Democratic Decenralisation

'Decentralization may take any of the four forms

(Meenakshi Sundaram)

(i) Deconcentration Handing over some amount of administrative authority to

lower levels.
Transferring responsibility for specifically. defined functions to
(ii) Delegation organizations that are out side the regular bureaucratic
structure and indirectly controlled by the central government.
Creation and strengthening of sub-national unit of the
(iii) Devolution government activities of which are substantially outside the
direct control of the central government.

(iv) Privatization Passing all responsibility for functions to nongovernmental

organizations independent of the government.
Democratic decentralization Vs. delegation

Delegation means the grant of authority from a superior to a

subordinate, to be enjoyed not as a right but as a derived
concession and that also to be exercised at the pleasure of the
superior.

The term ‘democratic decentralization’ on the other hand means

grant of authority by a superior to a subordinate as a right to be
enjoyed by the subordinate and not as a concession
 ‘ Democratic decentralization’ Vs. ‘Administrative
decentralization’
Democratic decentralization envisages association of more and more people with
government at all levels, national, regional and local.

• Whereas, Democratic decentralization stands for people’s right to initiate their

own projects for local well-being and the power to execute and operate them in
an autonomous manner.
Administrative decentralization originated in the need for efficiency in terms of
initiative, performance and speed of administrative personnel, particularly at the
lower levels.
• Whereas, Administrative decentralization means the right to freedom of
implementing projects. It involves the right of the administrative personnel to do
associated planning.
 Democratic decentralization’ Vs. ‘democratic
centralism’
Democratic centralism seeks to combine democracy with centralism.

• It is centripetal- There is transfer of authority to the extent of complete surrender

and concentration to the top levels from the popular levels which form the base of
the pyramidal structure.
• Democratic decentralization is centrifugal, which implies there is transfer of power
from top to lower levels. The democratic principle finds a wider application in the
concept of democratic decentralization than in the idea of democratic centralism.
The underlying idea of democratic centralism is to widen the area of democracy,
which may exist at the top by granting both authority and autonomy to lower level
representative bodies of the people.
Further, democratic decentralization and local self-
government are not one and the same. Though both aim at
greater participation by the people and more autonomy to
them in the management of their affairs.
• It can be said that democratic decentralization is a political ideal and local
self government is its institutionalized form.
• Democratic decentralization is a plea to further democratize local self
government to enable it to enjoy more authority, shoulder greater
responsibility, take more initiative and experience greater autonomy in the
management of the affairs of the local area.
Democratic Decentralisation and Panchayati Raj
Institution

Direct local democracy has been mandated constitutionally through the 73rd and
74th Amendments.

The principle of ‘Cooperative Federalism’ (decentralised implementation based

upon harmonious understanding between the three tiers of governance – Centre,
State and local.

Article 243A which provides for Gram Sabha in PRIs, has become the face of direct
democracy in India. It aims towards decentralization and participatory democracy.
There are now approximately 250,000 Gram Panchayats, 6500 Panchayat
Samitis and 500 Zila Parishads duly elected and governed by State
legislation.

To function effectively, these require rationalisation of the district and sub-

district administrative apparatus consistent with the State level Conformity
Acts
 The Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992
To implement Panchayati Raj in India in 1993 the Constitution (73rd
Amendment) Act, 1992 came into force to provide constitutional status to the
Panchayati Raj Institutions.

Salient features of the Act are:

• i) to provide three-tier system of Panchayati Raj for all States having population of over 20 lakh;
• ii) to hold Panchayat elections regularly every five years;
• iii) to provide reservation of seats for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women (not less
than one-third of total seats);
• iv) to appoint State Finance Commissions to make recommendations regarding financial powers
of the Panchayats; and
• v) to constitute District Planning Committee to prepare draft development plan for the district
as a whole.
 Provisions of 73rd Amendment
Mandatory Optional
• 2-3 tier Structure • Direct Election of Gram Panchayat’s
Chairperson
• Direct Elections • Role and Scope of Gram Sabha
• Reservation for Weaker Section • Powers and Function of the Each Tier
• Fixed Tenure • Financial Devolution
• State Finance Commission • Maintenance and Audit of Accounts
• State Election Commission • Composition and Functions of DPC
• District Planning Committees • Reservation to Adhyakshas’ Posts at
• (DPCs) • Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zila
Panchayat Level by Rotation.

The 30 subjects to be assigned to the PRIs under the Eleventh schedule of the Indian Constituion.
3 Tiers of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI)
1. Gram Sabha
• Every habitation community to have a Gram Sabha which will exercise command over
natural regions, resolve disputes and manage institutions under it, like schools and
cooperatives.

