Over two-thirds of the one billion Indian population lives in over 500,000 small villages and the remainder in a few thousand urban and semi-urban settlements. As I said earlier, the setting for development may change from one set of villages to another. To ensure that these varying needs are addressed and programmes are implemented in a decentralised manner, the Congress government under Rajiv Gandhi (1985–1989) sought to strengthen the role of the ‘third tier’ in India’s administrative structure comprising elected local bodies. Subsequently in 1992, the Indian Parliament enacted two critical changes in the Indian Constitution, called the 73^rd and 74^th amendments, that created a multi-level structure of ‘Panchayati Raj’ institutions at the district, intermediate and village levels. The aim was to put in place elected local bodies as institutions of self-government and enhance their role in development.

This Constitutional and legal initiative opened a new window of oppor­tunity for State governments to deal with the constraints that thwart India’s development. However, not many States have grabbed the opportunity and the establishments in State capitals continue to resist decentralisation of power and resources. Fortunately, some States are utilising the constitu­tional changes to empower their local bodies. A noteworthy example in this context is the manner in which Madhya Pradesh, a large Indian state, is implementing a programme to universalise primary education through a programme called the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS). It has redefined the Indian State by including in it the village panchayat and the local community and excluding the civil service apparatus that allocates money and manages a large educational bureaucracy. Any community that has 25 children but does not have access to a primary school can demand a school. The demandeurs should select a locally available teacher and present a claim to the gram panchayat, which passes it on to the authorities at the district level. The district administration shall respond within 90 days of the demand. While the government lays down the curriculum and pays for textbooks, mid-day meals for children, and the salary and training of the teacher appointed by the village panchayat, the latter, along with the community, has to provide land for the school. This demand-driven system has been phenomenally successful: in 1998, over 40 primary schools have come up each day of the year. More has happened for primary education in Madhya Pradesh over the last two years than in the five decades prior to the launch of the EGS. The success of EGS belies the argument that tradition-bound communities are not alive to the value of education for their children. It also shows that they are willing to take charge of primary education for their children, and can do a better job than the bureaucracy.

Another bold initiative is underway in the state of Andhra Pradesh. In June 1997, the State legislature passed the ‘Andhra Pradesh Farmers Management of Irrigation Systems Act’. The Act provides for creation of Water Users Associations all over the State which in turn elect their Managing Committees. The State government has empowered the WUAs and their committees to manage the irrigation systems at the level of the village i.e., beyond the main feeder canal. They maintain records of water use, collect dues from member farmers, ensure proper distribution of water, and are also allowed to spend on repair and maintenance of the network. Over 10,000 such associations have been formed. Preliminary assessments show better maintenance of the irrigation system, increase in the area of cultivated land and improved collection of revenues. This needs to be set against the abysmal performance of irrigation departments in most States, which are bankrupt, and unable to maintain the existing channels, let alone create new ones.

The government of Andhra Pradesh has launched another new development initiative called ‘Janmabhoomi’. The programme is based on identification and prioritisation of needs by the communities themselves through the institution of the village panchayat. People share the cost of community works to which government also contributes, they execute the works through self-help groups, review and audit the expenditure and own the assets thus created. The projects executed through the programme include roads, drains, buildings for schools and colleges, drinking water, health clinics, irrigation facilities etc. Over the last two years a number of such projects have been completed and commissioned. Even allowing for some waste and leakages, assets worth billions of rupees have been added to the community, and there is a growing sense of community ownership and responsibility.

Many more such community-based programmes are under implemen­tation in the States. The common feature that marks all such success stories is participation by people’s institutions like elected local bodies, self-help groups or co-operatives. True, in all these success stories there are other features like meticulous planning, social leadership, external technological and managerial inputs and availability of resources. However, there is little doubt that people’s participation, and the resulting beneficiary orientation of such schemes, has been the critical input.

Another feature of successful development programmes has been their holistic approach. It has been realised that the development of the poor cannot be achieved through any one single activity. Development has to be a multi-dimensional process that addresses problems of illiteracy, ill health and infrastructure. The range of activities being addressed in the Janmabhoomi programme in Andhra Pradesh illustrates this point. Janmabhoomi also confirms the fundamental fact that only programmes identified by the community deliver the maximum results. Development occurs when it is an interactive and democratic process, because then alone it addresses the numerous dimensions of backwardness.

As I said earlier, the potential for sustainable development revealed by the 73^rd and 74^th amendments is still not being tapped by most State governments, although some have begun to move in that direction. In most States, the power elite continues to resist decentralisation, and implement­tation of ‘Panchayati Raj’ has turned out be an exercise in bureaucratic expansion. The concept itself continues to be plagued by numerous problems. There are legal ambiguities that allow States to keep local bodies weak and ineffective, and some more constitutional changes may be necessary to plug the loopholes. Another problem is the lack of resources available to local bodies, as State governments and State Finance Commissions have yet to work out the terms of sharing of taxable resources. Local bodies have also not yet been fully empowered to levy and collect taxes, user charges and other revenues. Only in a few cases have municipalities been allowed to issue bonds. Another hurdle is the limited expertise at the village level considering the high levels of illiteracy among village communities and their relative isolation. And not to be overlooked is that the villages and communities have their own elite and inequitable power structures, patron-client relations, and caste equations, which resist and arrest any social or economic change. There are numerous such problems that I need not spell out here. Scholars at this Centre interested in pursuing the subject can easily dip into the vast body of literature available.