Decentralisation of planning needs to be a bottom-up process in Karnataka rather than being largely topdown one as it is today, and Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) should be empowered with their own administrative staff, and given functional and allocation freedom, says a new study.
The study, published by the city-based thinktank the Institute for Social and Economic Change, has recommended policy reforms, an ISEC release said. It said the state’s interference/encroachment on powers, functions and resources of PRIs through MLAs/MLCs is increasing and should be curbed to ensure autonomous functioning of the local bodies, the release said.
The research carried out by M Devendra Babu said the personnel working in local bodies are deputed from different government departments and experience shows that by and large they have a negative and lethargic attitude towards these institutions. “Instead, these personnel should co-operate with local bodies in the larger interests of local development,” Babu said in the just-published study ‘Decentralised Planning in Karnataka: Realities and Prospects’ (2010).
“What is needed is true administrative decentralisation - the PRIs should have their own (Panchayat) cadre of personnel,” he said. “Alternatively, the panchayats should be empowered to initiate action against these personnel for misconduct or dereliction of duty or for not carrying out the decisionsesolutions passed by them that are within the legal framework.”