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Business News/ Opinion / Online Views/  Local governance under attack
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Local governance under attack

Often bureaucrats assert power over local representatives, undermining the push for decentralized governance

One possible way of aligning the work of line departments and service utilities with Gram Panchayats could be to ensure coordination at the top levels of bureaucracy. Photo: Mint (Mint)Premium
One possible way of aligning the work of line departments and service utilities with Gram Panchayats could be to ensure coordination at the top levels of bureaucracy. Photo: Mint
(Mint)

Recently a small news item mentioned a ruling by the Additional Collector, Yavatmal district, sacking 664 Gram Panchayat members from various Panchayats for failing to construct a toilet in their homes. While this could be seen as a strike for total sanitation, a possibly inadvertent consequence could also be that this is yet another assault on the move towards true decentralization of power in India. It is of course unclear if the Additional Collector was merely carrying out the implementation of a policy that was framed earlier by district-level or state-level elected representatives. With this important caveat (and notwithstanding my total belief in total sanitation), I daresay that the decision is an example of an act of over-reach by a bureaucrat, asserting his power over local elected representatives. Such contradictions between the ideal and what is in practice are to be found in abundance in our governments—what I call the thousand small cuts that will result in our local governments bleeding to death.

One of the ideas contained in the decentralization reforms initiated following the 73rd Amendment was that local governments would assume the apex role for planning and execution at their respective levels. On the side of implementing government programmes, one of the initiatives is the merger of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) into the Zila Parishad (ZP). The choice of the DRDA was an important one, since Rural Development accounts for the overwhelming majority of the funds that flow to a district. In the conventional arrangement, the District Collector effectively sets the agenda for the DRDA bureaucracy. By bringing in the Zila Parishad, it is hoped that over time, local planning will take over in determining the priorities of government spending on the ground. Only a few states have managed to effect these changes in practice and one still sees the DRDA run by bureaucrats, with elected representatives merely signing off on pre-determined activity plans.

Service delivery is another one of the key responsibilities of Gram Panchayats – an important test of our faith in the efficacy of local governments. What I gathered from a round of field interviews in Kerala in 2009 was that there were repeated conflicts between Gram Panchayats and agencies such as the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) and Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB). Agencies such as the KWA and KSEB are semi-autonomous units set up the state government to manage utilities. Although decentralisation reforms place the local staff of these institutions under the control of Gram Panchayats, such controls hardly ever exist in practice. This is also because the workers in these utility-management agencies are part of powerful organised trade unions. Also, in many cases, while responsibilities for repairs and maintenance have been transferred to Gram Panchayats, funds are still held by these agencies.

One possible way of aligning the work of line departments and service utilities with Gram Panchayats could be to ensure coordination at the top levels of bureaucracy. Such coordination is glaring in its absence, either due to inter-departmental rivalries within the government or just plain neglect. Many state governments have a department for Panchayati Raj, which is saddled with miniscule funding from a couple of schemes such as the Backward Region Grant Fund or the Finance Commission funds. The Panchayati Raj department’s scope of activities therefore is limited to these schemes in isolation from the other government schemes in operation on the ground. This is fatal given that the success of Gram Panchayats depends on the cooperation and performance of transferred institutions which fall under other government departments. However, blatant ‘departmentalism’ protects non-cooperative behaviour by low-ranked line department staff who have been redeployed, along with transferred institutions to being under the control of Gram Panchayats. This is visible in the case of government employees such as doctors, teachers, anganwadi workers, etc. While upward accountability within line departments is irreplaceable, enhancing the ability of citizens to hold service providers to account is a critical component of good governance.

As with any other policy reform, decentralisation throws up significant challenges and pits entrenched interests against each other – both on the ground amongst communities, as well as in the corridors of power. I also fully recognise the irony that stems from the environment of distrust towards our Parliamentarians – nevertheless, we need to urgently strengthen the hand of local governments and the elected representatives if we are to have any hope of a robust system of local governance in our country in the years to come.

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Published: 25 Oct 2012, 10:16 AM IST
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