Round Table on

Decentralised Governance, Elite/Program Capture
and Effective Service Delivery

Jointly organized by

National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi
International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada
Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore

 Date: February 5, 2010                        Venue: ISEC Seminar Hall, Bangalore 

The Indian society is stratified with significant gaps between individuals in terms of human and physical capital endowments.  It is now believed that rapid economic growth could exacerbate pre-existing inequalities rather than narrowing them in an inclusive way, and hence, pro-poor and inclusive growth policies are needed.  The importance of inclusive growth has been recognised both globally as well as in India. Given the persistent inequalities in access to public infrastructure and social services such as education and health, it is believed that decentralised institutions can play a significant role in fostering inclusive growth. The 73^rd Amendment to the Constitution has gone a long way in establishing the preconditions for the creation of such institutions for Rural India. However, elite and program capture prevent access by poor and other vulnerable households to welfare schemes and exacerbate the ills of poverty.

It is in this context that this Round Table, which is jointly organised by NCAER, IDRC and ISEC, aims to discuss the research findings of NCAER and ISEC as well as those by other researchers from south India with the community of stakeholders, interest groups, policy makers, as well as sharing them with other researchers.  The specific questions addressed in this meet are the following:

• What is the evidence of elite capture and corruption in decentralised forms of governance?

•  How does such capture usually take place in decentralised institutions?

• What methods are adopted by households to combat capture?

Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Union Minister for Panchayat Raj, is expected to deliver the inaugural address in this meet.  The participants are senior bureaucrats, representatives of NGOs and academic institutions from south India as well as from NCAER, New Delhi.

Coordinators of the Round Table are Dr. D Rajasekhar, Dr. Devendra Babu and Ms. R Manjula from the Centre for Decentralisation and Development at the Institute.