ABSTRACT
This chapter expresses that a radical policy-prescription like the Seventy-Third Amendment Act cannot be conceptualized without reference to the milieu in which it was thought-about, devised and finally implemented. The supplementary argument is about the changing nature of India's political leadership that, being receptive to grassroots initiatives, also responded favourably to chart out a new ideological path of action. In India's administrative history, the Seventy-Third and Seventy-Fourth Amendment Acts provided a well-designed arrangement for meaningful representation of people at the grassroots in governance. The Seventy-Fourth Amendment Act has surely revived urban local bodies in India, but they still face a number of hurdles. The first and most serious hurdle facing urban local bodies is the acute scarcity of finance. Financial autonomy is the sine qua non of any organization. Local bodies in India were known for their perennial financial stringency. Supporters of the idea of localism believe that locally developed solutions gain high acceptance and suit the local requirements.
