1st Edition
Local Governance in India The Panchayati Raj
This book presents a study and analysis of the local governance (Panchayati Raj) in India. Local governance is a necessary condition for maturation of political and economic democracy. It undermines the vestiges of political authoritarianism and extends democracy to the grass roots. Popular participation further leads to the emergence of a viable, dynamic, and healthy political culture, providing accessible channels of political articulation, making the institutions much more accountable and much less alienated and, therefore, much more legitimate.
The volume, with its special focus on Uttar Pradesh, discusses crucial themes like self-government, political culture and participatory politics; institutionalisation of local democracy and governance in post-colonial India; dynamics, functioning and the organisation of local governance; local industrialisation and finance; developmental intervention in Panchayati Raj; and local democracy and governance in a microcosm, to showcase the potential of local governance as a holistic institution of democracy and development at local levels.
This book will be an interesting read for academics and students of political science, public administration, public policy, governance studies, civil service, political sociology, development studies, and policy makers, think tanks and NGO professionals working in the area.
1. Introduction: The Perspective
2. Local Governance, Political Culture and Participatory Politics
3. The 73rd Amendment Act and its Impact in Post Amendment Era Devolution of Power, Decentralisation, and the Central Finance Commissions
4. The Dynamics, Functioning and the Organisation of Local and Participatory Governance in Uttar Pradesh
5. Local Industrialisation and Finance
6. Local Governance and Developmental Intervention
7. Local Governance: Economic and the Developmental Perspective
8. Conclusion: Whither Local Governance
Biography
Vinayak Narain Srivastava has been associated with the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, Institute of Social Science, New Delhi, and Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti, New Delhi. He received his higher education at the Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi, and the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. Some of his publications include Local Governance under Colonial Rule: A Historical Account, a monograph published by Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti, New Delhi, and The Separation of the Party and the State: Political Leadership in Soviet and Post-Soviet Phases first published by Ashgate in 1999, and republished by Routledge in 2019.
