Good Governance At The Grassroots: A Comparative Study of Youth Participation in Gram Panchayat And Village Committee in Tripura

The grassroot political institutions provide the foundation of grassroot democracy in India. They provide an element of direct democracy where people can be involved in face to face relationship and direct communication with leadership and administration. Hence, understanding the issue of governance at the grassroot democratic institutions becomes pertinent. Ensuring good governance is equally important for better performance of democratic institution including the grassroot institutions like Gram Panchayats (GPs) in India. India is also a country with highest number of youth population. The role of youth is important for strengthening the democratic institutions and ensuring good governance. The power of the youth, if harnessed properly, can set a society on the right path of change. Based on the primary and secondary data, the paper examines the importance of good governance and the role of the youth in ensuring good governance at the GPs and the Village Committee (VC), the two sets of grassroot political institutions in Tripura. It tries to address the issues and challenges of good governance at GPS and VCs. The study finds that most of the essential requirements of good governance are absent in the process of functioning of both GPs and VCs in Tripura. The study also observes that the role of the youth in this regard is not satisfactory. In most cases, they either lack enthusiasm or have limited interests in the affairs of rural administration performed by these local bodies. At last, the paper tries to explore the policy options for better performance of GPs and VCs in Tripura with increasing innovative role of youth.