Decentralization in South Indian States

Decentralization in South Indian States

G. Palanithurai

Professor, Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies

Department of Political Science and Development Administration

Gandhigram Rural Institute – Deemed University,

Dindigul

MJP Publishers

Chennai New Delhi Tirunelveli

ISBN: 978-81-8094-186-3

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Copyright MJP Publishers, 2015

Publisher : C. Janarthanan

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This book has been published in good faith that the work of the author is original. All efforts have been taken to make the material error-free. However, the author and publisher disclaim responsibility for any inadvertent errors.

List of Contributors

Dr. G. Palanithurai

Professor, Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies

Department of Political Science and Development Administration

Gandhigram Rural Institute – Deemed University, Dindigul

Dr. S. N. Sangita

Professor,

Centre for Political Institutions, Governance and Development (CPIGD)

Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore

Dr. Jos Chathukulam

Director

Centre for Rural Management

Kottayam, Kerala

Dr. M. Gopinath Reddy

Professor

Centre for economic and Social Studies

Hyderabad

Dr. N. Sivanna

Professor,

Centre for Political Institutions, Governance and Development (CPIGD)

Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore

Dr. M DevendraBabu

Associate Professor

Centre for Decentralization and Development

Institute for Social and Economic Change

Bangalore

V N Alok

Associate Professor of Public Finance

Coordinator, Centre for Urban Studies

Indian Institute of Public Administration

New Delhi.

Dr. V. Anil Kumar

Assistant Professor,

Centre for Political Institutions, Governance and Development (CPIGD)

Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore

Acknowledgement

Ever since the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India was enacted in Indian parliament, the Department of Political Science and Development Administration plunged into three dimensional actions namely academic, research and outreach with an objective of activating grassroots democracy and enabling the rural masses to participate in the process of governance and development. From awareness creation to capacity building all kinds of activities had been carried out in Gandhigram Rural Institute through a specialized action Centre – Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies. The committed activities of the Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies drew the attention of many donor agencies along with Central and State Governments. With the support of the many bilateral and multilateral funding agencies series of innovative Programmes more particularly action research had been initiated. Having seen the multi-level activities of the chair the Department of Political Science and Development Administration has been inducted into the Special Assistance Programme of the University Grants Commission. The focus area is also Decentralization in South Indian States. As part of the scheme, it is necessary to organize a National Seminar annually relating to the identified theme. For the past three years the Department had organized National Seminars on Elected Women Representatives and Decentralization, Elected Dalit Representatives and Decentralization, and Role of Panchayats in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme and Panchayats. In the fourth year to mark the 20th years of passing of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India, the Department has organized a National Seminar on Twenty Years of Decentralization in South Indian States. For this seminar I requested Dr.Jos Chathakulam from Kerala, Dr.N.Sivanna from Karnataka and Dr.Gopinath Reddy from Andhra Pradesh to write articles about the decentralization process in the respective states. I took responsibility of writing about the decentralization process in Tamil Nadu. Apart from all the lead papers I have requested Dr.Devendra Babu of ISEC, Bangalore to write on financial devolution in South Indian states. Along with them I have asked Dr.V.N.Alok to write an article on devolution index in south Indian states. I also invited Elected Representatives of Rural Local Bodies from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu to this seminar. From every state not less than five Elected Representatives have participated.

All the lead papers had been presented in each session. One and half hours had been given to each paper. After each presentation, elected representatives had been asked to supplement and to make observation and followed by a discussion on the paper presented. In such a way all the papers had been presented and discussed. A panel discussion was arranged among the elected representatives of local bodies of all the four states. Finally papers written by research scholars and academics had been presented in one session. Based on the discussion in the seminar Dr.Jos Chathakulam, Dr.G.Palanithurai, Dr.Gopinath Reddy, Dr.N.Sivanna, Dr.Devendra Babu, Dr.V.N.Alok had been asked to revise and update their papers. All the papers have been compiled and edited for this volume. Along with the papers Dr.S.N.Sangita’s paper on Political Regimes, Decentralized Governance and Social Security in South Indian States has been included in this volume. Two other papers which I have written and published in two different journals have been included in this volume as they are relevant. They are: Democratization through Decentralization and Decentralization of Powers: Acceleration and Decelerations. The edited volume is possible because of the contribution made by the scholars from four southern states. They took pain to write these articles within the stipulated time. After making presentation, they have revised the papers.

