India, Royal Commission on Decentralization [Est. 1907], an octagonal brass nameplate, 95 x 76mm. Very fine £40-60

Panchayats, or village councils, had existed in India for the previous two millennia but their autonomy and effectiveness had been curtailed after the 1857 Mutiny. However, the consequent slow progress of local self-government and the establishment of municipal bodies during the latter years of the 19th century resulted in the establishment of the Royal Commission on Decentralization in 1907. Chaired by Charles Hobhouse, the commission, whose work lasted until 1909, recommended that the administration of local village affairs should be the work of panchayats, not colonial administrators. Punjab was the first province to incorporate the commission’s recommendations in a statute