Abstract
The structure and function of local government of Bangladesh underwent changes during the British and Pakistani rules as well as there had been several changes made to the structure of the local government bodies in the name of decentralization after independence. The institution of local government can help to establish and deepen democratic process and practice as well as ensure participatory development. This paper is an attempt to know how local government is deepening democratic maturity at the grass-root level through the Union Parsihad. The study has been conducted depending on secondary information sources. This study focused on several important procedures which deepen democracy at the grass-root level such as universal franchise, secret ballot, periodic election; people’s participation, accountability and transparency. The paper suggested some strategies such as women empowerment through practice, visible auditing system, community participation in standing committees, participatory open budget mobilizing local own resources, effective coordination which could be more effective to strengthen Union Parishad for propagating of local democracy in Bangladesh. Key words: Local self-government institution, participatory democracy, Union Parishad, grass-root level.
Highlights
Local self-governmenti has been repeatedly identified as a key strategic sector for improving governance and development in Bangladesh
The secondary data have been collected from the various text books and published research reports, various works related to local government which is entirely appropriate and wholly adequate to draw answer the objectives of this paper
Information has been presented in this study on the basis of various works, which focused on the local government system and democratic development
Summary
The local bodies have always been subjected to the domination of the bureaucrats and the national level politicians, since the inception of the system (Hussain, 2003) This problem is created due to not establishing values of local self-government. Decentralization of local government institution can create proper values for local self-government through creating political leadership, ensuring popular participation and developing an accountable administration that helps to plan and implement people-oriented development process. It is a political process of creating accountability and is the best means to bring government closer to people and institutionalizing democracy.
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