2. Gram Panchayat
• Elected body of representatives of each Gram Saha, also to function as an appellate
authority for unresolved disputes at lower level.
3. Block / Taluk Level Body
• This is the next higher-level body suggested by the committee. In addition to this the
committee has suggested an elected body of autonomous district council at the district
level with legislative, executive and judicial powers for tribal areas covered under the Sixth
Schedule.
 Evolution of Panchayati Raj Institution in India
There is a mention of village panchayats in Kautilya’s Arthashastra. The institution of
Panchayats existed in India since ancient times.

After the Constitution came into force, Article 40 of the Directive Principles of State
Policy made a mention of panchayats and Article 246 empowers the state legislature
to legislate with respect to any subject relating to local self-government.
• However, this inclusion of panchayats into the Constitution was not unanimously
agreed upon by the then decision-makers, with the major opposition having come
from the framer of the Constitution himself i.e. B.R. Ambedkar.

Since the Directive Principles are not binding principles, the result was the absence of a
uniform structure of these bodies throughout the country.
 Perspective on Panchayat
Members of the Constituent Assembly averred that the panchayat was an ancient
Indian institution and in our blood.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru stressed, the power and authority must be transferred to
elected panchayat so that the fear that the villages would make a mistake must not be
allowed to come in the way.

Gandhiji observed: grama panchayat shall be entrusted with the dispensing of justice.
The poor farmers need not go out of their village, need not spend hard-earned money
and also need not waste their valuable time to meet the litigations in towns where
they may be exploited by the lawyers.
He said “The greater the power of the people, the better for the people”.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s critical view on Panchayati Raj was formed by the Indian reality
of village life in his period. It was substantiated by his own personal experiences also.

• So Ambedkar considered Gandhian ideas of Panchayati Raj as romantic.

• For Ambedkar those villages were nothing “but a sink of localism, a den of
ignorance and communalism”.
• The result was that the Constitution that was drafted under his Chairmanship did
not mention a word about Panchayati Raj.
Jawahar Lal Nehru took a middle path as both these perspectives carried weight in
its own right. Nehru did not take any action to implement Panchayati Raj in the first
10 years of his regime.
After 1957 with the recommendations of Balwantrai Mehta Committee Panchayati
Raj again became a focal point of action.
Community Development Programmes (CDP)
• India had implemented the Community Development Programmes (CDP) on the eve of Gandhi
Jayanti, the 2nd October, 1952 under the major influence of the Etawah Project undertaken by the
American expert, Albert Mayer.
• It encompassed almost all activities of rural development which were to be implemented with the
help of village panchayats along with the participation of people.
• In 1953, the National Extension Service was also introduced as a prologue to CDP. But the
programme did not yield much result.

Balwant Rai Mehta Committee

• In 1957, the National Development Council constituted a committee headed by Balwant Rai
Mehta to look into the working of community development programme.
• The team observed that the major reason for the failure of the CDP was the lack of people’s
participation.
• The committee suggested a three-tier PRIs, namely, Grama Panchayats (GPs) at the village level,
Panchayat Samiti (PSs) at the block level, and Zilla Parishad (ZPs) at the district level.
• this scheme of democratic decentralization was launched in Rajasthan on October 2, 1959.
Ashok Mehta Committee in 1977 did bring new thinking in the concepts and practice
of the Panchayat Raj.

• The committee recommended a two-tier Panchayat Raj institutional structure

consisting of Zilla Parishad and Mandal Panchayat.
• In order to use planning expertise and to secure administrative support, the
district was suggested as the first point of decentralization below the state level.
• Based on its recommendation, some of the states like Karnataka incorporated
them effectively.
• In subsequent years in order to revive and give a new lease of life to the
panchayats, the Government of India had appointed various committees.
The G.V.K. Rao Committee (1985) recommended making the “district” as the basic
unit of planning and also holding regular elections while the L.M.Singhvi
committee recommended providing more financial resources and constitutional
status to the panchayats to strengthen them.
 Issues with Local Governments in India
Insufficient Funding
• The money given to the local governments is inadequate to meet their basic requirements.

Inflexibility in spending the allocated budget

• The use of money is constrained through the imposition of several conditions.
• There is little investment in enabling and strengthening local governments to raise their own taxes and user
charges.
Lack of staff
• Local governments do not have the staff to perform even basic tasks. Furthermore, as most staff are hired by
higher level departments and placed with local governments on deputation, they do not feel responsible to
the latter; they function as part of a vertically integrated departmental system.

