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Publications (48)
In decentralized governance, citizen participation plays a key role in improving development outcomes at the local level. In India, a constitutional amendment in 1992 created an institutional mechanism of village assembly at the grassroots level to enable citizens to present needs, assist in the implementation and administration of programmes, and...
Participation is an important principle of good governance of the development programmes within decentralised governance. This paper examines the extent of participation of people in Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, one of India’s largest public works programmes. By using the secondary data for the nine-year period ending in 2022-23, the paper analysed the ex...
This paper examines whether citizens participate in the planning processes initiated by the local government and whether citizen’s voices were heard in the preparation of development projects in the specific context of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). In this wage employment programme, citizens can access the ben...
This article proposes a new form of self-targeted social protection scheme: beneficiaries carry out a series of small tasks on their mobile phones, each linked to a small payment. Key advantages over traditional public works include potentially large reductions in leakage, costs, and delays. The proposed scheme may also be suitable to wider demogra...
The objective of this introductory chapter is to present the context of women leadership in decentralised governance, discuss theoretical aspects, review the existing literature and situate the papers in the volume in a larger policy context. The chapter provides key conclusions of the volume in terms of new evidence, methodological points, policy...
This volume examines the process of decentralisation in India since the 1992 legislation which devolved powers to local government bodies to ensure greater participation in local governance and planning.
It studies the functioning of gram sabhas, panchayats, school development committees, water supply and sanitation committees, Residents Welfare A...
This paper analyses the association between Grama Sabha (GS) and performance of the local government in the delivery of key services such as drinking water, streetlights, roads, and drainage. GS is assigned a key role in the promotion of decentralised governance in India. In GS meetings, citizens can present their needs relating to the delivery of...
This chapter discusses the role of local government in the improvement of school education. Governance and management related issues are usually associated with poor educational outputs in terms of low enrolment and retention. Decentralisation is presented as a promising policy option to overcome these problems and thereby improve educational outpu...
Climate change is an important challenge to secure food to the growing world population through improved agricultural production. Hence, ‘climate action’ is suggested at the global level by formulating Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of taking urgent action to combat the climate change and reduce its adverse impact on agriculture. Primary Agricu...
One in every six persons in the world has membership in (or a client of) a cooperative. Such is the presence of cooperatives in the world. Cooperatives strive to bring in social innovations (new and innovative products, services and processes) for the benefit of their members. This volume discusses social innovations initiated by cooperatives in th...
This final chapter is devoted to present conclusions emerging from the volume. In doing so, the following elements embedded in the concept of social innovation are kept in mind. The first element is that innovations are initiated by institutions or organizations whose primary goal is social. Second, the purpose of innovative activities and services...
The argument for decentralized governance has emerged on the premise that local government, located close to the people and thus having information advantage, is able to assess situation of the people, identify and prioritize their needs, formulate plans that reflect needs and aspirations of the people and implement them in an effective manner. In...
Decentralised governance has been seen as an important platform that facilitates better decision-making at the level of local government. It is also an experiment in the devolution of powers to the government at the regional level by different countries, particularly developing ones, such as India, where the decentralisation experiment has been ter...
We estimate the impact of the world’s largest public works program, India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), on agricultural wages. NREGS was rolled out across India in three distinct phases, and this phased introduction is used to identify difference-in-difference estimates of the program effect. Using monthly data on wage rates...
This book discusses the elite capture taking place in the development programmes implemented through Grama Panchayats (GPs), the lowest tier in the rural local self-government structure in India. Inclusive growth being the cherished goal of all the developing countries, including India, the book assesses whether checks and balances incorporated in...
One of the important problems of self-targeted programmes is capture by elites and especially when the programme is as massive as MGNREGS. The chapter explores whether the MGNREG programme has been hampered with elite capture. If there is elite or programme capture, we will discuss how it takes place and who these elites are.
It is now very well recognised that elite capture in development programmes and schemes is likely to occur in societies where socio-economic inequality is more pronounced and where people are unable to raise their voices against the powerful elite. Hence, policymakers usually incorporate checks and balances into a development programme or scheme to...
