The idea of devolving power to local governments was part of the larger political debate during the Indian national movement. It had strong advocates like Mahatma Gandhi who felt that the panchayats had to be the basis of government in independent India. This volume maps the trajectory that decentralisation of government has taken in the decades following Independence and discusses the constitutional changes and policy decisions that make governance more accountable to and accessible for the common man. It presents a set of twenty-five readings that analyse the impact of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, which gave autonomy to the institutions of both rural and urban governance.
List of Tables, Figures and Maps Introduction T. R. Raghunandan 1. Political Role of Panchayati Raj V. M. Sirsikar 2. Decentralisation Below the State Level Need for a New System of Governance Nirmal Mukarji 3. Decentralised Planning An Overview of Experience and Prospects C. H. Hanumantha Rao 4. Panchayati Raj Bill The Real Flaw B. K. Chandrashekar 5. Perspectives: Panchayats versus Multinationals Case of Du Pont Norma Alvares 6. Women in Panchayati Raj Grass Roots Democracy in Malgudi Poornima Vyasulu and Vinod Vyasulu 7. Democracy and Social Capital in Central Himalayas Tale of Two Villages Niraja Gopal Jayal 8. Panchayati Raj The Way Forward Mani Shankar Aiyar 9. Grass Roots Politics and ‘Second Wave of Decentralisation’ in Andhra Pradesh Benjamin Powis 10. Networks of Panchayat Women Civil Society Space for Political Action Amitabh Beharand Yamini Aiyar 11. Poverty Alleviation Efforts of Panchayats in West Bengal PranabBardhan and DilipMookherjee 12. Experiment with Direct Democracy Time for Reappraisal Amitabh Behar 13. Building Budgets from Below Ahalya S. Bhat, Suman Kolhar, Aarathi Chellappa and H. Anand 14. Impact of Reservation in Panchayati Raj Evidence from a Nationwide Randomised Experiment Raghabendra Chattopadhyay and EstherDuflo 15. Law of Two-Child Norm in Panchayats Implications, Consequences and Experiences Nirmala Buch 16. Federalism, Urban Decentralisation and Citizen Participation Ramesh Ramanathan 17. Fiscal Decentralisation to the Sub-State Level Governments M. A. Oommen 18. Functional Devolution to Rural Local Bodies in Four States Indira Rajaraman, Darshy Sinha 19. Neighbourhood Associations and Local Democracy Delhi Municipal Elections 2007 Stéphanie Tawa Lama-Rewal 20. Expanding the Resource Base of Panchayats Augmenting Own Revenues M. Govinda Rao, U. A. Vasanth Rao 21. Women in Power? Gender, Caste and the Politics of Local Urban Governance Mary E. John 22. Revenue Efforts of Panchayats Evidence from Four States Pratap Ranjan Jena, Manish Gupta 23. Local Democracy and Clientelism Implications for Political Stability in Rural West Bengal PranabBardhan, SandipMitra, DilipMookherjee, AbhirupSarkar 24. Limits of a ‘Devolution Index’ M. A. Oommen 25. Beyond Feminine Public Altruism Women Leaders in Kerala’s Urban Bodies J. Devika, Binitha V. Thampi