Institute of NEWSLETTER · 2019. 8. 16. · Lakdawala Lecture by Dr. Abdul Kalam His Holiness the...

Lakdawala Lecture by Dr. Abdul Kalam His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Visit

Thirteenth Finance Commission & Local Govt. Otiss Moss’s Lecture

Dr. Yang Jianli on “Three Chinas” Women’s Political Empowerment Day

Centre for Multilevel Federalism ALGI Programmes

Institute ofSocial Sciences

NEWSLETTERNEWSLETTERNEWSLETTERNEWSLETTERNEWSLETTERNUMBERS 33-34 JANUARY - DECEMBER 2010

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His Holiness the Dalai Lama unveiling the portrait of former Defence Minister George Fernandes at the Institute.Prof. U.R. Ananthamurthy, Dr. George Mathew, Fernandes’ brothers Michael, Paul and Aloysius along with George Fernandes’

long time associates Mr. Fredrick D’sa and Mr. Ravi Nair are also seen.

Senior Faculty members and Researchers during a Retreat at Surajkund (Haryana)

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Eleventh D.T. Lakdawala Memorial Lecture

Institute ofSocial Sciencescan assume a

significant role ofactivating,

training andsynergizing thePanchayati Raj

Institutionstowards missions

of sustaineddevelopment

building on thelocal

competencies ofthe villages

under the PURAaegis.

Eleventh D.T. Lakdawala MemorialLectureDr. A.P.J. Adbul Kalam, former Presidentof India, delivered the 11th D.T.Lakdawala Memorial Lecture on 18August 2010 on “SustainableDevelopment and Leadership” to markthe Silver Jubilee Celebrations of theInstitute of Social Sciences. Dr. Kalamspoke about the considerable progressthat the country has made in several areasincluding the role science and technologyhas played in revolutionizing agriculture,space communication and space remotesensing for societal application. Hespecially mentioned the ChandrayanMission which also led to the discoveryof water on moon. Dr. Kalam spoke ofhis vision of the nation by 2020 when heexpects the rural-urban divide will beminimum and there will be equitabledistribution of resources and adequateaccess to energy and quality water. He

also visualized the country becoming thebest destination for talented scholars andscientists and will be prosperous, healthy,secure and peaceful. Dr. Kalamelaborated on his famous PURA(Providing Urban Amenities in RuralAreas) mission for sustained developmentof the country. He placed specialemphasis on physical connectivity in thevillages but also said electronicconnectivity will make way forknowledge connectivity.

Dr. Kalam complimented the Institutefor its pioneering role in the field ofPanchayati Raj and charted out a courseof action for the Institute in the next 25years. According to Dr. Kalam:

“Institute of Social Sciences canassume a significant role of activating,training and synergizing the PanchayatiRaj Institutions towards missions ofsustained development building on thelocal competencies of the villages under

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam releasing the Book “Re-Imagining India and Other Essays” by giving the first copy toLord Bhikhu Parekh. Also seen are Prof. U.R. Ananthamurthy (L) and Dr. George Mathew (R)

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the PURA aegis. The most importantneed will be empowering the Panchayatswith the competence of handlingsignificant and economic transaction withintegrity and transparency. The ISS cancontribute towards economicempowerment of Panchayats incollaboration with Government and privateinstitutions.

Mission for the Institute of SocialSciencesAs the Institute of Social Sciences turns25 this year, we must discuss and evolvewhat would be the future social leadershiprole which the Institute will provide tothe nation. Let me present seven missionsfor the Institute.1. The governance system in our country

and, for that matter, in many othercountries is based on the process ofgovernment agencies working incontract mode through a due process.However in the modern world wehave, particularly in the social sectorsmany players like NGOs and

individual entrepreneurship. A researchis needed to introduce procedures withchecks and balances so that socialprojects are achieved efficiently andtransparently on time with benefitsaccruing to the intended needy people.

2. The best practices of Panchayatsacross the nation may be documentedand used as training material, acrossmultiple regions and languages of thenation. This can be through the useof multimedia by documenting theprofile of the best Panchayats in thenation. It will also act as inspirationfor the local youth to take upleadership roles in the localgovernance structure.

3. Institute of Social Sciences may liketo collaborate with internationaluniversities and action groups toprovide joint research programmes.

4. The Institute may like to deviseobjective tools for impact assessmentof local governance and publish theresearch on its website and othermedia.

