Published Paper Details:

One of the aims of transferring power from the central authority to local bodies was to mitigate conflict and weaken the separatist tendencies in the conflict regions. For example, power was transferred in Uganda and Belgium, which aimed to counter the separatist tendencies there, while in Sri-Lanka, the LTTE demanded local government but never was transferred, which actually led to conflict. Since Jammu and Kashmir is a conflict region, creating and establishing institutions of local institutions was a hectic job, and then transferring power to them was even more disastrous because it was believed that this might further spark separatist aspirations, despite the state having a long history of Panchayat institutions. Despite this, the government of the state from time to time conducted elections for these institutions, which led to the establishment of Panchayat institutions. But due to conflict and political instability, these institutions became powerless and without functionaries over a period of time. This exacerbated the institutions' predicaments. After the abrogation of 370, the government of India has taken a number of steps to improve the conditions of these institutions. The present study is the secondary study that aims to analyse the impact of political instability and conflict on these institutions.