Rural Local Governance and Development

A comprehensive textbook that explores the practical dimensions and the political dynamics of Panchayati Raj system and its impact on rural development in India.

Rural Local Governance and Development introduces its readers to the concept of governance and various aspects of the Panchayat Raj Institutions, including Panchayats in the Fifth Scheduled Areas and the institutional arrangements in the Sixth and other Scheduled Areas. The book also focusses on the role of voluntary and community-based organizations, along with the participation of vulnerable groups and their involvement in the implementation of various programmes and schemes, strategies and policy instruments in rural development.Covering wider aspects of rural governance and development, this book provides knowledge of how people, communities, institutions and PRIs plan and implement development in rural India. The balanced blend of both theory and field insights make this textbook relevant to not only students of public administration, political science and development administration but also practitioners, civil society actors and researchers.

Key Features:

• Analyses and links the complexities of rural governance with the challenges of development in contemporary India

• Draws extensively on author’s field experiences of working in villages and with grass-roots level institutions

• Each chapter aided by Main Points to Remember and review questions for classroom discussion

Dr Mahi Pal is a former officer of Indian Economic Service. During his service, he worked in various ministries and institutions in different capacities. He retired from the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) where he was engaged in policy and planning matters relating to rural development. Before joining MoRD, he was with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and studied state of panchayats across the states and Union Territories. He also worked in the then Planning Commission, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. In between, for five years, he was on deputation as a faculty in the Haryana Institute of Rural Development, Nilokheri, Karnal, where he was involved in developing reading materials for trainees and imparting training about various issues relating to rural governance, Panchayati Raj and rural development to officials and nonofficials working in rural areas. He was also engaged in research relating to panchayats and rural development programmes. There, he observed very closely rural society and economy which has subsequently helped him in giving relevant policy inputs in formulating programmes and schemes for rural development in the ministries. He was also post-doctoral fellow during 1992–1994 at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi, where he specialized in the field of decentralized planning and Panchayati Raj. He was also visiting faculty in the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi. After retirement, Dr Mahi Pal had worked as Rural Development Expert in the Projects on Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission in the SPA, New Delhi. He has also been associated with various civil society organizations and academic bodies. He has also visited several counties.

Dr Mahi Pal has published several outstanding research papers in the areas of decentralized governance and rural development in various journals including Economic & Political Weekly. He has also authored a number of books both in Hindi and English languages. Some of his books have also been published by National Book Trust and Publications Division, Government of India. He has also participated and contributed papers in various national and international conferences/seminars. He has been regularly contributing articles in national dailies and magazines on relevant issues of rural local governance and development.