Democratic Decentralisation and Local Governments

A village's decision about where to dig its next well affects that village far more directly than almost anything decided in a State capital hundreds of kilometres away — and yet, for decades after independence, that decision was often made from the capital anyway. Democratic decentralisation is the constitutional project of moving decisions like this back down to the people they actually affect.

In two minutes

Democratic decentralisation is the transfer of political power, administrative functions and financial resources from central and State governments to local self-governing bodies — panchayats in rural areas, municipalities in urban areas — so that decisions closer to citizens' daily lives are made, as far as possible, by institutions those citizens directly elect and can hold accountable.

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