Kachia Union Parishad Building
In 1861, the then Finance Minister expressed the opinion that in order to improve the local area, some power has to be handed over to the local institutions. On 14 December 1869, LordMeo emphasized the progress of the local area. Then in 1882, Lord Ripon made the first attempt to educate the public in more political education in order to establish local self rule in the country. Gladstone's full support for Lord Repton's proposal was that of then England's Prime Minister Gladstone. Then Lord Ripon announced on 18 May 1882 the historic proposal. Based on his suggestion, a bill was passed in the assembly meeting in Bengal in January 1883. In this proposal, the first union committee was formed for rural welfare.

From 1885 to 1919, the union council was named as the union council. Howrah District Administrator E.K. Westman Coat, an ICS officer, was appointed special duty for this matter. In order to perform the duties, he formed the first 180 Union Committee between the Bardhaman Presidency / Division and Munshiganj subdivision of Dhaka district. On March 31, 1884, the government accepted the proposal through a proposal. But it is delayed to pass the law for the opposition of the then Secretary-General. Then in March 1885, Mr. Macaulay raised the bill again. The bill on April 4 that year was finally passed. Today, we are taking advantage of local autonomy or union councils, that Lord Ripon first tried 130 years ago for the first recommendation and establishment.


Under 1885, three autonomous village autonomous organizations were established. The levels are (1) District Committee, (2) Thana Committee and Union Committee. Then there were 5 to 9 members in its membership. They were elected by the union's residents. In the first case the Chairman of the Union Committee was not in the provision of 1885. In 1908, the post of chairman was made in the revision of the law of 1885 in West Bengal. Accordingly, in 1914, East Bengal was introduced. Then there was the tradition of appointing the chairman from among the members. The term of the union committee was only two years. In 1896-97 local autonomy was re-considered. At that time in East Bengal there was strong flood. In order to deal with this flood situation, the first union committee has given some powers besides the local taxation.


In 1913 another committee was formed in the chairmanship of Mr. Livinz. The committee was able to provide important opinion in the field of local self-governance. The union committee advised the cancellation. On 24th April, 1918, Sir Surendra Pahasana Sinha recommended the formation of a new committee to break the Gram Panchayati Act of 1870 and the Union Committee of 1885. The new committee is named as Union Board. On 21st January 1919, Mr. Henry Wheeler presented the bill to the Select Committee. During the discussion, Mr. Sher-e-Bangla AKM Fazlul Huq recommended to put the Union Board under the control of the District Board instead of the District Magistrate. After a brief discussion on the bill - after the criticism, the Village Autonomous Government Act passed in 1919 that year. Under the said law, a union board will generally be composed of 10 villages. The average size of the union was 10 to 15 miles, its average population was 10 thousand. According to the Union of Pirojpur district under the Act of 1919, Union Board was started since 1920. The tenure of the union board was 3 years. Sir Surendranath Banerjee was the first to become the Minister of Local Self-Government Affairs. In 1935, the term of the union board was made 4 years. In this law, a vice-presidential election was organized in addition to the president. In 1957, the law was amended in 1919 when East Pakistan Act No. 35 was adopted. Voting on public ballot canceled, secret ballot was introduced. The union is divided into 3 wards. In this law, women are given the right to vote for the first time.

On 27 October 1959 Field Marshal Ayub Khan started basic democracy. Union Council changed its name to Union Council The tenure of the union council was 5 years. The Vice Chairman's post was canceled in 1965. In 1971, the name of the union council was renamed to the relief committee. On 1 January 1972 the union council and relief committee was dissolved and the union panchayet was named. The new constitution was made on 14 December 1972. Rules were made by the Jatiya Sangsad on June 30, 1973. Union Parishad's name was changed to the name of the Union Parishad. During the military rule of Zia, on November 20, 1976, the local self-governing ordinance was issued. Keeping the name of the Union Parishad, all the government has continued to work. Awami League came to power in 1996, instead of 3 wards, created 9 wards and 3 women members were given direct participation in the elections. Although there is a long history of the Union Parishad, the path to making this council strong and self-sufficient is still far. We wish the local government to develop and develop more.