For a truer decentralisation

Despite its uneven history in India, decentralisation is vital to strengthen participatory democracy, facilitate responsive governance and enable public service delivery.

Much has been written on decentralisation in India though, on the ground, there is very little to show despite the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments. The rationale for decentralisation comes from the need to strengthen participatory democracy, facilitate responsive governance, ensure greater accountability and enable public service delivery according to diversified preferences of the people. The possibility of greater visibility and linkage between revenue-expenditure decisions is supposed to ensure greater responsiveness and accountability. There are some who advocate decentralisation as an end itself while others take this as a means to strengthen the democratic fabric through participatory governance and responsive and accountable public service delivery.

M. Govinda Rao

The history of decentralisation in India is somewhat chequered. Although the village panchayats as institutions of governance and justice existed for a long time, the founding fathers of the Constitution were not keen to empower them. Dr. Ambedkar was apprehensive that in the hierarchical society with highly skewed nature of asset and power distribution, vesting more powers at the village level would only perpetuate exploitation of the dispossessed. Not surprisingly, the Constitution placed local governance in the State List (Entry 5). Thus, administrative, political and fiscal decentralisation was entirely left to the discretion of the State governments. Rajiv Gandhi wanted to energise the local bodies in rural and urban areas to make them the institutions of self-government by effecting 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments. Part IX was inserted into the Constitution with Article 243 (A to O) specifying matters such as the constitution, elections and the functions to be devolved for panchayats under Article 243 and for urban local bodies under Article 243 P to ZG. Schedules 11 and 12 were inserted into the Constitution detailing the indicative list of functions to be devolved to panchayats and municipalities by the State government. Article 243 I and Y mandated the appointment of the State Finance Commission by the Governor every five years to balance their functions with funds. Article 280 was seeded with an additional term of reference (TOR) to the Union Finance Commission to take cognisance of the resource requirements of local bodies. However, the role envisaged in this seeding is only tangential or supplemental.

There are five important issues for understanding the legal framework for the decentralisation process in the country. First, the Constitution assigns decentralisation including funding entirely to the discretion of State governments. It does not clearly assign the functions or sources of finance, but leaves it entirely to the discretion of the States. While this may be to evolve the system of decentralisation appropriate to a State considering the strength of its history, economy and capacity, it also hinders the process. Article 243 (G and W) relating to the powers, authority and responsibilities to rural and urban local bodies merely specifies that the State government “….may, by law, endow the panchayats and municipalities with powers and authority to enable them as institutions of self-government and such law may contain provisions for the devolution of powers and responsibilities upon these bodies subject to such conditions as may be specified therein, with respect to the preparation of economic development and social justice, performance of functions and implementation of schemes entrusted to them including those specified in the 12th Schedule”..It is entirely left to the States to decide, what and how much powers and functions should be devolved to the local bodies.

Secondly, the constitutional framework does not (and perhaps should not) prescribe any pattern, standard or model of decentralisation which again is left to the discretion of State governments.

Third, there are no easy mechanisms to ensure compliance of even the prescribed provisions of the Constitution by the States. Most States have not complied with the requirement of having to appoint gram sabhas (243 A), ward committees (243 sabhas) district planning committees and metropolitan planning committees. There have been several attempts to postpone elections though they are required to hold them well before the expiry of the prevailing elected body or before six months if the body is dissolved for some reason, as required under 243 K and U. The States are required to appoint a Finance Commissions every five years and their reports are required to be placed in the legislatures with the action taken reports. Unfortunately, the States’ record in this regard has been pathetic. Their record of appointing the State Finance Commissions and actions on their reports shows complete violations of Article 243 I and Y. The State legislatures are required to make laws to ensure maintenance of accounts and auditing of such accounts by panchayats and municipalities. The record of experience is that these provisions have been observed in their violation rather than compliance in most of the States.

Fourth, on the financial side, local bodies do not have any independent revenues. There is no separate list of tax bases assigned to them in the Constitution and they have to depend on the State governments to levy the taxes that the States choose to devolve. There is also the problem of administrative capacity and interest groups resisting payment of taxes and user charges. Unlike in theory which states that the Wicksellian link is stronger at the local level as the people can the relate the tax payments to services rendered, in actual practice, free-rider behaviour permeates and influential groups would somehow like to pass the burden of financing services to the non-residents.

Does the framework allow the Union Finance Commission to act as a champion of decentralisation? While one would like to think that an organic link is provided to it by seeding an additional term of reference in Article 280, a careful reading of the Article shows that the role is confined to “…recommendmeasures to augment the Consolidated funds of the states to supplement the finances…” of local bodies on the basis of the recommendations of the State Finance Commissions” (emphasis added). When the Constitution itself does not prescribe any particular type or standard of decentralisation and when the language of the additional TOR clearly shows that the Commission is only required to recommend measures to augment the Consolidated Funds of the States to supplement the resources of local bodies, how can the Commission arrogate itself into undertaking a larger mission of championing decentralisation?

