Decentralisation, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Governance: A Review Article
| DOI | 10.1177/00195561211072338 |
| Author | Nayakara Veeresha |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Notes |
Decentralisation, Indian
Administrative Service
(IAS) and Governance:
A Review Article
Nayakara Veeresha1
Introduction
Decentralisation is managing the community affairs with the least intervention of
central authority. To realise this goal, there is a need for the implementation of the
principle of subsidiarity in letter and spirit by the national and sub-national gov-
ernments. Processes such as deregulation, decentralisation and liberalisation, pri-
vatisation and globalisation are not static entities. These processes require well
motivated and trained professionals in order to reach the common citizenry. There
is a wider scope and possibility for accommodating the expertise and effective-
ness of the members of the Indian Administrative Service in preparing the District
Development Plans as per the provisions of Article 243G and 243W. This will
enhance the quality of plans for local economic development to ensure the social
justice to the citizens through empowering panchayats and municipalities.
India has a long history and tradition of Panchayats as decision making
institutions at the grassroots politics since the Vedic period. Metcalfe (1854) has
noted that the villages of India are ‘little republics having nearly everything they
want within themselves and almost independent of any foreign relations’. After a
lengthy Constituent Assembly debates Panchayats are accorded a place in the
Constitution in the form of Article 40. Article 40 says that ‘the State shall take
steps to organise village Panchayats and endow them with such powers and
authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-
government’. The 73rd and 74th Amendments of 1992–1993 of the Constitution
(from now on CAA) have altered the role of bureaucracy, particularly at the
district and below district levels by establishing the local government institutions
as the third tier of governance in the multi-level political structure of India.
Note
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
68(1) 123–129, 2022
© 2022 IIPA
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DOI: 10.1177/00195561211072338
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1 Centre for Political Institutions, Governance and Development, Institute for Social and Economic
Change, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Corresponding author:
Nayakara Veeresha, Centre for Political Institutions, Governance and Development, Institute for
Social and Economic Change, Dr VKRV Rao Road, Nagarabhavi, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560072, India.
E-mail: veeresha@isec.ac.in
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