Untimely and delayed elections

• States often postpone the elections and violate the constitutional mandate of five yearly elections to local
governments.
• In Tamil Nadu, panchayat elections have not been held for over two years now, resulting in the State losing
finance commission grants from the Union government.
 Women Participation in PRIs
The Ashok Mehta Committee of 1978, after taking stock of the functioning of the PR
institutions and the state of rural development, emphasized upon the need to recognize
the role of women in the decision-making process and strengthening them further.

The 73rd and the 74th Amendments to the Constitution provides for the reservation of not
less than one-third of the total number of seats for women (including the number of seats
reserved for the SCs and STs).

Further not less than one-third of the total number of offices of chairpersons in the
Panchayats at each level shall be reserved for women. This would be rotated among
different Panchayats at each level.

The women's representation has been very encouraging in states like West Bengal,
Haryana, Maharastra and Rajasthan. In fact, in Kerala and Karnataka Gram Panchayat
elections, not only 33 percent seats but over 43 percent have been captured by women.
 Role of Women in Panchayats
Participation in election
• The Act provides for the reservation of not less than one-third of the total number of seats for
women. It is an attempt to ensure greater participation of women in election process directly
and indirectly.
• It would be the nursery of creating women politicians for national politics. Even the
participation of common women citizens in various activities such as attending Gram Sabha
meeting, etc. has reportedly increased (68-78 percent).

Participation in rural development

• Women are actively participating in rural development as per their capacity right from labourers
to policy- makers.
Participation in decision-making
• The participation of women as elected as well as non-elected members are rising due to
reservation for women. It acts as pull factor for women to participate in meeting. They give their
suggestions for various works and problems faced by them.
Women Concentrate More on Relevant Issues
• Some of the ways in which women are changing the governance are evident from the issues they
choose to tackle, like water, alcohol abuse, education, health, domestic violence etc.
• The women in power highlighted and promoted the advantages of proximity, whether it is a
drinking water source, a fuel source, a crèche, a health centre, a court of justice or an office of
administration.

Reducing corruption and violence

• Due to women representatives nexus of officers and male elected representatives are breaking,
which has a direct impact on reducing corruption.
• The role of local muscle power has substantially reduced due to active participation and
awareness of women about their rights and power.

Reduction in violence against women

• Domestic violence has substantially declined due to women pradhan or surpanch. These women
representatives take pro-actively take up such violence. The victims also feel free to share their
grievances to women representatives.
Reduction in violence against Dalits
• The dominance of upper caste patriarchs are substantially declined, hence the shackles of
caste is subsiding.
Practicing participatory democracy
• Growing participation of marginalised section in general and women in particular, is
transforming our democratic setup from representative democracy to participatory
democracy.

Economic Empowerment through Political Empowerment

• The entry of women into decision-making positions may lead to institutional reforms for
poverty reduction and economic empowerment of all specifically women and other
marginalized groups.
• The economic empowerment will further enhance the political empowerment of women.
 'The institution of "Sarpanch-Pati" or "Adhyaksha-Pati"
Limitations on women participation in PRIs intensified by illiteracy, gender
discrimination, and related restrictions on mobility that lead to proxy representation
by their male relatives in matters of planning, decision-making and implementation,
and non-conducive work environments.

Majority of women panchas are housewives and were either illiterate or educated up
to the primary level.

In large number of cases the decision to participate in the election was not their own.

If a seat was reserved for a woman, the men who were politically active convinced
their wife, mother, sister-in law to contest the election, in order to keep the family's
presence alive in local politics.
The phenomenon of "Sarpanch-Pati" suffer from
certain characteristics
(i)They display a lower level of political awareness.

(ii)They owe their primary loyalty to their family.

(iii)Their role of an elected representative is merely an extension of their role as a

housewife.

(iv)They serve the patriarchal interests of the family.

(v)They enter the political arena for protecting the constituency of their male
relatives and are prepared to vacate the same, once de-reserved. Illiteracy is
considered as the major cause for women to be used as sheer proxies.
 Major hindrances in women’s participation

Dual responsibility
• Women traditionally burdened with domestic workers face difficulties in balancing
the official work with their home.
Lack of security
• Well, sometimes due to lack of security women members fail to visit remote areas in
odd hours or attend meetings in faraway places. The gradual criminalization of
politics also is arresting their participation.
Lack of information and knowledge
• The limited exposure to formal education breeds information gap and dependency
on second-hand knowledge. In fact, consequently, political lineage determines the
distribution of benefits of the different schemes.
Due to the lack of exposure and experience
• Women members face difficulty in asserting themselves. And the fact
that the majority of women enter politics through reservation and
kinship arrangement only accentuates this problem.