
Everybody
talks of a “Grama Rajya” as a great and good thing. It is perhaps one
proposal where everybody will agree is necessary. But they do not know
how to proceed to establish one. The Grama Rajya concept requires the
re-establishment of the old Village Committee which was based on the
traditional village. Unfortunately the village is no longer the unit of
administration at the level of the village. It was abolished in the
1980s by the UNP Government and replaced with
Pradeshiya Sabhas by an Act of Parliament in 1987 as part of the reforms under the
13th Amendment under which Provincial Councils were established.