: The Union Panchayati Raj Ministry has decided to emulate the Kerala-model of democratic decentralisation in other States in the country.
The concept of decentralised planning adopted by Kerala during the Ninth Five-Year Plan in 1997 has been a role model for the entire country, said S.M. Vijayanand, Secretary, Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
The 14th Finance Commission has awarded a grant of Rs.2,00,292.20 crore to grama panchayats, providing substantial resources to address local developmental issues, especially relating to basic civic services. It is important that grama panchayats adopt a participatory planning process to ensure fair, transparent and effective utilisation of this grant and other resources, he said.
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has organised a five-day workshop on Participatory Planning at the Kerala Institute of Local Administration, Mulangunnathukavu, near here, to prepare the guidelines for participatory planning to be adopted by local bodies across the country.
“All States have basic experience in decentralised planning by the grama panchayats. This rich experience needs to be taken into account to design a generic plan formulation process at the grama panchayat level. Based on this, a plan relevant to each State can be developed,” Mr. Vijayanand said.
The workshop will take the participants through various aspects of the participatory planning process and facilitate development of Draft Guidelines for each State, said P.P. Balan, KILA Director.
The workshop is being attended by senior officers of MoPR, heads of Panchayati Raj departments of all States and heads of State Institutes of Rural Development. More than 500 officials are participating in the workshop, which will conclude on July 14.
The teams will visit 13 panchayats in Thrissur district to get a firsthand experience.
14th Finance Commission has awarded a grant of Rs.2,00,292.20 crore to grama panchayats.
