Rethinking the Conceptual Foundations of Kerela's Decentralization in the Light of the Experience during the Past Decade

Though the decade-long decentralization in Kerala has made remarkable achievements in terms of consistent devolution of financial resources, and improvement in the implementation of poverty eradication schemes, there are many glaring limitations. These include the tendency to take up many unviable projects, lack of proper monitoring and evaluation, inadequate functioning of grama sabhas and beneficiary committees, continuing lethargy in service delivery, very slow progress in computerization, etc. In this context, this note makes an outline of a more realistic conceptual foundation for decentralization. [Research and Policy Note No. 3] URL: [http://www.cds.edu/]