Hence I must register my sense of gratitude to Dr.Jos Chathakulam, Dr.Gopinath Reddy, Dr. DevendraBabu, Dr.N.Sivanna, Dr.S.N.Sangita, and Dr.V.N.Alok for their contributions and cooperation. Equally I must express my thanks to my colleagues Dr.V.Ragupathy, Dr.A.Celine Rani, Dr. K.S.Nakkeeran for their cooperation in organizing the event perfectly. My research scholars Ms. K. Aruna, Mr. D. Sivakumar and Mr. P. Sathyarajwho deserve my appreciation for their earnest efforts in organizing the seminar and working for putting together all the articles for publication. I thank the authorities of UGC for their funding support and equally authorities of Gandhigram Rural Institute to enable to organize this Programme. I must express my special thanks to the elected representatives of four states who contributed immensely for enriching the seminar.

Finally I will be failing in my duty if I am not expressing my thanks to my family particularly my wife Mrs.Mala with all her ailments she never asked my time and she allowed me to continue my academic work without any interruption. I always do my academic work with a guilty feeling that I have failed in my duty as head of the family in attending some of the family commitments. In this regard I must thank my wife Mrs.Mala for deep devotion in looking after my family. My daughter Mrs. P.SenthilVadivu and my son Mr. P.Aurobindh have gone for their career pursuits and yet their attention on me and my wife deserve my appreciation.

G. Palanithurai

INTRODUCTION

The 73rd Constitutional Amendment is a milestone in the modern history of India and it has taken democracy to the grassroots. It started the process of dismantling the discriminatory social structures and practices at the grassroots. Dalits, Tribals and women have been provided with enormous opportunities to empower themselves and to govern and take decisions to bring development to the hitherto marginalised and to achieve social justice. It aims to transform the characteristics of our democracy from representative to representative and participatory democracy. Through this process, the deliberative aspect of democracy has been integrated into the practice of representative democracy from grassroots to national parliament. Our democracy has to move from institution to behaviour through the process of decentralization. Hence, the framework for decentralization created through the 73rd Amendment has to be translated into action by the state governments as it is a state subject in the constitution. Thus, the decentralization process has to be taken to a logical end by the efforts of the central government, state governments, civil society, media, academia and a number of other agencies.

The two decades of experiments of Panchayati Raj have demonstrated the power of decentralization and empowerment in bringing social development and transformation. Yet one would find volley of barriers and obstacles in the process of decentralization. Thus, decentralization of powers in India becomes a struggle. The 73rd amendment has opened opportunities for good governance and self-governance. But the process and nature of the decentralization differ from state to state. India is a sub-continent and the conditions of the society widely vary from province to province and hence bringing fundamental change and transformation in the society is not so easy through the political process. In a feudal society, empowerment of the marginalized is a long drawn process of struggle. Because power not only moves from state capital to district, district to block, block to village vertically and it moves from dominant communities to the oppressed, rich to poor, men to women, and caste Hindus to Dalits. Getting power from the state government and from dominant communities and groups is not an easy task. Efforts are on with the interventions of different agencies for effective decentralization of powers. It is not a month or one-year process. It is a long drawn process. Since two decades have gone after passing the 73rd Amendment Act the experience in decentralization has to be documented.

Against this background, a two-day National seminar on ‘Two Decades of Decentralization Experience in Southern States of India’ had been organized by the Department of Political Science and Development Administration, Gandhigram Rural Institute from 11th to 13th March, 2013. This National Seminar was part of the activities of the UGC - SAP DRS-I of the Department of Political Science and Development Administration in the Gandhigram Rural Institute. The National seminar had provided opportunity for scholars from four southern states – Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh – to have a dialogue and discourse on the Decentralization Process in the four southern states. The seminar had focused its attention on the following aspects:

1. Initiatives of the state government provided in decentralization process,

2. barriers and obstacles in the process;

3. decentralization and Service delivery;

4. Empowerment of women, Dalits and other marginalized;

5. Participatory process in decision making at the grassroots;

6. capacity building of the local institutions and representatives;

7. innovation in local governance and local development.

