SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The object of this work is to present, in a reasonably moderate compass, the complete story of the development of Local Self-Government in Assam during the years 1874 to 1919. An effort has been made to describe and discuss the origin of the system, the different phases of its development, its aim and object, its effectiveness and its place in the social and political lift of the people. The subject has been divided into Municipalities, Local Boards and Village Authorities. The first chapter is chiefly intended to serve as an introduction to the subject as a whole. For this reason attention is dram to such topics as the physical geography of the province with its bearing on the subject, the systems of Local Government under the native rulers, the beginning of municipal and rural institutions under the British rule and the earlier policies of the Government which laid the foundations of the system. The second chapter gives an account of the evolution of municipalities as a result of the various enactments. The third chapter deals with the Municipal Finance. In this various sources of income and their merits end demerits are discussed, while in the fourth chapter various municipal services concerning the public safety, public health, public convenience and public instruction are dealt with. The fifth chapter describes Government control over the municipalities end how the Government gradually relaxed the control to enable the authorities to become more and more autonomous. Chapter six is devoted to the constitutional development of the Boards and the factors responsible for changes, while in the next chapter the Revenue of the Boards is dealt with. Chapter eight gives an account of the functions of the Boards with different stages of their development, while in chapter nine Government control and the successive stages of its relaxation arc discussed. The chapter ten is on the village authorities. They existed only for three years of the period of our study.