working, an Administrative Reforms Committee (ARC) headed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad, was set up in Kerala. Subsequently, Kerala Panchayat Bill and Kerala District Council Bill was passed in 1958. During the period of Pattom Thanu Pillai ministry, Kerala Panchayat Act was passed (1960). In 1967, Kerala Panchayat Raj Bill was passed during the period of EMS Government. The government proposed two-tier structure with Panchayats considered as the basic unit and zilla parishad at the district level. The content of the bill passed in 1967 was later considered with some changes and then introduced the Kerala District Administration Bill in 1971. This Bill also lapsed. The Kerala District Administration Bill was considered later in 1978. It was passed in 1979. Subsequently, many suggestions and amendments were accepted in 1987 to facilitate its functioning.

District council elections were held in 1991-92. By 1993, the procedures for the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments had begun. In 1994, Government of India enacted Constitutional amendments (73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments) to bring uniform system of local governments in the constituent states of India. It introduced uniform three tier system in rural areas and one tier system in urban areas. The 73rd Amendment visualized the Panchayati Raj as institutions of self-government. The Kerala Panchayat Raj Act under the 73rd Constitution came into force on 23 April 1994 and the Kerala Municipality Act under the 74th Constitution came into force on 30 May 1994. Kerala Panchayati Raj Act substitutes the Kerala Panchayati Raj Act 1960 and District Administration Act 1979. The Kerala Panchayati Raj system came into operation from 30th September, 1995. The elected governing bodies came into power on 2 October 1995. Today, the local self-government system in the state of Kerala consists of 941 Gram Panchayats, 152 Block Panchayats, 14 District Panchayats, 87 Municipalities and 6 Municipal Corporations. The Local Self-Government Department is responsible for coordinating the activities of these 1200 local bodies.

Sen Committee

Kerala Government appointed Sen Committee (1996) to overcome the limitations of the Act of 1994 and to suggest recommendations. Committee designed the institutionalization of the decentralization process in the State.

The Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and Kerala Municipalities Act were thoroughly re-structured in 1994. All Village and Block Panchayats have three Standing Committees and the District Panchayat have five Standing Committees. Steering Committee is constituted with the President and Vice President of the Panchayat and the Chairpersons of Standing Committees. Besides, there includes Functional Committees, for diverse matters which can incorporate specialists and practitioners. Sub Committees were elected to assist the Standing Committee or Functional Committee.

Local infrastructure creation is also for the most part in the area of Panchayats and Nagarapalikas. Significant organizations of public sector like hospitals, anganwadis, schools, agricultural institutions, hostels for SC & ST and Care foundations for different disadvantaged sections have been shifted to local governments. Kerala Grama Panchayat Association is an association of Grama Panchayats. All Grama Panchayats are affiliated to the Grama Panchayat Association.

Local Self-Government Institutions

Local self-government institutions function with the objectives of decentralization and people-centered planning. Rural areas are divided into three-tier panchayats and urban areas are divided into municipalities or corporations. Local self-government institutions are divided into wards and the governing bodies are formed through elections held once every five years on the basis of adult suffrage. Grama Panchayats (941), Block Panchayats (152), District Panchayats (14), Municipalities (87) and Municipal Corporations (6) are the local self government institutions in kerala.

Gram Panchayats

The Kerala Panchayati Raj Act 1994 envisages a Gram Panchayat for each village. In Kerala, Gram Panchayats is fairly large having a population of around 25000 on an average. The Act has considerably empowered the Gram Panchayats by giving control over almost all local level institutions.

E-Gram

E-Gram was built completely for Gram Panchayats, which is a data analytic tool where it can stores and analyses all data about people in a panchayat. E-Gram create real-time analytics on people, literacy rate, sex ratio, poverty threshold, and where they have access to electricity, clean water, healthcare and so on.

Block Panchayat

The number of directly elected members of Block Panchayat should not be less than eight and should not exceed 15. The Block Panchayat consists of (a) the elected members of the Block Panchayat, (b) the Presidents of the Village Panchayats in the Block Panchayat area. The President and Vice President of the Block Panchayat shall be elected from among the directly elected members of the Block Panchayat. One third of the total seat reserved for women both in Block and District Panchayat.

District Panchayat

Directly elected members of the District Panchayat should not be less than 15 and should not exceed 25. The District Panchayat consists of (a) the elected members and (b) the Presidents of the Block Panchayats of the district (ex-officio members). The members of Legislative Assembly and members of Parliament have been kept out from the Block Panchayats and District Panchayats.

District Planning Committee

The main function of the Committee is to prepare plans for the entire district as a whole. The Committee is to be formed with the District Panchayat president as the Chairman and the Collector as ex-officio member-Secretary.

Municipalities

Municipalities are the urban local governments. The elected members are called Municipal Councillor. The Chairperson is known as Municipal Chairman.