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam delivering the 11th D.T. Lakdawala Memorial Lecture


Institute ofSocial Sciencescan contribute

towardseconomic

empowerment ofPanchayats incollaboration

with Governmentand privateinstitutions.

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5. ISS should emerge as aplatform for consultingindividual Panchayats on howthey can best achieve thegoals of local leveldevelopment using theexisting government and non-government schemes.

6. Institute of Social Sciencesmay like to undertakeknowledge services under thePURA. It can suggest waysin which Panchayats and thecommunity at the local rurallevel can be made an activepartner in the PURA mission.

7. Institute of Social Sciences can studyNaxalite affected regions of the nationand produce a special case study witha well outlined action plan forachieving development of theseregions, especially from theperspective of employment generationand community activation.”Dr. Kalam interacted with the students

from various universities of Delhi andothers for about half an hour. The 600-odd gathering listened to him with raptattention and participated in the interactivesession with zeal and enthusiasm.

Lord Bhikhu Parekh, CentennialProfessor of London School ofEconomics, in his address enumerated themany achievements of India in the last63 years. He underlined India’s ability todeal with conflict, diversity and alsoreferred to the many challenges that Indiafaces especially grinding poverty,corruption, rise of consumerism andclosing of mind. What he found veryirksome was the growing tendency toaccept poverty and corruption as a factof life. He also lamented the sense ofcomplacency of the middle class and theinsecurity which is gripping the people.However, Prof. Parekh expressed the

confidence that the country has thedetermination to overcome its manychallenges.

Dr. Kalam released the book: “Re-Imagining India and Other Essays” - acompilation of the 10 LakdawalaMemorial Lectures earlier delivered byeminent scholars of international repute:Amartya Sen, Mahbub ul Haq,Muhammad Yunus, Albie Sachs, NoamChomsky, Bhikhu Parekh, Romila Thapar,I.G. Patel, Anthony Giddens and JosephStiglitz.

Dr. George Mathew, Director, Instituteof Social Sciences, in his welcomeaddress remembered all those whohelped the Institute in its formative yearsand extended support in many ways forits growth and development. He statedthat “it was Dr. Lakdawala’s advocacyof decentralized planning that helped theInstitute enormously in its specializationin the field of decentralization, localgovernment and empowerment of themarginalised”.

Dr. U.R. Ananthamurthy, Chairman,Institute of Social Sciences, gave thepresidential address. He said that in theearly 80s the Institute was only an idea.“After 25 years when I see the impactthe Institute has made nationally andinternationally, I feel very proud of my

A section of the audience at the 11th D.T. Lakdawala Memorial Lecture


Lord BhikhuParekh

underlinedIndia’s ability to

deal withconflict, diversityand also referred

to the manychallenges that

India facesespecially

grinding poverty,corruption, riseof consumerismand closing of

mind.

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association with it. When I became theChairman of the Institute in 1998, I wasaware of my predecessors - greatscholars and men of eminence like Prof.D.T. Lakdawala, Prof. MalcomAdiseshiah and Prof. Sarvepally Gopal. Iam very happy that the Institute hascome a long way.”

The D.T. Lakdawala MemorialLecture series was instituted by thePlanning Commission, Government ofIndia.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Visitto the InstituteHis Holiness the Dalai Lama visited theInstitute on 19 November 2010 andunveiled the portrait of Mr. GeorgeFernandes drawn by Burmese artist,

Excerpts“Firstly, what is human being?

Of course, human being is one of thethousands varieties of different sort ofmammals. Human being is also a kind ofsocial animal, there are many differentspecies of social animals and we are oneof them. But one unique thing abouthuman being is human intelligence thathas progressed and I think, it has alsomobilized and organized violence. Butsome monkeys also have some ability tomobilize their own group but as humanbeings we have the ability to organize.That is why intermittently we have warsand also have special intellectuals torecollect. So now I think with humanintelligence we organize it to legalizeviolence and then war. If one individual

His Holiness the Dalai Lama delivering the lecture on “Human Approach to World Peace”.Also seen from Left: Dr. George Mathew and Prof. U.R. Ananthamurthy

His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Visit...

On the one handthere are some

persons whoreally remain abit relaxed andsome who are a

little bit peculiar.They come to

power andobviously thereis corruption.

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person kills one person we call himmurderer and still some people whoorganize forces and kill thousands ofpeople are actually great murderers butwe call them heroes. In the 20th century,according to historians, through violenceand wars, the number of people killedwere 200 million.