The seminar was structured into two parts. First part of the seminar was invited lectures. Specialists who contributed continuously and substantially on their specialization had been invited to make a comprehensive presentation on the decentralization process in the respective states. For the National Seminar, a framework has been evolved to ask the scholars to write papers and make presentation.

DECENTRALIZATION OF POWERS: A FRAMEWORK FOR COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India has given a framework for transfer of power from the state governments to the rural local bodies. Since the local bodies are the state subjects in the Constitution of India, the central government cannot go beyond the enactment of the amendment to the Constitution of India. It is the responsibility of the state governments to operationalise the basic framework of decentralization of powers. Since conditions of provinces vary enormously from state to state, operational flexibility has been given to the provincial governments. Yet basic institutional structures and their functions have to be created in every state to evolve a system of governance and administration at the grassroots. As a result, a three-layered federal set up with three governments has been created. In India, decentralization process is top down and hence it is an imperative need to drive and enable the state governments to decentralise powers to local bodies. Since it is a mandate of the constitution, whether the state is willing or not it is the obligation of the state governments to create a local body system and it enables them to function as an institution of local governance. When an institution is created, it has to be given certain responsibilities. To carry out the responsibilities, adequate resources have to be given to them along with needed functionaries. Hence, in India, after the enactment of the amendment to the Constitution of India state governments had taken steps to give shape to local bodies in the light of the amendment to the constitution of India. Barring a few states, state governments found it very difficult to create a strong local governance system as the states have developed an apprehension that this will help the federal government to weaken the state governments. By giving prominence to local bodies, the state government will have a chance to lose its image before the people. One cannot deny the above logic and argument as the state governments are losing their powers in the present context of globalization. The reform initiated at the level of central government has helped the central government to consolidate its powers over the states and made the state governments to depend on the federal government for resources. In such a way, the state governments have been kept in the background of the reform for globalization. Hence, the state governments have created a local body system to function under the control of the state governments. Having understood the perception of the states on decentralization of powers, the central government has created a ministry to facilitate and enable the state governments to decentralize powers to local bodies. It is nothing but supervision of the central government over state governments on decentralization of powers. Even the creation of such a ministry of Panchayati raj was opposed by a state government. Two decades have gone after the enactment of the amendment to the Constitution of India. What is the health of the rural local bodies? How they are able to perform their roles and responsibilities? What impact they have created in the society in terms of delivery of services and democratization of communities? How social justice and gender justice issues are tackled by the rural local bodies? How the planning exercises have been done at the grassroots level? What kind of leadership emerged at the grassroots? What kind of transformative process took place at the community level? And how the rural local bodies have empowered the marginalised? are some of the questions continuously posited by the researchers and they are being investigated at different levels. A few south Indian states were taking lead in establishing first and second wave of decentralization. Equally they joined in third wave of decentralization also. Hence, in order to understand a comprehensive process of decentralization of powers in south Indian states an exercise was done.

Basic Framework

Before going into the details of the process of decentralization of powers in the states over a period, it is necessary to explain the basic framework of decentralization of powers. The whole local governance system has to work for economic development and social justice. This is the governing clause of the amendment to the Constitution of India. It should be done through a participatory process. Participation has got a wider and deeper connotation in this process. It has to enable every segment of the society to participate actively in governance and development process. As Indian society is afflicted with hierarchical social relations and feudal practice, democratising the communities at the grassroots is an imperative task built in the framework of decentralization of powers. In India, democracy is practiced through formal institutional structures but not in behaviour and practices in the realm of the society. In order to break the barrier in the process an enabling provision has been incorporated in the amendment to bring deliberative aspect in the process of governance at the grassroots. It is mandatory that the governance and development at the grassroots should be made inclusive. Therefore, two segments namely Dalits and Women should be adequately represented in the process of governance and development. By incorporating a provision of reservation of seats for the marginalised groups, Dalits and women are in position as critical mass to perform critical function. Thus, all the above aspects are the fundamentals of local governance. Local governments are to be evaluated on the above aspects.

