A Decade Of Decentralisation In Kerala

Contributed articles presented earlier in an international seminar held at New Delhi on New Delhi on October 7-9, 2005.

This book evaluates two decades of Kerala's experience on fiscal decentralization, finances and decentralized planning of rural and urban local governments and draws lessons for achieving sound fiscal decentralization in developing countries.

This volume examines the process of decentralisation in India since the 1992 legislation which devolved powers to local government bodies to ensure greater participation in local governance and planning. It studies the functioning of gram sabhas, panchayats, school development committees, water supply and sanitation committees, Residents Welfare Associations, and rural development schemes like the MGNREGS, analysing their effectiveness and tracing the political, administrative, and fiscal powers the local government wields. With case studies from different Indian states, the book examines the functioning of local governance mechanisms and institutions in relation to crucial issues such as citizen participation, the participation of women and disadvantaged groups, fiscal decentralisation, peace-building, economic development, and education, among others. Comprehensive and insightful, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of development studies, political science, public policy, governance studies, regional development, political economy, political sociology, public administration, and South Asian studies, especially those focusing on India.

Based on a large number of interviews with women politicians of many generations and women who have entered the three-tier Panchayati Raj institutions since the mid-1990s in Kerala, this book tries to initiate fresh debate on the impact of the large-scale induction of women into the institutions of local self-government in India. The State of Kerala has been hailed as a success story in accommodating gender concerns in local-level planning and political decentralisation; this conclusion has been based on relatively simple evaluative exercises that ask whether women of diverse backgrounds have gained entry into formal institutions of governance or not. This book seeks to place political decentralisation and its possibilities for women within the historical and contemporary contexts. Against the popular assumption that the liberal feminist promise made by the state will be delivered, say, once the noxious influence of male relatives is removed, the book points to the multiple social forces that shape possibilities and hindrances for women, and reshape gender divisions in the political field. The book thus pays attention to women in both local governance and politics. Secondly, it examines how women have utilised, extended, survived within or subverted these spaces. In the present context in which fifty per cent of the seats in the institutions of local self-government are being reserved for women, and there exists considerable skepticism about reservations for women in the Parliament, this book offers reflections on both local governance and ‘high’ politics. Published by Zubaan.

Contributed articles with reference to the state of Kerala, India.

The Indian state of Kerala is known for its high social model of development and social democratic governance. This book presents the most comprehensive analysis of the Kerala Model of Social Development to date. The model has often been identified as one worth emulating because it is seen to have taken the state to the zenith of human development and democratic governance. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the book sheds new light on the paradoxes of the Indian state and its model of economic development. The book provides a consolidated exploration and critique of the Kerala model, which usually has been portrayed as linear with the grand narrative of progress, development and democracy. Chapters discuss the past and present dimensions of the Kerala experience from a historical and political-economic perspective, thus providing a fresh understanding of the emerging concerns in the state and the construction of an ethically viable development agenda, eschewing the scourge of social inequity. A significant contribution to the literature on development, democracy and the state, it analyses the complex interconnectedness of the various political-economic and socio-cultural domains involved in these experiences.

1.1 Introduction Management of public finance is the responsibility of the Central, State and Local Self Governments. This arises in the content of the responsibility of the respective goals to look after the welfare of the people. In discharging the duty of the governments the Local Self Governments have to implement various schemes and programmes involving expenditures of different types. In order to finance these expenditures, governments have to mobilize funds by way of taxes in addition to receiving financial assistance from the central and state governments and other institutions. Mobilization of necessary financial resources and the proper spending of the amounts are the major responsibilities of the governments concerned. The administrative efficiency of a government depends upon the manner in which public finance is successfully managed to the best advantage of the society. This is a difficult task requiring dedication and honesty on the part of the governments at all levels.

Deliberative democracy can be seen as a part of the agenda of deepening democracy, wherein the public deliberation of citizens forms the basis of legitimate decision-making, with the people participating directly in the deliberations or making of decisions that affect them. Although political theorists have long contended that democracy should not be based merely on voting but also on informed public debate and despite diverse attempts at deliberative democracy having been made in various parts of the world, it is only during the recent decades that such initiatives have gained momentum. In terms of procedural democracy and the working of democratic institutions, India’s record is considered to be noteworthy. However, questions relating to deliberative democracy have come to the fore, particularly in the recent years, with questions of inclusion and equality posing major challenges. The essays in this volume address various dimensions of the issue, ranging from a theoretical conceptualization of deliberative democracy to its role in constitution-making, Gandhian contributions to deliberative democracy, civil society interventions and the role of the media in deliberative processes in India, the participation of new social movements, Dalit and ecological movements, as well as the intricacies of deliberation and decentralization, and issues of development, marginalization and mobilization. The volume facilitates an understanding of the broad contours and evolving nature of democracy in India and how the Indian experience can inform larger debates on deliberative democracy. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.