I am glad that the annual lecture to commemorate the inauguration of the Australia South Asia Research Centre in April 1994 at The Australian National University has been taking place every year without interruption. These lectures delivered by distinguished economists have contributed meaningfully to the understanding of vital aspects of the South Asian economy in this period of change and reforms. I am glad to learn that this year the oration is given by Mr P Chidambaram, a former Finance Minister of India who played a leading role in the liberalisation process of the Indian economy. Mr Chidambaram with his profound knowledge of economics and wide ranging experience in Government and public life of India would, I am confident, make the Lecture an illuminating exercise in the understanding of the complex process of economic transformation that is taking place in India in all its multiple dimensions.
It is refreshing that Mr Chidambaram will give special emphasis in his Oration upon the third tier of Government in India, that is, at the grass-roots level. What invests the Indian experiment with depth and significance is that the reform process is not a superficial phenomenon affecting the upper crust of society, but involves the participation of millions of men and women at the village level. The Panchayati Raj institutions in India have made democratic decentralisation a reality. Three million elected representatives of the people at the grass-roots level, one million of whom are women, are today participants in both decision-making and implementation of developmental programmes at the grass-roots level. The 474 District Panchayats, 5906 intermediate level Panchayats and over 227,000 village Panchayats now constitute powerful self-propelled engines to promote the developments goals of the country. The success of this exercise of unprecedented scale in devolution of power has varied in different parts of the country depending on the extent of devolution of finances and responsibilities along with necessary training and capacity building. There is no doubt however, of the potential for these evolving institutions to become vibrant vehicles of self-governance, transforming the quality of life in India’s villages with democratic participation and paying heed to the demand for social justice by the generality of the people.
I am confident that Mr Chidambaram will more than do justice in his oration to this very import subject which has far reaching consequences for India’s polity and development, and which would be of interest to all democratic countries.
K R Narayanan
New Delhi 1999