Articles by D Bandyopadhyay

The real import of Article 243-G, which defines the powers, authority and responsibilities of the panchayats has not been well appreciated in most states. There has been little effort at getting the mass of the people involved in the planning process or in the setting of plan priorities. In this process the interests of the silent though numerically stronger sections of the people are not addressed. The Kerala model of a people's campaign for decentralised planning aims at resolving this issue.

Administration, Decentralisation and Good Governance D Bandyopadhyay I COMMEND the concept of 'good governance' in its simple English meaning. But I have a strong objection to the term as it is being touted in the recent years by multilateral and bilateral aid agencies as a part of precondition of aid or as a process of reform as conditions of aid. It is becoming an in-thing in recent development literature assiduously crafted and hawked by the north either to deny aid or to use it as leverage in securing changes in the system of governance in the aid receiving countries. The World Bank and the OECD have become great proponents of this concept. The World Bank has identified three distinct aspects of governance: (i) the form of political regime; (ii) the process by which authority is exercised in the management of a country's economic and social resources for development; and (iii) the capacity of governments to design, formulate and implement policies and discharge functions. The OECD uses the World Bank definition of governance with the following links: legitimacy of government (degree of democratisation), accountability of political and official elements of government (media freedom, transparent decision-making, accountability mechanisms), competence of governments to formulate policies and deliver services, and respect for human rights and rule of law (individual and group rights and security, framework for economic and social activity, and participation).1 One is touched by the mock modesty of the Bank document when it states that as its charter prohibits, it does not look into the form of political regime as if by manipulating the other two elements, it does not subvert the first, but the OECD which consists of the old imperial powers does not have any such compunctions. With all their commitment to legitimacy of governance and human rights et al, most of the aid was directed towards strategic allies in the cold war, to many authoritarian regimes, to many high military spenders. Even today, two-and-a-half times as much percapita ODA goestohigh military spenders as to low military spenders. Even today, strategic allies get preference over poor nations, for example, El Salvador receives 16 times as much US ODA per poor person as does Bangladesh even though Bangladesh is five times poorer.2 Isn't this a fine example of the north's sophisticated hypocrisy and subtle double-speak? The term 'good governance' as it is being used today by the north has become the symbol of recoloni- sation and new Imperialism.

D Bandyopadhyay With the onset of the development decades the aid agencies started sniffing around for projects to bring the small mountainous country into the mainstream of the third world development process. They were as sincere and motivated as their predecessors in the last century who endured untold suffering and took risks far beyond the normal' call of duty to take the light of the gospel to the healthens and pagans in the dark recesses of the world.

D Bandyopadhyay The Sixth Five-Year Plan had indicated a time-frame for completing various tasks under land reforms. Legisla- tion for conferment of ownership rights on tenants was to be enacted by 1981-82. The programme for taking over possession and distribution of ceiling surplus land was to have been completed by 1982-83. Both these tasks still remain unachieved.