Planning for Empowerment-People s Campaign for Decentralised Planning in Kerala

People's Campaign for Decentralised Planning in Kerala T M Thomas Isaac K N Harilal Despite the acclaimed advantages of decentralisation of planning and repeated commitments made in its favour, the planning process in India has remained a highly centralised affair. None of the departmental exercises - so-called district plans, block level planning or area level programmes has been able to ensure genuine planning from below, sensitive as such planning should be to complex local-specific problems and felt needs of the people.