PANCHAYATS AND BUILDING OF MODEL VILLAGES

The Panchayati Raj Institutions as constitutional bodies have been providing space not only for the participation of the community for identification of their needs, resources, planning, implementation, monitoring and conducting social audit, but also for political empowerment of the lower castes, tribals and women. Interestingly, after constitutional amendments for the decentralization of governance, some of the states like Kerala and many Gram Panchayats in different parts of the country, have excelled in terms of human and social development. When we examine the experiences of these panchayats, it reveals that it has been happening because of the participatory planning from the below, devolution of funds, functions and functionaries, self-generation and productive usage of the resources, and effective participation of the community.
The present book, which is a compilation of the Model Gram Panchayats from different parts of the country, can be used as an excellent guide for spreading the message to build further such model panchayats in the country.

M.V. Rao, IAS, is Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad. Besides the District Magistrate of Malda, undivided Midnapore and Paschim Medinipur districts of West Bengal, he also served as Senior Consultant to UNICEF. He has been working with the community for many years on innovative, practical and action-oriented ideas for participatory development of the people at the grass roots. His earlier publications include Community Health in Community Hands (2003), Development for the People: Innovations in Administration (2002) and Persistence and Change in Tribal India (2012).

E. Venkatesu is Assistant Professor, Centre for Panchayati Raj, National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad. His areas of interest are wide and include public policy, governance, democratic decentralization, development administration, politics of mobilization and capacity building of local governance. Besides books in both English and Telugu, he has also contributed extensively to journals of international repute.