Q.Main differences between local governments before and after 73rd amendment.

Before the 73rd Amendment, local government existed only where and however a State chose to allow it; after the amendment, it became a uniform, constitutionally guaranteed institution with fixed elections, reserved seats, and defined subjects. …

Before the 73rd Amendment, local government was purely a State subject with no constitutional guarantee behind it. States could adopt a three-tier Panchayati Raj system (as Gujarat and Maharashtra did around 1960) or not; local bodies in many States were left without real powers or funds and remained dependent on State and central assistance; some States dissolved their local bodies altogether and handed local functions to government officers instead of elected representatives; many States relied on indirect rather than direct elections for their district-level bodies; and elections to local bodies could simply be postponed, sometimes repeatedly, with no constitutional requirement forcing a State to hold them. There was also no guarantee of reserved representation for women, Scheduled Castes, or Scheduled Tribes, and no fixed constitutional list of subjects or funds due to local bodies. …