Devolution for development

Developed India needs local government-led human development to truly become an Inclusive India

There have been three key evidence-based lessons for an inclusive India in recent studies and reports. The Reserve Bank of India’s 2023 Report on the Role of Panchayats in Economic Development concludes, on the basis of the Devolution Index, that states with higher Devolution Index scores (Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra) are found to have better quality of socio-economic development. It illustrates this by comparing under-5 Mortality and Higher Secondary Transition Rates with greater devolution. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj’s Devolution Index of States (2015-16), meticulously constructed, provides evidence across the human development sector of such a correlation.

The United Nations