In this context, the criticism that the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) did not continue the decentralisation reform initiated by the Thirteenth Finance Commission (TFC) needs explanation. Specifically, while the TFC initiated a package of conditionalities for availing the performance grants which was not continued by the FFC. The important features of the TFC recommendations included linking the grants to local governments to previous year’s divisible pool of taxes and linking a significant proportion of the grants for performance. The performance grants were linked to a list of 13 conditions to be fulfilled by the State governments intended to further the process of decentralisation. In contrast, the FFC while recommending a much higher level of transfers, did not see Constitutional validity in linking the transfers to the divisible pool. It continued the performance grants, but linked them directly to the actions by the panchayats and municipalities rather than the State governments. The conditions were simple, of merely preparing the audited statement of accounts and incentives for raising their own resources.

Thus, the FFC in its report explained that it did not carry on the scheme of rewards and punishment because truthful adherence to the Constitutional framework did not permit it to do so. As stated in the Report, “…Under the Constitution, the State legislature has the discretion to assign functions to the panchayats and municipalities. We note that ….. the Constitutional provisions give primacy to the role of the States in this regard, by placing local government squarely in the State List. …. In our view neither the TOR nor the Constitution permits the Finance Commission to play any role in the devolution of powers to panchayats and municipalities or to promote a particular model of decentralisation .” (Para 9:63; p.111). It is another issue that only a fraction of the performance grants recommended by the TFC were actually utilised and the Union government was the beneficiary in the process!

That of course, begs the question as to who will champion decentralisation. First, it is important to have clarity in the assignment of functions and the local governments should have clear and independent sources of finance. Second, there should be clear mechanisms to ensure that States comply with the constitutional provisions, particularly in the appointment and implementation of the recommendations of the SFCs. Third, sustainable decentralisation comes from the demands of the people and advocacy should focus on a decentralisation agenda. Indeed, the framework needs to be evolved to accommodate the demand for decentralisation. Even within the existing framework, it is important for intellectuals and the press to pressurise the States to comply with the Constitutional provisions like creation of planning authorities and appointment SFCs, if necessary through public interest litigations. The SFCs have an important role to play which can be fulfilled only when State governments take them seriously.

(M. Govinda Rao is an Emeritus Professor,of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and was a Member of the Fourteenth Finance Commission. Comments at mgrao48@gmail.com)

Keywords: democracy, decentralisation in India, Finance Commission, Dr. Ambedkar

Source: The Hindu, 2-11-2015

HRD ministry forms panel to draft 3rd National Education Policy

The ministry of human resource development (HRD) has set up a committee that will draft country’s third National Education Policy (NEP) since Independence.

The panel will be headed by former bureaucrat TSR Subramanian and will have four other retired bureaucrats as its members including Shailaja Chandra, former chief secretary of Delhi, and Sudhir Mankad, former chief secretary of Gujarat.

According to a senior HRD ministry official, the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), will act as its secretariat.

The committee is expected to submit the draft by the end of December. The committee will review the earlier education policies and the recommendations received from various quarters.

“Along with the draft education policy, the committee will also submit a framework for action,” said a senior government official.

The consultation process for the policy has been going on for quite some time and online talks were also held with leading subject experts. “In addition, several organisations and individuals have sent in their views, suggestions and inputs through post and email which have been collated,” added the official.

The first education policy was introduced way back in 1968 under the Indira Gandhi government following recommendations of the Kothari Commission.

Source: Hindustan Times, 2-11-2015

Nutrition, effective cash transfers: How to ensure social protection

Small and marginal farmers comprise 85% of the land holdings in India. Social protection is a survival tool for the rural poor, who have no easy access to wage labour. India recognised the need for social protection early on and introduced a slew of social protection programmes like the National Rural Livelihoods Mission. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) provides 100 days of assured labour wages to every rural poor household. The minimum support price serves as a social protection instrument for farmers. But are these schemes reaching their target audience?

That’s where the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) is currently assisting the government on plugging leaks in the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). “Biometric identification of beneficiaries in Kerala and Odisha has already eliminated families who should not fall under the programme. This alone could yield savings running into millions of dollars,” says Hameed Nuru, the WFP’s country director. Under the mid-day meal scheme, the WFP is also assisting Odisha in overcoming the nutrition deficit through iron fortification of rice.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which is working among the rural poor with the Madhya Pradesh government, finds that addressing hunger nutrition is often overlooked. It feels that communities should be made aware of the nutritive value of food available in their natural habitat. “Promoting nutrition-sensitive agriculture through revival of highly nutritive traditional crops such as kodo kutki and other millets can be a good strategy,” says Meera Mishra, country coordinator, IFAD.

