The 73rd constitutional amendment 1992, established the third tier of governance and ensured local self-governance by granting constitutional status to Panchayati raj Instituions (PRIs). It alms to fulfill Gandhiji's vision of Gram swaraj. lt is a significant step towards transforming representative democracy into grossroot participatory democracy which is a community driven contribution in governance and decision making.

Significance of PRIs :

• Representative: The PP amendment made it mandatory that the people's representatives are directly elected.
• Women leadership: The 73rd amendment gave women one third reservation of total seats to women, not only as members but also in leadership role.
• Inclusive: Participation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Classes has increased in rural development.
• Rural development: With the devolution of 29 of state subjects like agriculture, rural households etc., peoples' participation in the process of planning, decision-making, implementation and delivery system in rural India has heen recognized.
• Grassroots participation: With the involvement of PRIs in implementing social sector schemes, Gram Panchayats and Gram Sabhas can now decide the types of work to be undertaken in the village and use of funds earmarked under the scheme.
• Political awareness: Sense of responsibility and political awareness has Increased and consequent decrease in exploitation by the landlords, money-lenders and upper castes.
• Discarded archaic social institutes : It has lessened the importance of Caste Panchayats and political power is now less connected with the ownership of land.
• De-bureaucratization : The influency of bureaucracy has come down.

In this way 73rd amendment through PRIs has made representative democracy into participative one.But these local bodies face some issues in their effective functioning.

Issued faced with PRIs :

• Lack of dedicated functionaries : The local bodies do not have full time dedicated functionaries to perform their allocated functions. Thus, there is need to create a seperate cadre for local bodies with required training.
• Lack of functions : The states are hesitant to devolve more functions to the PRIs.
• Lack of Funds : PRI depend on state funding for implementing the projects of rural development which hampers their independent functioning as third tier.

Overall, 73rd Amendment Act has helped in institutionalizing Participatory Democracy at the Local level. The need of the hour is people's awareness and strengthening the system further to ensure a genuine transition from representative democracy to a participative one.