With reference to India.

Study with special reference to Dindigul District of Tamil Nadu, India.

With A Preface Written By The Ex Chief Minister Of West Bengal Jyoti Basu, Himself, This Book Mirrors The Advent Of The Left Front In 1977 And Its Previous Shortlived United Front Experiments In The Late Sixties.

The 73rd and 74th Amendments of the Constitution of India opened up new opportunities for devolution of powers to Panchayati Raj Institutions. Kerala attempted a novel programme of the Peoples Plan Campaign in 1996. A few months prior to this, the Integrated Rural Technology Centre, a research wing of the Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad initiated an Action Research Programme in five panchayats to evolve a set of models of participatory planning for sustainable development and to create micro-level organizational structures to carry out them. This book is a systematic account of the half a decade long study involving thousands of people. The path for realising the goal of empowerment of the people through participatory planning and implementation is an arduous one as it often upsets the apple carts of vested interests. The book deals with the heavy odds encountered in an action research that tries to modify the existing power structures at the local level.