The basic nature of human beings, Ibelieve, more generally the way we areborn, grown up and are brought up –mother’s affection is the key factor tohelp us develop properly –physically aswell as emotionally. So, obviously we cansee those people who receive maximumaffection at the time of their young agefeel safe and those people who lackmother’s affection no matter how wealthythey become, deep inside there existssome sort of insecurity in them. As aresult, those who received maximumaffection when they were young havemore ability to show affection. Thosewho received much lesser affection atthat time, find it difficult to show a senseof concern for other human beings. So,these people often develop anger, hatred,and fear. Their body and mental state isunder pressure.

Some scientists actually say that thereis a constant fear and anger in our humansystem. In order to keep a morecompassionate mind and a sense ofconcern for other human beings, theperson must have more inner strengthand self-confidence. Through this waygenuine friendships can be developed.Cooperation is based on friendship.Cooperation by default may not go wellwith friendship. Friendship is based ontrust and can never develop on the basisof suspicion and destruction.

Human beings are basically tender bynature because biologically our life startsearly. So, when we face some problemsor disagree on something, we must meetthem (friends), listen to them, share our

views with them and make compromise.This is a human approach, although somedisagreements exist. The ultimate goalshould be to demilitarize the worldbecause huge money is spent for theseweapons, including nuclear weapons”.

In his welcome address, Institute ofSocial Sciences Director, GeorgeMathew said that the topic of “HumanApproach to World Peace” wasextremely relevant now when the wholeworld was spending colossal amount onmilitary, armaments and peace keeping,leaving no money for poverty eradicationor human development.

Dr. Mathew said that GeorgeFernandes has been a relentlesscampaigner for the cause the Dalai Lamahas stood throughout.

For the Institute, George Fernandeshas been a great source of inspirationand support since the time it was only anidea, Dr. Mathew added.

Lecture by Rev. Otis Moss Jr.The Institute organized a lecture by Rev.Otis Moss, Jr. (Civic Leader andMember, President Obama’s AdvisoryCouncil on Faith-Based and

People in thehigher positionsdo not keep anylimits on theircorruption and

those in thelower position

help them to doso.

Lecture by Rev. Otis Moss Jr.

A section of the audience at His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Lecture

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Neighbourhood Partnerships) on:“Gandhi-King Impact on HumanRights and Civil Rights” at the AbdulNazir Sab Auditorium of Institute. Dr.Otis Moss Jr. thanked India and Indiansfor giving the World-Changing Figure ofMahatma Gandhi. He described Gandhiand King as “two great spirits, two greatsouls and two great dreams”. Raising thequestion as to how the two men whonever met and who were so differentfrom each other in age could meet andimpress. He responded by saying thatthe two met on the highway of love. Theyshared the quest for dignity and justice.

Paying rich tributes to the Gandhianprinciple of non-violence he said “non-violence can never be defeated.” Itdoesn’t depend on time, place, weather,or person. It is anchored in love, truth,justice and reconciliation.

Speaking of President Obama’s entryinto the White House Rev. Moss Jr. saidphilosophically that “when Obamaentered the White House, Dr. King was

there, Mahatma Gandhi was his side andGod was there.” He also said that “loveis universal and truth is not divided bycolour, religion or creed.

Dr. George Mathew, Director, Instituteof Social Sciences, welcomed thegathering. Shri Rajmohan Gandhi,President of Initiatives of Change, chairedthe function. He thanked Dr. Otis Mossfor giving great meaning to the Gandhi-King relationship and called for enrichingIndia’s relations with African-Americanstill that happens Indo-American relationswill remain hollow. Dr. Ash Narain Roy,Associate Director, Institute of SocialSciences proposed a vote of thanks.

Thirteenth Finance Commission andLocal GovernmentThe Institute organised a national seminaron “Thirteenth Finance Commission andLocal Government” on 17 July. Theseminar was aimed at seeking clarity onthe recommendations of the ThirteenthFinance Commission regarding fiscal

Thirteenth Finance Commission...

Rev. Otis Moss Jr. delivering the Lecture on “Gandhi-King Impact onHuman Rights and Civil Rights”. From left: Shri Rajmohan Gandhi, President of

Initiatives of Change and Dr. George Mathew

Paying richtributes to the

Gandhianprinciple of non-

violence, Rev.Otis Moss Jr.

said: “non-violence can

never bedefeated”

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decentralisation and devolution of fundsto the local governments.

