Rural local self-government, known as Panchayati Raj, is the third tier of Indian federalism and consists of village or gram panchayats, panchayat unions or block samitis, and district panchayats or zila panchayats. The 73rd amendment to the Indian Constitution established panchayats as local self-government institutions and implemented the current three-tier panchayati raj system of gram panchayat, panchayat samiti and zila parishad, with gram panchayats having directly elected representatives and the others having indirectly elected representatives. The main objective is to decentralize administration and develop rural areas by giving more power to local