Local self-government

A recent seminar in Mumbai attempted to adjudge the direction of change in existing social institutions and those established after independence, as well as the obstacles to forming effective social institutions in the country. In spite of the disheartening picture that emerges, of an iniquitous process in terms of development and empowerment, there are hopeful signs of fruitful alliances in various segments of society as well as of audible articulation of alternatives.

Pakistan's local/district government system is being seriously undermined by the provincial governments, casting doubts on the prospects of success for Musharraf's devolution plan. The tussle indicates a systematic problem preventing the coexistence of these systems of government, and also shows that the survival of the devolution plan is in peril unless it is brought into the mainstream of democratic politics.

This paper evaluates the fiscal success of recent efforts towards reforming and strengthening rural governments in India through the process of rural decentralisation initiated with the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act in 1992. It measures the extent of fiscal decentralisation that has taken place in order to evaluate how far the rural governments have effective control over expenditure decision-making. The analysis is based on budget data of rural governments in seven Indian states for the decade of the 1990s and presents recommendations to make fiscal decentralisation more effective.

The people's planning programme, launched in Kerala in 1997, heralded a new approach towards decentralised planning and the participation of people in development programmes, especially by women and backward classes. However, the UDF, which took over government last year, has diluted many of the provisions of this programme, including funding, which may prove to be a setback to the functioning of this unique plan.