01444pab a2200145 454500008004000000100001600040245007600056260000900132300001200141362000800153520107100161650003401232650001401266773001801280180718b1996   xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aSivanna, N.  aDecentralised governance and planning in Karnataka: a historical review  c1996  ap.28-53  aMar  aWith the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, Panchayati Raj Institutions, or PRIs have acquired a statutory status as an integral part of our polity and have come to be recognised as institutions of self-government. This has given an impetus to decentralised governance and planning as strategies for the development of rural infrastructure and improvement of living conditions, especially of the weaker sections, so as to eradicate poverty, ill health, illiteracy, and other forms of backwardness. The experience of one State, Karnataka, viewed in a longer time frame, shows that local government bodies have had a chequered career and that, as a result of efforts by successive government regimes to rejuvenate, reinvigorate and change, panchayats here have, in significant measure, enjoyed that since qua non of decentralised government - political and financial autonomy. There is however a need for constitutional compulsion to make the States committed to devolving more powers, functions and resources so that panchayati raj might fulfill its mandate. - Reproduced  aPanchayat - India - Karnataka  aPanchayat  aSocial Change