Book review: Anil Kumar Vaddiraju, Federalism and Local Government in India
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556119863859 |
| Published date | 01 June 2019 |
| Date | 01 June 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Book Reviews 593
Moreover, as Professor Ashwani K. Ray had pointed out in the review of earlier
edition of this book (Indian Journal of Public Administration, Vol LVIII, No. 1,
January–March 2011, p. 140):
The author, Dhaka, appears to be euphorically ambitious about the implications of the RTI.
According to him, it would help in democratizing governance, improve public partici-
pation, promote accountability, rule of law and, help combat corruption, check misuse
of discretionary powers, and enhance administrative efciency; protecting civil liberty,
reducing poverty, achieving millennium development goals, effective implementation
of government schemes and reforming administration. One can only hope his optimism
on these scores proves to be even incrementally prophetic. As of now, the author’s
triumphalism appears to be a little premature, albeit normatively inspiring.
Nevertheless, Dhaka’s work is of immense value for the information-seekers as
well as for the information-providers. It is not only useful for the policymakers
but also for policy-implementers. It is a sort of a Ready Reckoner on RTI. It would
also not be wrong to call it a compendium on the RTI. Hence it deserves a place
in all the public libraries. However, its high price could prevent the students,
research scholars and the other individuals interested in knowing more about the
RTI. Therefore, the reviewers would like to suggest that the publishers should
bring out a Paperback Edition of this useful book so that it could be afforded at a
reasonable price as well as for the Information Seekers.
Anuja Thapar
Research Associate at HIPA
Gurugram, India
anuthapar23@gmail.com
Suhasini Yadav
Research Associate at HIPA
Gurugram, India
suhasini.yadav15@gmail.com
Anil Kumar Vaddiraju, Federalism and Local Government in India.
New Delhi: Stadium Press, 2017, XVII + 232 pp. (hardbound). ISBN:
93-85046-10-1.
DOI:10.1177/0019556119863859
This book studies the relations among the union, state and local governments in a
federal context in four South Indian states, viz. Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and
united Andhra Pradesh. In these states, Kamma, Reddy, Kapu and Velama commu-
nities from Andhra Pradesh; Vokkaliga, Lingayat and other backward communities
from Karnataka; Nairs and Syrian Christian communities from Kerala; and back-
ward castes from Tamil Nadu and their role in local government are the topics
covered. Institutional relations, party politics and political economy play very
important roles in the relation between the centre and the states, whereas political
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