Contributed articles.

"Rural Local Governance and Development introduces its readers to the concept of governance and various aspects of the Panchayat Raj Institutions, including Panchayats in the Fifth Scheduled Areas and the institutional arrangements in the Sixth and other Scheduled Areas. The book also focusses on the role of voluntary and community-based organizations, along with the participation of vulnerable groups and their involvement in the implementation of various programmes and schemes, strategies and policy instruments in rural development. Covering wider aspects of rural governance and development, this book provides knowledge of how people, communities, institutions and PRIs plan and implement development in rural India. The balanced blend of both theory and field insights make this textbook relevant to not only students of public administration, political science and development administration but also practitioners, civil society actors and researchers"--

Papers presented at the National Seminar on Panchayati Raj Institutions and Rural Development in Western India, held at Nanded during 24-25 February 2006.

Contents: Role of Panchayati Raj Institutions in the Rural Development: A Management Study, Rural Development Through Primary Education under Panchayati Raj System: A Case Study of Jayapur Panchayat, Panchayati Raj Institutions in Orissa: Issues and Challenges, Panchayati Raj Institutions Issues and Challenges, An Alley on Panchayati Raj, Panchaytai Raj Institutions and Tribal Development, Revitalisation of Panchayats, Indira Awas and PRI (Housing for Rural Poor), Role of PRIS in Implementing Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (REGS), Orissa Grama Panchayat Act: A Milestone for Family Discipline, Peoples Participation in Panchayat Raj Governance through Gram Sabha.

Rural development is important for the nation's socio‐economic upliftment. It is the process of improving the economic conditions and upgradation of physical and social infrastructure in rural areas. In India, 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, has recognised Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) as the third tier of governance and given them the constitutional mandate for bringing improvements in the lives of people living in rural settlements. Yet, the rural settlements are not getting developed as per the expectations of rural population. Rural development is either totally ignored or given less preference as compared to the urban development.Regional Planner is entrusted with the responsibility to prepare a plan integrating rural and urban settlements. For rural settlements, either a plan does not exist or it has been prepared without detailed sectoral, spatial and financial planning. For urban settlements, though master plans do exists yet they have not been made for all the towns. In the absence ofnationwide efforts to prepare regional plans for achieving the balanced regional development as per the constitutional mandate, there is an increase in region‐wide disparities between rural and urban settlement.Earlier studies have focused on comprehending different nuances of rural life by studying employment opportunities, provision of basic infrastructure, quality of life, disparity between urban and rural areas, etc. There is a lack of comprehensive study to systematically understand the relationship between rural and urban settlements, access and availability of amenities in rural areas and provide suggestions to bring improvement in the living conditions of rural habitat so as to make it a model village. The book fills this gap by imparting an understanding of the rurality in a highly urbanised district and suggesting ways to transform a village into a model village.With the help of extensive quantitative and qualitative data collected from varied tiers of governance, i.e. state, district, tahsil, block and village, the book highlights the problems existing in the rural settlements and analyses the potentials to make it an ideal settlement having provision of urban amenities.

Decentralisation is a much-debated issue in India and other countries with a federal system of governance. The enactment of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act in 1993 and the subsequent state-wise Panchayat Raj acts in India brought to the front the significance of the grassroots democratic processes. After two decades, Panchayat Raj has been a matter of debate and speculation about its performance and impact. All the major states have completed at least four rounds of Panchayat elections. Almost three million people, including more than one million women, took part in these elections. The experiences of the states provide vital insights into the process of institutionalising Panchayat Raj. This volume strives to encompass all these issues related to Panchayat Raj in India.

​This book discusses the elite capture taking place in the development programmes implemented through Grama Panchayats (GPs), the lowest tier in the rural local self-government structure in India. Inclusive growth being the cherished goal of all the developing countries, including India, the book assesses whether checks and balances incorporated in development programmes prevent elite capture and promote inclusive development. It also highlights the role of community-based organisations, such as SHGs, in ensuring development benefits reach marginalized groups. The policy makers in India introduced decentralised governance to facilitate the participation of marginalized groups in the planning and implementation of development programmes at the local level, and to ensure that development benefits reach them. International agreements such as the Hyogo Framework for Action, Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals also call for decentralised governance for inclusive growth. The issue of elite capture has traditionally been studied mainly from the sociological perspective, i.e., how the local upper/dominant castes and classes garner the positions and benefits. But with the new and structured governance system that is in place at the local level in contemporary India, this book explores how decentralised governance is addressing the issue of elite capture. The study closely analyses micro processes of decentralisation to understand how elite capture is taking place. Additionally, it examines this concern from both governance and economic perspectives. The scope of the book is wide, and encompasses several aspects such as the functioning of the local government, decentralised governance, checks and balances in development programmes, community-based organisations, the upward political linkages and elite capture. It is equally relevant to researchers from several social science disciplines, civil society, policy makers, and implementers from the grassroots to national level government.