Municipal Corporations

Total Corporations are Six. They are Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur. Post of Mayor is reserved for woman in Thrissur and Kochi. Metropolitan cities of Kerala are Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. Kozhikode Corporation was formed on 1962 November 1, Kochi Corporation is formed on 1967 October 31 and the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation was formed on 1940. Kerala Panchayati Raj and Municipalities Amendment Act 2009 implemented 50% reservation for women in PRIs (Panchayati Raj Institutions). Revenue source for municipal corporations are Labour Tax, Professional Tax, Building Tax, Vehicle Tax, Entertainment Tax, various License fees, Advertisement tax, Government Grants etc.

Departments of Local Self Government Administration

LSGD - Principal Directorate

The LSGD Principal Directorate is a recently set up office that aims to bring together five services that are currently under Local Self Government Department - Panchayat, Rural Development, Urban Affairs, Local Self Government Engineering and Urban-Rural Planning - in order to form a single, unified Local Self Government Department. The primary objectives of the Principal Directorate are to set the stage for the consolidation of the above services, to finalize the draft laws that the Local Government Commission submitted and present them to the government.

Directorate of Panchayats

With the enactment of the Kerala Panchayat Act, 1960, the department that runs the local bodies was divided into the Panchayat Department and the Municipal Department for administrative convenience. The Panchayat Department came into existence on 19 January 1962. Shri. R. Kesavan Nair was the first Chairman. After the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act came into force, there has been a significant increase in the activities of the Gram Panchayats. The speed in the daily affairs of the Gram Panchayats due to the expansion of activities brought about by decentralization of power has led the Gram Panchayats to enhance their capacity related to local government institutions and to discharge the responsibilities of the local government. One of the main responsibilities assigned to the Panchayat Directorate is to provide support in these activities. Today Panchayat Directorate is one of the major departments of Local Self Government Administration. The Director of Panchayat is the State level administrative officer for this department.

Directorate of Urban Affairs

The Department of Municipal Administration was formed in 1962 by separating the erstwhile "Department of Local Bodies" into Department of Municipalities and Department of Panchayats. After the 74th Amendment Act of 1992, the Urban Affairs department came into force since April 1993. This act provides the structure, composition and powers of Municipal Government. Urban Affairs department was now called as Directorate of Urban Affairs and is now working under the control of the LSGD of Kerala Government. This Department is concerned with the administration of all urban local bodies in the state (i.e, 87 Municipalities and 6 Municipal Corporations).

Commissionerate of Rural Development

As part of the decentralization of the administration of the Rural Development Department, the Rural Development Commissionerate started functioning in Kerala on 24th January 1987. With this, many of the duties that were being performed in the Secretariat were transferred to the Commissionerate. The implementation of rural development projects is vested in the Rural Development Commissioner. There are 152 development blocks under the Rural Development Department in Kerala. The district with the highest number of development blocks is Thrissur. 17 blocks. The district with the lowest number of development blocks is Wayanad. 3 blocks. In addition, 14 District Poverty Alleviation Cells are functioning in 14 districts. The Project Officers with the rank of Deputy Development Commissioner are the chief officers of each of these. A Rural Information Bureau is functioning in Thiruvananthapuram to create awareness among the public about the activities of the Rural Development Department. This bureau publishes a bi-monthly magazine called Grama Bhoomi. Grama Bhoomi often contains in-depth articles detailing various programmes of the Rural Development Department.

Department of Town and Country Planning

The Department of Town Planning started functioning in 1957 with headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram, mainly to ensure planned development of urban settlements in the State. Later the department started the planning of the rural settlements as well. Accordingly, in 1999, this Department was renamed as the 'Department of Town and Country Planning'.

Local Self Government Engineering Wing

LSGD has a strong Engineering Wing. This wing is established in 2008 by grouping technically qualified officials of Water Works Department, Public Works Department, Kerala State Rural Roads Development Agency, Poverty Alleviation Units and the engineering staffs of Panchayat Department, Municipalities and Corporations.

Allied Institutions of Local Self Government Department

■ Kerala State Planning Board

■ Information Kerala Mission

■ Local Government Commission

■ Kudumbashree

■ KILA

■ Suchitwa Mission

■ Kerala Local Government Service Delivery Project

■ Kerala Rural Employment and Welfare Society

■ Ombudsman For LSGI

■ Clean Kerala Company

Swaraj Trophy

It is a special award of Kerala government to best Local Bodies for the outstanding performance in administration, revenue collection, planning, people's participation, distribution of social security pension and so on. It was started in 1995-1996. The Name Swaraj Trophy introduced from 1996-97 onwards. The amount of 25 lakh is awarded to the best grama panchayat at state level, 10 lakh for best grama panchayat in district level.