'Politicians, bureaucrats don't want to devolve powers to panchayats'

Unfortunately, it is quite often the lack of capacity of states that has come in the way of panchayats raising their own revenues

T R Raghunandan, an expert on decentralisation and a former joint secretary in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, speaks to Shreehari Paliath in an email interview on the outcomes of the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution, which formalised the decentralisation of governance through panchayat raj institutions (PRI) across the country. Edited excerpts:

States such as Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are among the top five for transferring functions, institutions and finances to PRIs. Lately, the details related to the weightage given to 2011 population in the 15th Finance Commission (FC) has received a backlash from the southern states. Do you think