Synopsis The 73 Constitutional Amendment Act 1993 ushered in a new era of democratic decentralization, in which both powers and responsibilities are devolved upon elected Panchayats at the district, intermediate and village levels. The Eleventh Five-Year Plan, which has identified inclusive growth as the overarching objective, seeks to 'substantially empower and use PRIs as the primary means of delivery of essential services that are critical to inclusive growth.' The plan asserts that 'it is absolutely critical for the inclusiveness of our growth process that these large numbers of elected representatives in our PRIs are fully involved in planning, implementing and supervising the delivery of essential public services. A detailed road map as to how this could be achieved has been elaborated in this book.