Success stories of democratic decentralisation in the State, especially in his home district of Kannur, will be the highlights of former Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) Director P.P. Balan’s presentation at an international conference in Lisbon this week.
Dr. Balan left for Portugal on Monday to organise the session ‘Decentralisation : inclusive growth through inclusive governance’ at the four-day meet on ‘Democracy and participation in the 21st century’ being organised by the International Sociological Association in association with Universidade de Lisboa in Lisbon from July 12.
In his address at the session, he would highlight the participatory experiences in the initiative for preparing biodiversity register at the Chapparappadavu grama panchayat here that had been launched 20 years ago when he was its president.
“I am organising and chairing the session in which speakers from different countries will speak on their own experiences in participatory democracy,” Mr. Balan told The Hindu over the phone on Monday.
He would focus on Kerala’s own experiences in decentralisation such as people’s involvement in the preparation of a biodiversity register at the Chapparappadavu panchayat before the Kerala State Biodiversity Board came into existence, he said. The impact of that initiative was still seen today as there was greater awareness among the people of the panchayat about biodiversity conservation, he said adding that the biodiversity art gallery set up at the panchayat office was a model for other local self-government institutions.
Dr. Balan said he would also present at the session the comprehensive education programme launched in the Taliparamba Assembly constituency under the leadership of local MLA James Mathew.
Ente School
The programme ‘Ente School’ (My school) was launched with the objective of improving quality of education in schools, especially English language learning, and enhancement of infrastructure in schools.
The programme involved participation of parent-teacher association in schools, local people, former students, voluntary organisations, people’s representatives, and officials covering 115 schools in the constituency. He also said child-friendly local governance launched as a pilot programme in the Taliparamba municipality would also be presented in his address.