To operationalise the key principle of decentralization of powers constitution of India has been amended and the fundamentals have been incorporated. The 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India is the result of the above exercises. Basic elements in the framework of decentralization of powers are:

1. a three tier structurethree tier structure was created (Gram Panchayat, Block Panchayat and District Panchayat);

2. a participatory mechanism for people to participate in the process of governance and development has been created – Gram Sabha;

3. a regular election in every five year for all the positions is ensured;

4. a planning machinery at the district level – district planning committee has been created;

5. a machinery to conduct election periodically – state election commission has been created;

6. an instrument to ensure regular flow of resources to institutions for their functioning – state finance commission for every five year has been constituted;

7. a provision to include women in the process of governance and development not less than one third of seats in all the positions of local bodies have been reserved for women;

8. a provision to include Dalits in the process of development and governance – seats have been reserved for Dalits in all positions of local bodies proportionate to their population.

All the above aspects have to be taken into account while a local governance system is created at the grassroots in every state through a state act.

Operational Framework

The 73rd amendment has evolved a basic framework for establishing a rural local governance system in India. To operationalise the basic framework – both letter and spirit – the state governments have to take an array of steps that are fundamental and basic for the establishment of a local governance system. The first and foremost is enacting a conformity legislation for the creation of rural local governance system by conforming the spirit of the 73rd amendment to the Constitution of India. Secondly, to enable the state conformity legislation to act freely without having any obstacle, all contradictory state acts have to be amended. A rough estimate has been made and as per the estimate nearly two hundred state acts are in operations which are against the basic spirit of the state rural local governance act. Thirdly, to operationalise the provisions of the state conformity legislation rules have to be framed and they are to be notified through government orders. It should be in the form of manual. While preparing the manual for administration care has to be taken to simplify the process as large number of rustic people enters into local governance. Local governance system has to be created in such a way that it should be understandable to everyone in the community. Fourth, a massive awareness has to be created among the masses about the new system and process for rural local governance and its implications. It should be done in a campaign mode. People should know how they are going to get benefits out of the new local governance system. In such a way, awareness has to be created. Equally sensitization exercise has to be done with an objective of making the poor to participate in the local governance process. Fifth, setting up of a state election commission with full autonomy by the state government and enabling the machinery to work independently is the yet another task to be done by the state government. Sixth, setting up of a state finance commission with full freedom for every five years to enable the local bodies to enjoy adequate resource flow to cater to the needs of the people is the imperative task to be done by the state government. Along with the above, the state governments have to get the reports in time and take action on the recommendations of the state finance commission. Seventh, help the state election commission to conduct the local body election periodically by the state governments. Eighth, once the elections of rural local bodies are over, the elected representatives have to be trained and their capacity has to be enhanced. Before starting the capacity building exercise, activity mapping has to be evolved as to who has to perform which task. Once activity mapping is on hand, it can be given to all stakeholders in the training programme. Ninth, along with elected representatives the officials those who are going to work with the elected representatives in rural local bodies have to be oriented and trained. Tenth, the institutional capacity has to be enhanced and far which enabling conditions have to be created by providing adequate infrastructure and man power to three-tier structure of the rural local governance. Eleventh, a monitoring unit at the state level has to be created to monitor the progress of governance at grassroots and periodically report the problem, involved in the process to the state government. Twelfth, creating partnership with media and civil society for setting helping hand for the effective functioning of the local governance machinery at the grassroots is the imperative task of the state government. Thirteenth, support structure has to be built for the elected representatives to sort out their problems through their collective action and they are to be done by different agencies. Fourteenth, state governments have to take steps to implement the recommendations of the second administrative reform commission. Fifteenth, the recommendations of the Second Administrative Reform Commission have to be implemented by the central government, which is crucial. Finally the central government has to take steps to implement the recommendations of the Mani Shankar Aiyar committee. All the above steps have to be taken by both state and central governments. On all the above steps, a deep research is needed to understand the decentralization process in India.

