Basic Democracies 1959

Historical Background:
Before the emergence of Pakistan, Lord Rippin, the Viceroy of India, introduced
the system of local government in South Asia. He established local boards at the
district and tehsil through an Act of 1884, whose responsibility was to solve the
problem of local people. But these instruction failed to solve the problems of the
people due to lack of powers and resources.
After the establishment of Pakistan, the system of Lord Rippin was adopted but
it could not prove useful because it was used as a political weapon. Thus the system
was completely suspended upto 1958 but after the imposition of Martial Law it was
totally abolished.

Introduction of Basic Democracies:

President Ayub Khan issued an ordinance of Basic Democracies on October 27,1959 and
introduced a system of Basic Democracies in Pakistan.

Function:

The function of Basic Democracies was to dissolve the powers at the grass root level to solve
the problems of the people through their own representatives.

Abolish:

The system could not bring any viable change nor could solve the problems of the people
because it was used as an “electoral college” for the elections . It was abolished by the
change of government in 1969.

Basic Democracies:

According to the system of Basic Democracies, the people were to elect the member of Basic
Democracies. The total number of Basic Democracies consisted of 80,000. Under the 1962
constitution, these formed an electoral college to elect the President, National Assembly,
and the Provincial Assemblies.

Tiers of Institutions:

The Basic Democracies system set up the five tiers of the institution:

1. Union Council & Union Committee

2. Tehsil (subdistrict ) Council and Thana Council

3. District Council

4. Divisional Council

5. Provincial Advisory Council

1. Union Council & Union Committee:

The lowest tier of the Basic Democracies was composed of union councils. It was called
Union Council for rural areas and Union Committee for urban areas. 1000 to 1500 voters
elected one member directly. He or she was called as the B.D Member.
Duties:

They were responsible for sanitation, arrangements of street lights and passengers’
House (Musafirkhana), keeping death and birth records . etc.

Besides Union Councils and Union Committee, Qasba Committees were set up in towns
having a population of 10,000 to 20,000 respectively. Municipal Committees were
established in cities having a population of more than 500,000. Cantonment Boards were set
up in cantonment areas for development projects.

2. Tehsil Council and Thana Council

The second tier was known as Tehsil Council in the West Pakistan and Thana Council in
the East Pakistan. Its chairman was called Divisional Officer. Tehsil Council comprised of
officials, nominated members and elected public representatives.

Duties:

Their duties included preparation of educational and economic projects in respective

areas.

3. District Council
On district level, District Council was set up. It was chaired y the Deputy Commissioner.
50% of the members of the members of the District Council consisted of nominated official
and non official members while 50% members were elected representatives.

Duties:

The district councils were assigned duties such as the construction of roads,
establishment of schools, sanitary arrangement, establishment of hospitals, measures to
prevent diseases, water supply schemes and development of cooperative societies etc.

4. Divisional Advisory Council

The council was set up at the divisional level. It was headed by the Deputy
Commissioner. All the Union Councils, Union Committees and Town Committees of the
District were given representation in it. This council was also composed of both official and
nominated members.

Duties:

The duties assigned included monitoring of different departments in the division and
preparation of proposals for various welfare activities.

5. Provincial Advisory Council:

Provincial Advisory Council was composed of the representatives of all the divisions. It
was directly under the Governor.

Duties:

This council performed the functions of monitoring all the institutions of Basic
Democracies in the province coordinating all the activities. The Governor was responsible to
send the report of his performance directly to the President.