Local Democracy and Development:
The Kerala People’s Campaign for Decentralized Planning
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by T. M. Thomas Isaac, with Richard W. Franke
The Indian edition is available only in South Asia: Contact Leftword at: leftword@vsnl.com
A US/International edition was published in May 2002 by Rowman Littlefield: order the US edition on-line
This book describes and analyzes the dramatic experiment in
local democracy in Kerala State, India since
August 1996. Involving 31 million people, the Kerala People’s Campaign for
Decentralized Planning is probably the largest experiment in local
democracy and local empowerment being carried out in the world today. Kerala is
known to development specialists for the "Kerala Model:" high levels
of literacy, life expectancy, political participation, social justice; and low
levels of infant mortality, caste discrimination, and religious violence. The
Kerala Model results from decades of organized struggle; the current experiment
in local democracy results in part from the outcome of those struggles and in
part from an awareness by radical activists in Kerala that the Kerala Model can
only become self-sustaining with new initiatives from the grassroots. The
People’s Campaign for Decentralized Planning constitutes an extension of the
Kerala Model into the areas of local empowerment, environmental protection,
gender equality, and sustainable development.
Theoretical Relevance
The People’s Campaign for Decentralized Planning constitutes an empirical case for the literature on decentralization, local government, and the uses of local initiative for sustainable economic and social development. It also constitutes an empirical test of particular elements of civil society theory and embedded states. In Kerala, radical reformers have used the state apparatus to create and invigorate civic associations that are often seen as counterpoints to the state.
1 Significance of the Kerala Experiment
Why the Kerala experiment is important: achievements of the campaign's first 4 years in building development infrastructure, improving public services, creating jobs, involving citizens in planning and decision-making, streamlining government, channeling resources to women and to the poorest castes and classes, and deepening democracy from the representative towards the participatory form. A brief history of local self government in India, the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments, the experiments in West Bengal and Karnataka states. How the Kerala campaign differs from earlier experiments.
2 Why a Campaign? The Political Vision, Civil Society, and the Kerala Model
Despite their centralized party structure, Kerala’s communists had long supported local empowerment. Left thinking on the creation of what activists called a "new development culture," emphasized placing people’s immediate needs above partisan politics. The goal was to maintain and extend Kerala’s earlier quality of life achievements. Alongside the larger political developments, activists both within the left movement and outside it were experimenting with small-scale projects that drew in local participants. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) Ministry of 1987 created "The New Democratic Initiatives:" locally elected district councils, a mass literacy campaign, a campaign to install high efficiency wood stoves to reduce deforestation, and a "people’s resource mapping program" to teach villagers how to evaluate their own local resources. In Kalliasseri, in northern Kerala, activists of the Kerala People’s Science Movement (KSSP) developed an overall model of local planning in which social, economic, and environmental concerns were addressed.
3 Step 1: The Grama Sabhas
-- Identifying Local Needs
The people’s campaign began with local assemblies in all 14,147 wards of Kerala. Between August and December 1996, nearly 3 million people met with their neighbors, listed their grievances, and elected topic groups to set the stage for the local planning process. How were the grama sabhas organized, how was cynicism was overcome, how was the small group approach used to promote high levels of citizen participation?
4 Step 2: PDRs and Seminars -- What Is To Be Done?
From December 1996 through February 1997 every one of Kerala’s 990 villages and 62 urban units produced a report, running from 50 to 200 pages. These reports cover local history and included basic statistics collected from scattered government offices into a fairly coherent picture of the local community and its resources. Resource mapping and transect walks provide information on local ecological zones for future planning use..
5 Step 3: Task Forces Prepare the Projects
The development seminars were transformed into formal, written projects. How the project formats were designed, why written proposals were needed, how the development seminar task forces functioned, the kinds of problems that cropped up, and how campaign activists tried to overcome them.
6 Step 4: Elected Bodies Formulate the Plans
Delays in completing the work of the task forces slowed the entire campaign. By March and April 1997, many task forces had drawn up sets of projects, however, and the elected village and urban councils were handed the job of choosing priorities according to the approximate amount of state grant they expected. The extensive training given to activists and the structure of the local plan document, controversies that developed in finalizing the plans, and the continuing disputes with MLAs and some government officials over the boundaries between the people’s campaign and the regular government machinery.
7 Step 5: Planning Up
Instead of Down -- Roles of the Blocks and Districts
Groups of villages make up "blocks," units through which certain central government development schemes are implemented. Blocks of one to thirteen village or urban units were assigned the task of coordinating the local plans with national schemes and for making sure that local plans did not clash.The block panchayats were also responsible for trying to fill in gaps in local plans. Projects prepared by tens of thousands of volunteers and by elected representatives with little or no prior experience in plan preparation were deficient in many technical aspects. Campaign organizers called on Kerala’s retirees, creating the Voluntary Technical Corps (VTC). The VTC helped speed the process of project and plan development.
8 Taking Stock: The Local Plans for 1997–98
Strengths and weaknesses of the local plans are considered, along with a discussion of the achievements and problems in putting together projects for Dalits and for women.
9 From Peoples Planning to Plan Implemention
Traditional practices encouraged corruption. Procedures had to be developed to insure transparency and efficiency in the use of public funds. A special problem was the procedure for selecting beneficiaries: political patronage was replaced by a system using open meetings¾ a new round of ward assemblies¾ that created political controversies and slowed the process. In the middle of implementation, national elections were called, throwing everything into disarray.
10. The Great Laboratory: This chapter appears only in the US edition.
Several local communities developed creative and valuable projects that inspired others. Among them are the panchayats of Chapparappadavu, Kunnathukal, Vithura, Kumarakom, and the town of Koyilandy. This chapter details some of their innovative projects.
11 From Experiment to Institution -- The Plans and the Campaign, 1998-2001
The first year of local planning took 13 months to complete. Second year plans were developed in four months. Additional training was provided for local volunteers. New attempts were made to encourage participation by women. Greater emphasis was placed on utilizing cooperatives.
12 The Long March Ahead
This chapter sums up the major accomplishments and looks to future prospects and problems. New attitudes are developing in Kerala along with the campaign. But political maneuvering continues, many officials still resist the new model of planning, and people cannot be kept in a state of campaign mobilization for too long. How will institutionalization affect the accomplishments of the first years?
13 The Kerala Experiment in International Perspective
Comparison and contrast between Kerala and earlier decentralization experiments. The close parallel with Porto Alegre, Brazil. How democratic decentralization differs from its conservative, bureaucratic versions. The importance of democratic decentralization as a means of resistance to "predatory globalization," structural adjustment, and first-world domination. How the Kerala model of democratic decentralization offers hope for growth, equality, and sustainability.
Bibliography and Index
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