Growing local and procuring local eliminate the need to transport food and its carbon footprint. In this context the Madhya Pradesh government’s Samagra database and model of cash transfers deserve special mention. The model is now being used by almost all the departments of the state for various programmes, including a pilot on cash transfers for the PDS to implement the National Food Security Act. Coupled with good governance, cash transfers can eliminate pilferage, which eats into benefits meant for the poor.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO’s) work shows that besides plugging leakages, cash transfers have a multiplier effect on farm outputs and initiating microenterprises. In Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, cash transfers have improved access to health, education services and reduced child labour. Social protection is particularly helpful for households as women take charge of food and nutrition, children’s education and wellbeing.

“Programmes like the MGNREGA can transform India’s rural economy through creation of public and private goods such as terracing, irrigation and other infrastructures, besides injecting income into the local economy,” says Shyam Khadka, the FAO’s India representative. Brazil’s Bolsa Familia programme is a shining example of how about 50 million people are assisted. Since its introduction 12 years ago, 36 million Brazilians were lifted out of poverty. For every Brazilian Real spent, the economy at large gains an estimated 1.87 Brazilian Reals. Brazil has shown how rather than just giving handouts, social protection should focus on sustainable pathways out of poverty and food insecurity.

Ashim Choudhury is communications consultant, Food and Agriculture Organization

Source: Hindustan Times, 2-`11-2015

TISS beef docu runs into ABVP on JNU campus

Sadaf Modak TWEETS @sadafm_MIRROR





Caste On The Menu Card screened after standoff with ABVP

Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) documentary Caste On The Menu Card ran into further trouble after the Films Division of India blocked its screening at a private film festival, with the Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University’s administration banning it on campus as well.The documentary was finally screened on campus at 9.30 pm on Sunday after the standoff with BJP's youth wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) was resolved Permission for a public screening of the documentary on campus had been sought by the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Student Association (BAPSA), a student organisation at JNU, from the Dean of Student Welfare.
When this was denied, BAPSA sought permission to screen the documentary in the JNU hostel. “The hostel warden had allowed the screening, but permission was withdrawn after pressure from some groups. We will ensure the screening happens at any cost,” a BAPSA member said.
ABVP representatives said they came to know of the screening through posters announcing it.
“The JNU administration told us that permission had not been granted for screening Caste On The Menu Card.
We realised that some students were planning to go ahead nonetheless and appealed for action to stop it,” Ravi Ranjan Choudhary, ABVP president at JNU, told Mumbai Mirror.
Saurabh Sharma, ABVP joint secretary at JNU, added, “Security is in place at the screening venue, and Delhi police has been deployed at the gates.” H e s a i d t h e I n f o r m a t i o n & Broadcasting ministry has directed that films on beef not be screened publicly, given the current tension in the country over its sale and consumption.
Meanwhile, Caste on the Menu Card received two awards at the 12th Jeevika Asia Livelihood Documentary Film Festival, where its screening had first been banned by Films Division of India. The 21-minute film on beef politics on campuses and issues of livelihood and caste surrounding beef won the Best Student Documentary and the Jeevika Freedom Award.
Festival director Manoj Matthews told Mumbai Mirror the jury had decided much before the controversy.
“The film was chosen for its content on how policy issues on meat hamper the livelihood of those in the leather and meat industry,” he added.
Other institutions including FTII and Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics in Pune, too have invited the film for a public screening.

