of local administration. Currently, the Panchayati Raj system exists in all states except Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Mizoram, and in all Union Territories except Delhi. The Panchayats receive funds from three sources: Local body grants, as recommended by the Central Finance Commission Funds for implementation of centrally sponsored schemes Funds released by the state governments on the recommendations of the State Finance Commissions History Panchayati raj originated in 2nd millennium BCE in India during Vedic times. Since Vedic times, the village (gram) in the country is considered as the basic unit for regional self-administration. Mahatma Gandhi advocated Panchayati Raj as the foundation of India's political system, as a decentralized form of government in which each village would be responsible for its own affairs. The term for such a vision was Gram Swaraj ("village self-governance"). Instead, India developed a highly centralized form of government. However, this has been moderated by the delegation of several administrative functions to the local level, empowering elected gram panchayats. There are significant differences between the traditional Panchayati Raj system, that was envisioned by Gandhi, and the system formalized in India in 1992. The Panchayati Raj system was first adopted by the state of Bihar by the Bihar Panchayat Raj Act of 1947. It was a continued legacy of local self government started by Lord Ripon in the British era. Later it was implemented by the state of Rajasthan in Nagaur district on 2 October 1959. During the 1950s and 60s, other state governments adopted this system as laws were passed to establish panchayats in various states. The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, headed by the Member of Parliament Balwantrai Mehta, was a committee appointed by the Government of India in January 1957 to examine the work of the Community Development Programme (1952) and the National Extension Service (1953), to suggest measures to improve their work. The committee's recommendation was implemented by NDC in January 1958, and this set the stage for the launching of Panchayati Raj Institutions throughout the country. The committee recommended the establishment of the scheme of ‘democratic decentralization’, which finally came to be known as Panchayati Raj. This led to the establishment of a three-tier Panchayati Raj system: Gram Panchayat at the village level, Panchayat Samiti at the block level, and Zila Parishad at the district level. On 24 April 1993, the Constitutional (73rd amendment) Act of 1992 came into force in India to provide