Women Leadership, Decentralised Governance and Development: Perspectives from Indian States

This book discusses experiences of women leaders in decentralised government structure in India and their participation in governance. The book also examines contribution of women leaders to the development of local area and economy through improved delivery of public services. In India, the policy of reserving seats and executive positions to women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions (grassroot governance bodies in India) at the village, sub-district and district levels, and urban local bodies was introduced three decades ago to improve representation of women at the grassroots level and enable them to access political decision-making at the local level. Because of the policy, about half of three million leaders in local government are currently women. The book explores the impact of this significant representation of women on decentralised governance and development. It looks at why this impressive representation of women in the local government has not translated into improved participation of women at the provincial and national parliament. The book discusses successful models, experiences of women leaders from different parts in India, and challenges faced by them. It offers new interpretations of findings and new methodologies to assess the contribution of women to decentralised governance and development. It is a rich source of material for researchers, teachers, practitioners, policymakers, NGOs, and think tanks.

Professor D. Rajasekhar is Director, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru, India. He obtained his Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India (through the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum). He was Visiting Scholar at the universities of Oxford, Melbourne, Hitotsubashi, Sussex, and at the Centre for Development Research, Copenhagen. He worked extensively on decentralisation, social protection, and microfinance and served in policy bodies constituted by the government. He has published 29 books/ monographs and over 100 articles/chapters in national and international journals such as The Economic Journal, World Development, Oxford Development Studies, Economic and Political Weekly, Journal of Peasant Studies, Journal of Vocational Education & Training, Education+ Training, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Journal of Social and Economic Development, to name a few. His paper (co-authored) on ‘Collusion, Co-option and Capture: Social Accountability and Social Audits in Karnataka, India’, published in Oxford Development Studies, was awarded the Sanjaya Lall Prize in 2015 by the Board of Oxford Development Studies, for its contribution to development studies. Prof. Rajasekhar is currently collaborating with researchers from the  universities of Bristol, Melbourne, Hiroshima, Tsuda, and Hitotsubashi in research relating to decentralisation and poverty reduction, delivery of public services, and social protection. His recent books include ‘Decentralised Governance, Development Programmes and Elite Capture’ (2018), ‘Cooperatives and Social Innovations: Experiences from the Asia Pacific Region’ (2020), ‘Handbook of Decentralised Governance and Development in India’ (2022), and ‘Decentralisation in Contemporary India: Status, Issues and the way Forward (2022).

Dr R. Manjula is working as Assistant Professor at Centre for Decentralisation and Development (CDD), Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru, India. A PhD in economics, she was Academic Visitor to the University of Oxford, UK and Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Japan. She has co-authored books and research papers (in national and international journals and as chapters). Some journals where her research has been published are Economic Development and Cultural Change, Oxford Development Studies, The Economic Journal, Journal of Rural Development, World Development, Economic and Political Weekly, and so on. She was co-recipient of the Sanjaya Lall Prize 2015 given by the Board of Oxford Development Studies. She has worked on several of the centre’s research projects, covering themes of decentralisation, child labour, social security, health insurance, public works programme and public service delivery, and collaborating with researchers from UK (the Universities of Bristol and Exeter) and scholars from various universities at Japan (Hiroshima, Tsuda and Hitotsubashi).