Framework of Operationalization of Decentralization

All the steps are enabling provisions to strengthen the rural local governance system and they are to be taken mostly by the state government in a mission mode. All the initiatives of the state have to be supported by the central government. To do the above, political will is the need. In the absence of political will, what is the alternative is the question. Since the scheme of decentralization of powers is top down exercise, people have to be conscientised and sensitized on the positive impact of decentralization of powers in their lives and thereby a social will has to be created. By demanding powers by the people through an organized way, political will can be created and for which a movement of the people is needed. To do the above job, apart from the central and state governments a large number of agencies are needed Power transfer will not take place unless there is a strong will at the top or a movement from below.

Through the act, local governance system has been created. To enable the system to function election has been conducted and the elected representatives are in position. Thus, the system is in operation. The following systems are in position:

1. Gram Sabha

2. Gram Panchayat

3. Gram Panchayat Committees

4. Block Panchayat

5. Block Panchayat Committees

6. District Panchayat

7. District Panchayat Committees

8. District planning Committees

9. State Election Commission

10. State Finance Commission

In all the above institutions, the following representatives and officials are in position to carry out certain tasks:

1. Members of Gram Sabha

2. Gram Panchayat President

3. Gram Panchayat Vice-President

4. Gram Panchayat Council Members

5. Gram Panchayat Committees Members

6. Block Panchayat Chair Person

7. Block Panchayat Vice-Chair Person

8. Block Panchayat Council Members

9. Block Panchayat Committee Members

10. District Panchayat President

11. District Panchayat Vice-President

12. District Panchayat Committee Members

13. District Planning Committee Members

14. Officials in the respective tiers

When the institutions and members are in position, they have to perform the roles, responsibilities and tasks assigned to them. The major question is whether these institutions and representatives have performed their tasks. This aspect has to be assessed and evaluated. Because for running of these institutions peoples resources are being spent. So far, the studies carried out on decentralization have focused more on the process of devolution of powers and not on its impact on the communities. The impact has to be studied from the perspectives of the basic objectives of decentralization of powers. Finally, the decentralization process has to be linked with the performance of the institutions. In the process one can be easily identify what factors contribute for the effective functioning of the institutions and efficient delivery of services and which are the factors working as deterrents to the effective functioning of the institutions. In this process, one can easily identify the important factor leadership in shaping and strengthening the institutions and delivery of services.

By keeping the above framework, in the last twenty years how decentralization took place in south Indian states – Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala has been evaluated in this volume. The four chapters have been written by G. Palanithurai, M. Gobinath Reddy, M. Sivanna and Jos Chathukulam. Along with the above state-specific chapters, there are a few chapters covering Panchayat finance in South Indian States and democratization in this volume written by B. Devendra Babu and G. Palanithurai, respectively. S. N. Sangita has written a chapter on Political regime, Decentralized Governance and social security in south Indian states. It is also included in this volume. Further the chapter written by V. N. Alok on Devolution of Powers to Local Bodies has been incorporated in the present work. Finally yet another paper on Decentralization of Powers: Acceleration and Deceleration by G. Palanithurai for a different journal has also been included. Thus totally nine papers have been accommodated in this volume to give an overview of decentralization of powers in south Indian states.

First chapter entitled Kerala decentralization process by Jos Chathakulam brings to light the paradox of decentralization process in Kerala. On the one hand international policy community evinces keen interest in kerala for its social development and decentralization process and on the other the critics of decentralization highlighted the stagnation process of decentralization in Kerala. This observation was made based on a scientific evaluation done by a team of scholars. Institutionalization of decentralization of powers took place in kerala. Transparency and accountability have been established. Remarkable achievements have been made, yet Kerala could not move further. Apparently, stagnation has set in decentralized process. Instead of emerging as independent agency local government move and function as per the direction of the officials. A large number of gaps have to be filled by the state government. Jos chathakulam has made penetrating analysis into the structure and functioning of the kerala local rural governance. His approach and narrative analysis has shown where the Kerala is in decentralization.

Decentralization process in Tamil Nadu by G. Palanithurai brought to highlight how hypocritically and deceptively Tamil Nadu government both during the DMK and AIADMK regimes created a structure of Panchayati Raj without spirit and substance. But at the same time the author has highlighted the efforts of the local body leaders to improve service delivery by assuming more of responsibilities. Aptly he has formulated a proposition that leadership matters much locally as many assumed responsibilities and acted on them. Unless there is awareness