Considering the importance of thetheme, a number of senior officials fromGovernment of India and various StateGovernments, intellectuals, opinion-makers and activists attended this nationalseminar. In all more than 60 experts,senior government officials and otherscame from 17 States and UnionTerritories to participate in thedeliberations. With the participation ofnational experts the deliberations wereof h igh order and extremelymeaningful.

Dr. Vijay Kelkar, Chairman, ThirteenthFinance Commission, introduced and ledthe discussions. Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar,Member, Rajya Sabha presided over thefunction.

In his introductory remarks, Dr.George Mathew, said that “if resourcesmade available to the local governments,according to the TFC recommendations,reach these institutions and if they are

fully utilized by them, they would beimmensely strengthened and the conceptof power to the people will become areality in this country”.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, Member ofParliament (Rajya Sabha), in hisspeech referred to the familiarexpression that man proposes and goddisposes. In that instance the chairmanof the Central Finance Commissionproposes and officials in the ministriesconcerned dispose. Hence he stressedthe need to be very clear as to what thechairperson of the Thirteenth FinanceCommission and his colleagues actuallyintended to avoid the danger. Mr. Aiyarnarrated what happened to therecommendations of the Twelfth FinanceCommission. The Twelfth FinanceCommission made a breakthrough, atleast conceptually, in providing for Rs.20,000 crores to be disbursed to theinstitutions of local self-government asthe Constitution describes them.


Dr. Vijay Kelkar, Chairman, Thirteenth Finance Commission, addressing the gathering.From L to R: Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and

Dr. George Mathew

“We are allfamiliar with theexpression thatman proposes

and goddisposes. In thisinstance I would

say that thechairman of theCentral Finance

Commissionproposes and

officials in theministriesconcerneddispose”.

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The Twelfth Finance Commission saidthat at best priority should be given tosanitation projects. Many stategovernments grabbed that opportunity andgave the entire money to their respectivedepartments dealing with sanitation,controlled by the bureaucracy. Under theNirmal Gram Puraskar programme,hundreds of villages around the countryare honoured for ensuring that thesanitation work is done better thanelsewhere. “Would not those who arealready doing good sanitation work beentitled to the monies coming for the localgovernments from the Twelfth FinanceCommission, he asked.

The Twelfth Finance Commission’sgood intentions were subverted by acombination of inadequate drafting on thepart of the Commission, the manner inwhich guidelines were drawn with littlerespect to ground realities by the Ministryof Finance, along with the distortionsintroduced by the state governments, andthe role local politicians especially MLAsat the grassroots level played to ensure

that the purposes for which the TwelfthFinance Commission grants were givendid not actually reach the people”,Mr. Aiyar further added.

Vijay Kelkar, Chairman, ThirteenthFinance Commission said that “theinteresting part of its work was to goaround the country and meet peopleconcerned in different states. Themembers went to all states and met inevery State the leaders of the third tier,e.g., more than 60 mayors and a biggernumber of functionaries. They were toldthat there was gross inadequacy ofresources for the needs at the third tier.They were not asking for money forstadia or opera houses, but were askingfor money for maintenance of assets andprovision of basic services like water andsanitation.

The second issue was the non-predictability of the resources and thefact that they don’t have the revenuebuoyancy that the states have in termsof devolution.


A Section of Audience at the Twelfth Finance Commission meetingA three day training programfor middle level womenpolice officers on SelfDevelopment and ConflictManagement was conductedby the Institute of SocialSciences from 30th August to1st September at CDTSKolkata. A total number of 35participants coming fromdifferent states, namely,Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa,Tripura and West Bengalparticipated.

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The third point was the lack ofadequate governance structures at thethird tier and this was the main reasonwhy the outcomes were notcommensurate with the inputs.

Wherever the members went, theynoticed the tension between the secondand third tier of government. To ensurethat this does not subvert what we areproposing, we have also recommendedsome procedures of transferring theresources to the third tier with minimumfriction and minimum delays, withcomplete freedom to the third tier in termsof their spending priorities. We have laidout in detail a roadmap on how it shouldbe done.

“Many scholars were concerned aboutthe absorption capacity of the third tier.The third tier may not have the capacityto utilize larger amounts of money in anefficient manner. Let me tell you that wehave underestimated the revenues in ourreport as a strategy. We wanted to makethe numbers of devolution higher; if wehave projected higher revenues then 2.5per cent would have become 2 per cent.If you ask my own personal view thetotal would cross 100,000 crores. Wehave deliberately underestimated therevenues because it is prudent to beconservative. States suffer more if youoverestimate revenues. It has happened,if I recall, in the Eleventh FinanceCommission Report. We have also triedto address the concerns of the ScheduleV and VI areas”.