Source: Mumbai Mirror, 2-11-2015

GLOBAL CITIZEN - Erasmus+: A New Chapter in EU-India Educational Ties

Ishani Duttagupta





The Erasmus Mundus programme has provided a pathway for Indian students to study in European Union countries, and gain mobility across universities there. India was at the forefront of the programme with around 3,000 Indian students and scholars having studied and researched in European universities in the past decade. Around 50 Indian universities have also been involved in these partnerships.Since 2008, EU and India have been engaged in jointly promoting higher education. The partnership started as a mutually beneficial mechanism for the exchange of information and experiences, of best practices, as well as a process of peer learning between administrations.
From 2014, with the launch of the new Erasmus Plus programme (2014-2020), the European Union is looking at a new chapter in educational ties with India to increase the visibility and popularity of the region as a popular higher educational destination for Indian students. Currently, there are around 50,000 Indian students enrolled in higher education institutions across EU.
“In the past, India has been the No.1 destination for Erasmus students and we are looking at attracting the same kind of interest for the new programme too,“ said Brian Toll, senior policy adviser, international cooperation in education and youth, European Commission, Brussels He said Erasmus+ provides new opportunities for cooperation between Indian and EU universities, including joint degrees, and also mobility for Indian students to study in the EU.
“With increasing globalisation of education, Indian students will benefit in a big way from the EU-funded Erasmus programme. An exposure to higher education in the best of universities in Europe often paves the way for jobs across the world. The universities covered by the Erasmus programme are recognised as among the best globally ,“ said Toll.
Despite a great deal of interest in higher education in Europe in the past, European Commission authorities are concerned over the slow pickup in enthusiasm for Erasmus+ which was launched last year despite substantial scholarships to cover travel, living expenses and tuition for diverse courses across Europe.
“The policy-level partnership be tween India and EU has only deepened through Erasmus+ with India having been signed up as a strategic partner. Besides students, Erasmus+ also provides an opportunity for the university authorities, faculty members and administrative staff in India to get involved in the projects and increase their understanding about the European educational system,“ Toll said.
The programme now covers shortterm mobility and exchanges both ways; joint degrees and institutional capacity-building.
While in the short-term students from India can visit universities in Europe to study and earn credits from there, and fi nally get an Indian degree. In the long term they can en roll for joint mas ter's programmes in one or more European univer sities and earn joint master's de grees with Indian universities. “The funding for such programmes is substantial and covers board, lodging, tuition and airfare when in Europe. It works out to around 25,000 per year per student on an average for master's degrees,“ Toll said.
The overall funding for Erasmus+ till 2020 is 14.7 billion covering institutions and students. Further, 1.68 billion is available for international cooperation with countries outside Europe.
Erasmus+ programmes cover a range of subjects including engineering, technology , maths, science and liberal arts. “The STEM courses have been very popular among Indian students in the past. Many of them have stayed back in Europe for their student projects and internships, which is the first step towards global job opportunities,“ Toll said.

Source: Economic Times, 2-11-2015

Miracles in Daily Life

TG LIYER





People become enlightened in three main ways: through suffering, outcome and purpose.Sudama's life is an example of enlightenment through suffering. Living in poverty , he could enjoy bliss remembering the Lord. When he returned from Dwarka, seeing the prosperity showered on him, he lamented, “Oh Lord! You think that you can imprison me with this material prosperity , but you forget that you are imprisoned in my heart till eternity .“Enlightenment through outcome arises out of setting goals and ambitions. We're all taught to mask our true feelings.We are afraid of the unknown, our feelings, our intuitions, because the outcome is unknowable. When we hold back our genuine feelings, we become frustrated and lose confidence in ourselves. But when we follow our intuition and the outcome is right, we get that special experience called enlightenment. The intuition comes from the unconscious mind.
The third way of enlightenment is through purpose.Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi lived deliberately to achieve something noble and lofty . In the later years of his presidency , Lincoln had ceased to blame anger and had developed a brilliant, philosophical sense of humour. Gandhi experimented with nonviolence and in his later years did penance and self-purification by going on fast for a cause.
Miracle is not materialising something from nowhere; it is living a fulfilled life everyday .The Dhammapada says that it is everyone's duty to get free of hate, disease and restlessness.

Surging India world's 7th top nation brand: Study

PTI





India has moved up one po sition to become the world's seventh most valued `nation brand', with an increase of 32% in its brand value to $2.1 billion.The US remains on top with a valuation of $19.7 billion, followed by China and Germany at the second and the third positions respectively, as per the annual report on the world's most valuable nation brands compiled by Brand Finance.
The UK is ranked fourth, Japan is at fifth position and France is sixth on the list.While India and France have moved up one position each since last year, all the top five countries have retained their respective places.
However, a surge of 32% in India's `nation brand value' is the highest among the top 20 countries on the list.
China retained its second position despite a 1% decline in brand value to $6.3 billion.
Brand Finance said it measures the strength and value of the nation brands of 100 leading countries using a method based on the royalty relief mechanism employed to value the world's largest companies. The report also said the `Incredible India' slogan has worked well, while Germany suffered due to the Volkswagen crisis. The nation brand valuation is based on five year forecasts of sales of all brands in each nation and follows a complex process. The gross domestic product (GDP) is used as a proxy for total revenues.
About the US, the report said it remains a powerful brand with an inviting business climate. “However its value comes in large part from the country's sheer economic scale... The US' world-leading higher education system and the soft power arising from its dominance of the music and entertainment industries are significant contributors too.
“This soft power will help the US to retain the most valuable nation brand for some time after China's seemingly imminent rise to become the world's biggest economy,“ it added.
The study further said that China's recent stock market turbulence and slowing growth will also extend the US' tenure of the top spot.
Among Brics nations, India is the only country to have witnessed an increase in its brand value with all others -Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa -seeing a dip in their respective brand valuations.
India is the second most valued among these emerging economies after China, followed by Brazil, Russia and South Africa.

Source: Times of India, 2-11-2015