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Introduction

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Decentralised Governance, Development Programmes and Elite Capture

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Abstract

For faster and sustainable poverty reduction, there is a need for inclusive growth wherein people contribute to and benefit from economic growth. The importance of inclusive growth has been recognised both globally as well as in India. Although growth rates have gone up in India, the growth is not perceived to be inclusive for many groups such as Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), minorities and women as Indian society is stratified in terms of social, economic and human capital endowments. The Planning Commission of India has presented considerable evidence in support of the above and argued for inclusive growth in the country. It is now believed that rapid economic growth could exacerbate pre-existing inequalities rather than narrowing them in an inclusive way, and hence pro-poor and inclusive growth policies are needed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These rural local government institutions include Village Panchayat, Block Panchayat and District Panchayat.

  2. 2.

    Vadivelu (2008) shows in the specific context of Karnataka state how people choose not to participate in decentralized projects if transfer of functions is not matched by the corresponding empowerment.

  3. 3.

    Asthana (2008), after comparing and analysing the levels of corruption in the drinking water system in the centralised and decentralised systems in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, concludes that the level of corruption was significantly high in the decentralised system in terms of manipulating bills and expediting repairs and new connections.

  4. 4.

    The proportions of women, SC and ST representatives in all Panchayats in India were 36.9, 18.5 and 11.3%, respectively, as on July 1, 2011 (Alok 2011: 19).

  5. 5.

    For a useful survey of women participation in PRIs, see the discussion paper by UNDP (n.d).

  6. 6.

    A disaster is defined as a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, economic or environmental losses that exceed the community’s or society’s ability to cope using its own resource. Disasters can be due to environmental issues or human interaction with the environment or a mixture of both. Examples of disasters are cyclones, floods, earthquakes, thunderstorms, hurricanes, etc. There are four phases of disaster management—Mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Decentralisation and Development, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    D. Rajasekhar, M. Devendra Babu & R. Manjula

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  1. D. Rajasekhar
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  2. M. Devendra Babu
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  3. R. Manjula
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Correspondence to D. Rajasekhar .

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Rajasekhar, D., Babu, M.D., Manjula, R. (2018). Introduction. In: Decentralised Governance, Development Programmes and Elite Capture. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1900-6_1

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