Karnataka is a leading state in the initiation of decentralisation policies and reforms. The state brought out path-breaking legislation in 1985 and made a concerted attempt to implement the Panchayat Raj System during 1987–88 under new legislation (Government of Karnataka 1983). A three-tier panchayat system was established in 1987, which had the...
In Karnataka, the state and central governments provide support to poor households to have their own houses under three programmes, namely, Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), Rural Ashraya (Basava) Housing Programme and Dr. Ambedkar Housing Scheme. Since Ashraya (Basava) programme has been subsequently renamed as Basava programme, we will henceforth refer...
As discussed in Chap. 3 and also noted in other studies (Blair 2000: 22; Crook and Manor 2000), Karnataka state, in relative terms, has a good rural decentralised system, measured in terms of important prerequisites such as political power, and functional, administrative and fiscal empowerment. The state has also brought in several reforms over the...
Decentralisation is advocated as it is in a better position to facilitate participation of people, especially marginalised sections in the governance by bringing them closer to the government. An important problem faced by the marginalised sections such as SCs and STs is inadequate wage employment. This paper discusses provisions made in the design...
The issue of old age income security in India assumes significance in view of the expected rise in the incidence of elderly population in the years to come, problems of poverty and vulnerability among them and their limited coverage by the existing old-Age pension schemes. Schemes aiming to promote contributions from the poor unorganised workers fo...
To what extent have NGO microfinance programmes for adivasi households promoted livelihoods and reduced poverty and vulnerability among them? This question is analysed with the help of primary data collected from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states. Although adivasi households have joined microfinance groups, made small savings and availed credit facil...
This paper studies the interaction of incentive pay with intrinsic motivation and social distance. We analyse theoretically as well as empirically the effect of incentive pay when agents have pro-social objectives, but also preferences over dealing with one social group relative to another. In a randomised field experiment undertaken across 151 vil...
The concept of accountability has generated extensive discussion in studies of
international development, linking it with good governance, democratisation, participatory
development and empowerment. India’s national rural employment guarantee scheme, which aims
to improve the rural infrastructure and reduce poverty by providing wage work to the rur...
This case study on social audits under MGNREGS in Karnataka aims to provide suggestions on how to improve the design and implementation of social audits in the state. With the help of the primary data collected from five grama panchayats in Chitradurga district, the paper argues that although the documentary evidence shows that social audits are co...
This case study on social audits under MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) in Karnataka aims to provide suggestions on how to improve the design and imple-mentation of social audits in the state. With the help of primary data collected from five grama panchayats in Chitradurga district, the paper argues that, althoug...
Elite capture is likely to occur in development schemes in societies where socioeconomic inequality is more pronounced and where people are unable to raise their voices against the powerful elite. Checks and balances are, therefore, Incorporated into a development scheme such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS...
Community lighting is a public good, the provision of which is considered to be essential to improve the quality of life and to promote orderly social life. Article 243G of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment transfers the function of rural electrification to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), wherein Gram Panchayats (GPs) are held responsible for t...
It has long been hypothesised that public works programmes, in addition to the welfare effect on those directly employed, can influence equilibrium wage rates. In this paper we test the impact of the Indian government’s major public works programme, the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG), on agricultural wages. The rollout of NREG in three...
The National Health Insurance Scheme - Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana - aims to improve poor people's access to quality healthcare. This paper looks at the implementation of the scheme in Karnataka, drawing on a large survey of eligible households and interviews with empanelled hospitals in the state. Six months after initiation in early 2010, an i...
The National Health Insurance Scheme (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, RSBY) aims to improve poor people's access to quality health care in India. This paper looks at the implementation of the scheme in Karnataka, drawing on a large survey of eligible households and interviews with empanelled hospitals in the state. Six months after initiation, an i...
Both agarbathi and garment industries are highly labour-intensive, although the extent of capital used in the garment sector is much higher. However, the share of women workers in the total value of production in both these sectors is exploitatively low. Wages paid to agarbathi rollers and women garment workers have been less than the minimum wages...
Multi and bilateral agencies have been promoting village level organizations to mobilize the poor for collective action to achieve good development outcomes in different sectors in Karnataka State, India. The World Bank formed self-help groups consisting of women for their economic development and empowerment in six districts of the State since 200...
