It talks about best rural governance practices that are taking place in the state of Kerala,India which has been inspiration to many other counteries, which have localized the same in their countries.

1. Rural Governance – Amerembalem,Kerala
• Introduction:
Amarambalam is a forest village
near Nilambur town and conjoins Silent Valley
National Park. It is also known as T.K.Colony. The
area is 265.72 km2. This village is well connected
with other parts of state as well as nation.
Amarambalam village connects to other parts of
India through Nilambur town. State Highway No.28
starts from Nilambur and connects
to Ooty, Mysore and Bangalore through
Highways.12,29 and 181. National highway No.66
passes through Ramanattukara and the northern
stretch connects to Goa and Mumbai. The southern
stretch connects to Cochin and Trivandrum. State.
The nearest airport is at Kozhikode. The nearest
major railway station is at Feroke.
Before jumping into the case study, lets just quicky
understand the Salient Features of Decentralized
planning and local democracy in Kerala
• The Left Democratic Front Government which came to power in May 1996,
took the momentous decision to devolve 35-40 percent of the State Plan funds
to the local bodies as against 2.35 percent during the Eighth Plan.
• The decision to devolve a big plan share of plan funds to LSGs was followed up
by a series of legislative amendments to the Kerala Panchayat Act, 1994 and
Kerala Municipal Act 1994 and institutional reforms
• All the expenditure responsibilities dealing with poverty alleviation and all
state-sponsored and centrally sponsored schemes for poverty alleviation are
transferred to the newly created three-tiered PRIs, notably to the village
Panchayats. The state government’s role is now limited to monitoring and
capacity-building.
• Planning was used as an “instrument of social mobilization” during the People’s
Plan Campaign
• The plan entitlement of each local government is decided according to a
formula with sixty percentage weightage on population, and a one third
weightage to backwardness to bring in an equalization element besides some
incentive for tax efforts
• A detailed methodology of decentralized planning, from needs identification by
the Gram Sabha to final approval by the District Planning Committee needed
for administrative sanction in implementing projects, had been drawn up by
the State Planning Board. Local planning in Kerala involves a multi-stage
process that has broadened the avenues of people’s participation.
• The devolution of over one-third of state plan funds to local governments as
untied grant gives them considerable autonomy.
• The village Panchayats which interact with the Gram Sabha and which alone
have revenue-raising powers among the rural local bodies are given more
functions and resources (70%of rural share of plan as against 15% each to the
block and district Panchayats).
 Salient Features of Decentralized planning and local
democracy in Kerala
All these changes in the Rural Governance is done under the Scheme of People’s
Plan Campaign (PPC) and it is progressed with institutionalization at different
levels. Lets have a quick peek into the program.
There are six stages of the People ‘s Plan comprised of gram Sabha meetings,
development seminars, Task Fources,Plan Document, Block and district
panchayat plans, and District Planning Committees.
Stage One: Gram Sabha Meetings: In these assemblies, people’s
representatives and voluntary activists were provided training in organizing
gram sabhas and ward Sabhas, to discuss developmental issues by forming
difference sectoral groups
Stage Two: Development Seminars: Development seminars were held at the
panchayat/municipality level to discuss the report and the suggestions of the
gram Sabhas.
Stage Three: Task Forces: In this stage, task forces were created that
consisted of experts selected at the development seminars. The task
forces were responsible for preparation of detailed project proposals
for the annual plan.
Stage Four: Plan Document: The local self government institutions
held their council meetings in which annual plan document for the
local bodies were finalized by prioritizing the projects based on the
funds devolved from the state government and locally available
resources.
Stage Five: Block and District Panchayat Plans: The block and
district panchayat samitis finalized the annual plans by integrating
and supplementing the project proposals from the grassroots.
Stage Six: District Planning Committees: District Planning Committees
(DPC) are statutory bodies formed under the Constitution. These were
responsible for examining the plan proposals of each local body in
district, duly recommended by the technical expert groups in various
sectors, and gave approval to the plans that fulfilled the guidelines.
Funds are released after the plans are approved the DPC.
• Impact:
Incorporation of local concerns in planning: In decentralized
participatory planning as encouraged by People’s Plan, the objective
is to arrive at an integrated, participative, coordinated idea of
development of a local area.
Enhanced effectiveness of local plans: In Kerala PPC, each lower level
sent its plans up to a higher level, the higher level assembly
attempted to iron out inconsistencies, covering the loopholes and
potential gaps, thus making the plan more effective in practice.
Further, this created the possibility of making public services function
more effectively by assigning them tasks and responsibilities best
suited to their capacities.
Innovation in planning: PPC worked to empower the local
communities and arm them with a sense of ownership over solutions
to their immediate problems. Some communities pushed the limits of
local power through creative projects.
Empowerment of women: It empowered women significantly by
ensuring allotment of 10 percent of plan funds ,particularly for the
inclusion of a gender aspect in the plans of local bodies. The
Kudumbasree poverty alleviation programme was started under the
PPC in 1998 for wiping out absolute poverty from the entire state
through community action. The programme has 37 lakh members and
covers more than 50 percent households in the state. The three critical
components are microcredit, entrepreneurship and empowerment.