India 

Introduction

The Republic of India is a federal union comprising 28 states and seven union territories in the south Asian sub-continent. It has a population of 1,129,866,154 and a land area of 3,287,263 sq km.

India is composed of 28 states, each with its own state legislature and numerous local government bodies within its territory. Besides these, there are also seven union territories governed directly by the union government (central government), which may have one or more local government bodies within their territory. Local government is divided between the rural authorities (panchayats) and urban authorities (municipalities). Each sector is further subdivided into a number of areas based on population.

In 1995 the contribution of local government to GDP was 4.6 per cent. 

Summary

Local government in India is recognised and protected by the national constitution but is entrusted to the states, each of which has its own specific legislation. The main division is between local government in rural and urban areas; other distinctions also exist based mainly on population size.

Organisational structure varies, but is based on a committee system. Notable features of the system in India include the village-level panchayats, the one-third reserved places for women and reserved places where appropriate for marginalised groups – the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

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