Kerala 2005 - of Planning Commission

CHAPTER 9
DECENTRALISED GOVERNANCE AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
147
budget) providing figures of the devolved plan grant-in-aid
(including untied funds) and schemes transferred to PRIs.
A comprehensive general Government Order issued in
September 1995 placed a large number of Government
institutions, officials and personnel, both professional and
ministerial, under the control of the local governments.
The new Communist-led Left Front which came to power
in 1996 launched a People’s Plan Campaign with a ‘big
bang’ 11 approach. Decentralisation was thought of, if not as
a panacea for all ills, as a way out of the specific problems
facing Kerala. It was expected to facilitate local level
development by mobilising both people and resources to
strengthen the productive base, especially in the primary
sector by creating and maintaining public and collective
goods such as in land and water management and
agricultural extension. In fact, the urge for decentralisation
went beyond this. The aim was the establishment and
institutionalisation of local self-government.
Since not much had happened by way of transfer of
functions and functionaries from the line departments to
the local bodies, in 1996, when the left led coalition came
to power, a Committee on Decentralisation of Powers
(known as the Sen Committee) 12 was appointed and based
on its recommendations, comprehensive amendments were
enacted in 1999 to the Kerala Panchayati Raj Act of 1994
and Kerala Municipality Act of 1994.
3.1.2 Decentralised Planning
Along with the appointment of the Sen Committee on
decentralisation of powers, the State Government also initiated
in 1996 a drive for decentralised planning in a ‘campaign’
mode, as mentioned earlier in an attempt at ‘participatory
development’. The experiment, given its uniqueness has
drawn considerable attention of scholars and policy-makers
at the national and international levels and we briefly touch
upon its distinct features: One, the process of planning was
emphasised to implement which an elaborate, phase-wise
structure was designed to enable ‘planning from below’,
starting with identifying felt needs/problems at the grama
sabha level with a built-in gender component at each stage
(see Box 9.2). Two, it started with a landmark government
decision, at the beginning of the Ninth Five Year Plan, to
earmark an amount of more than 35 per cent of the outlay of
the Ninth Five Year Plan towards projects and programmes to
be drawn up by Local Self-Government (LSGs) or Panchayat
Raj Institutions (PRIs), (see Box 9.3). Three, a detailed grama
panchayat wise data collection exercise 13 was undertaken
piecing together the history, present status, problems and
development prospects of each sector and written up into
a Panchayat Development Report (PDR) which served as a
critical ‘tool’ for sectoral planning/project formulations by
the ‘task forces’ (working groups in the Tenth Plan) set up
by the GPs. Four, a massive training and capacity building
exercise was undertaken at each phase of the plan process,
Box 9.2: Six Phases of the Planning Process during Ninth Plan
Phase Period Objective Activities Gender Component
I Grama Sabhas Aug. to Oct. 1997 Identify the felt needs of
the people.
Grama Sabhas in rural areas
and ward conventions in
urban areas.
Special subject group in the Grama Sabhas to
discuss gender problems.
II
Development
Seminar
Oct. to Dec. 1997
III Task Forces Nov. 1997 to March
1998
IV Elected Bodies March to
June 1998
Objective assessment of
the resources, problems
and formulation of
local development
perspective.
Participatory studies:
Preparation of development
reports, organisation of
development seminars.
Special chapter in development report on
gender issues. Special subject group for
discussing gender issues in the development
seminar.
Preparation of projects. Meeting of task forces. A special task force for women development
projects. Gender impact statement of
projects.
Formulation of plan at
grass-root tiers.
Plan formulation meetings of
elected representatives.
A separate chapter on women development
project. Ten per cent to be set apart for women
component plan.
V Elected Bodies April to July 1998 Formulation of plan at
higher tiers.
Plan formulation meetings of
elected representatives.
A separate chapter on women development
project. Ten per cent to be set apart for women
component plan.
VI
Volunteer
May to Oct. 1998 Appraisal and approval
Technical Corps 1 of plans.
Meetings of expert committees.
11 It refers to the massive nature of the planning exercise under the People’s Plan Campaign, in particular, the sudden devolution
of financial resources and responsibilities to local bodies before waiting to built capacities of the functionaries to assume their
new roles.
12 Named after its Chairman, the late Mr S. B. Sen, then Vice Chairman of the West Bengal State Planning Board. Its final report
was submitted in December 1997.
13 This was a gruelling experience since hardly any published information existed at the panchayat level and had to be collected
from whatever records existed in village offices, which too was converted into a mass participatory exercise. Some of the PDRs
contain very valuable information.