Local Body Finances

"Local self government is and must be the basis of any true system of democracy. We have got habit of rather into the habit of thinking of democracy at the top not so much below. Democracy at the top will not be success unless it is built on the foundation from below¿ ¿ Jawahar Lal Nehru Municipal administration is, thus, a primary unit of democracy for the urban population in India. It is in fact a nursery for the future political leadership of the country. Even the planning commission of India has realized the importance of the local self-government. It had been clearly stated that the Draft First Five Year Plan that he constitution has provided for democratic institutions at the Central and State level, but so long as local self-government institutions are not conceived as a part of the same organic constitutional and administration framework, the structure of democratic government will remain incomplete.