(i) Municipal corporations are established in big cities where the population of city is in many lakhs.
(ii) Municipal commissioner is the Administrative Officer.
(iii) Mayor is the Chairman of the corporation.
(iv) The term of the Mayor and other member hold office for a period of five years.

The functions of the Panchayat Union are:
(i) Supply of drinking water
(ii) Maintenance of Village Health Centres
(iii) Maintenance of the roads
(iv) Establishment of Maternity Homes
(v) Establishment of Public fair
(vi) Establishment of Veterinary hospitals
(vii) Maintenance of Social forest
(viii) Repairing of Primary School buildings

(i) In each and every village, the people living within its jurisdiction will be the members of Panchayat.
(ii) The President of the Panchayat will preside over its meetings.
(iii) In the meetings of the Gram Sabha, the income and expenditure and the beneficiary of the schemes in the village are discussed.

(i) Urban local governments are Corporation, Municipality and Town Panchayat
(ii) The area where more than 10,000 people are living is called a Town Panchayat
(iii) Municipalities were constituted in India for the first time in Chennai in 1688
(iv) Municipal Corporation are established in big cities.

In Tamil Nadu there are 12 Corporations. They are,
a) Chennai
b) Kovai
c) Madurai
d) Trichy
e) Tirunelveli
f) Salem
g) Erode
h) Vellore
i) Tuticorin
j) Tirupur
k) Tanjore
l) Dindigul.

(i) E.V. Ramasamy Periyar was the Chairman of the Erode Municipality for many years from 1917.
(ii) During his tenure in Erode Municipality, EVR worked effectively for drinking water supply and provision and Health facilities to the people.
(iii) He only provided the piped water supply first in India.
(iv) He was a member of the District Board and Secretary ofthe Water Works Committee and Plague Committee.
(v) He gave a proposal to expand the municipality by adjoining Neighboring areas but it came into existence only in 1980.

Problems and challenges facing the local self governments.
(i) Local self governments are the crucial basis for our democracy.
(ii) The Constitutional status of local self governments adds more significance to their functioning.
(iii) There are a few critical concerns in the working of local self governments in India.
(iv) Major problems and challenges may be mentioned as below.
1. Lack of clear demarcation of powers and functions of local bodies.
2. Allocation of funds and needs assessment are not matched.
3. Combined with accountability, the local self governments demand for more autonomy and economic freedom may be addressed.
4. Role of caste, class and religion in decision making at the local self governments.
5. Poor accountability of elected members and officials at the grassroots of democracy.

Salient features of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts (1992)
(i) Panchayats and Municipalities will be "Institutions of Self Government".
(ii) Basic Units of Democratic System - Grama Sabhas (Villages) and Ward Committees (Municipalities) comprising all the adult members registered.
(iii) Three tier system of panchayats at village, intermediate block/taluk/mandal and district levels. Smaller states with population below 2 million only two tiers.
(iv) Seats at all levels filled by direct election.
(v) Seats reserved for SCs and STs at all levels in proportion to their population.
(vi) One third of the total number of seats-reserved for women. One third of the seats reserved for SCs and STs also reserved for women. One third of offices of Chairpersons at all levels reserved for women.
(vii) Uniform five year term and election to constitute new bodies to be completed before the expiry of the term. In the event of dissolution, elections compulsorily within six months.