Dynamics of Decentralised Development and Administration in Backward Regions

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Physical and cultural landscapes. 3. Appraisal of resource base. 4. Appraisal of economic status. 5. Planning for employment. 6. Strategy for development. 7. Indicative interventions. Appendices. Bibliography. Index.
"The planning in India has traditionally been a highly centralized approach and involved technocratic and mechanical exercise aimed at achieving certain targeted growth rates in the national economy. Serious efforts for decentralized planning started in India in 1969, the union planning commission issued guidelines for preparation of district plans and subsequently, state governments also made efforts in this direction. 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments and subsequent enactment of state legislature have strengthened PRI and decentralised planning in the country. The state plans largely consisted of the ongoing central schemes with a view to get largest amount of grants. Since these plans did not get into the habit of mobilising state resources, they even did not think of programmes and projects of their own addressing the local needs and aspiration. In the state plans data has been manipulated to generate resource gaps. The state which had larger gap got larger funds. State planning even at present is essentially a secretarial exercise putting together sectoral proposals in order to get funds from the Central Government. As a consequence decentralised planning in the framework of multi-level planning is currently being promoted in the country.
Present book gives a broad account of theory and practice of decentralised planning in the country and also suggests a suitable model of development based on the SWOT analysis of locally available resources and infrastructures by diving the planning unit, the district into sub-planning zones." (jacket)