Seventeenth Women’s PoliticalEmpowerment Day CelebrationsThe Seventeenth Women’s PoliticalEmpowerment day was celebrated on24th and 25th April 2010. More than 500elected women representatives fromacross the country assembled in NewDelhi for the celebrations. This year’s

celebrations focused on the theme ‘ToEnd Violence Against Women and theRole of Panchayats’. The Chief Guestof the celebrations was the HonourableMrs. Gursharan Kaur, social activist andwife of Dr. Manmohan Singh, PrimeMinister of India .

Inaugurating the conference, Mrs.Gursharan Kaur said that she was proudof the achievements of the womenleaders who received the awards. Shecalled upon women to organizethemselves and fight against femaleinfanticide, dowry system, sati and suchother harmful practices. Efforts shouldbe made to change the mindsets ofpeople because crimes originate in themind. There is much to be done; butthere is hope because there is no dearthfor good leaders.

Welcoming the chief guest, the womenelected representatives and otherdelegates, Dr.George Mathew, Director,Institute of Social Sciences, said that theInstitute began this celebration on 24 April1994, to commemorate the day when “notless than one-third seats for women ininstitutions of local government” becamePart IX of the Constitution. We are now

Women’s Political Empowerment Day Celebrations

Smt. Gursharan Kaur addressing the women delegates

The Institute of SocialSciences organized a trainingprogram for Prison officialsof Punjab on 29th January2010 on the topic “HumanRights in Indian Prisons”. Itwas held in the Punjab JailTraining School, Patiala. Itwas inaugurated by theDirector General of PrisonsShri Anil Kaushik.

Thirty-three officersincluding Superintendent ofPolice, DeputySuperintendent of Police andAssistant Superintendent ofPolice, participated in theprogram. A monograph onthe theme “Human Rights inIndian Prisons” written byDr. Upneet Lalli of Instituteof CorrectionalAdministration, Chandigarhbrought out by the Instituteof Social Sciences under theproject was circulated amongthe officers.

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witnessing a new era of gender equalityin the country. He attributed this to thesuccessful outcome of women’sparticipation in politics and public life inthe past 17 years through localgovernment institutions.

Greeting the women elected members,Mr. Bharat Singh, Minister for PanchayatiRaj, Government of Rajasthan, said thateven though economically backward,states like Rajasthan and Bihar havetaken significant steps to increase thereservation for women to over 50 percent. He encouraged the women to speakout whenever violence against themoccurs and to make sure that it is reported.

Ms. Anne Stenhammer, RegionalProgramme Director, UNIFEM SouthAsia Office, stated that the mostimportant agenda of UNIFEM iswomen’s empowerment. She called uponthe women leaders to take back theirlearning from this conference and makevery special efforts to stop violenceagainst women. Violence against women,she reiterated, is barbaric and underminesthe dignity of women.

Delivering the keynote address,Dr.Mohini Giri, Chairperson, Guild forServices, encouraged the women leadersto organize themselves against violence.She underlined the need for women togain knowledge of the laws which willhelp them understand their rights and toinclude men in their efforts to endviolence against women.

Outstanding Women PanchayatLeaders AwardThree women panchayat leaders:Ms.Shobha Sinha, Adhyakasha, ZillaParishad, Gaya, Bihar; Ms.Radha Devi,Pradhan, Meethiberi Panchayat,Uttarakhand and Ms.Sanjo Kol, Pradhan,Gidurha Panchayat, Uttar Pradesh werehonoured for their excellent work in theirpanchayats. Ms.Shobha Sinha wasawarded for her outstanding work in thefields of education especially dalitchildren, health, empowerment of women,watershed management, and promotionof non-conventional energy sources,among others.

Ms. Radha Devi, the Pradhan ofMeethiberi Panchayat, was honoured forproviding inspiring leadership to a teamof emerging women leaders, improvingthe implementation of Integrated ChildDevelopment Services (ICDS), as alsofor her fight against in justice and forthe rights of the displaced people.

Ms.Sanjo Kol, Pradhan of GidurhaPanchayat, Uttar Pradesh was awardedfor her relentless fight against social andpolitical in justice among the tribalfamilies. Mrs.Gursharan Kaur presentedthe plaques, citations and cash prizes tothe outstanding women leaders.

Plenary SessionsThe plenary sessions spread over twodays, focused on various aspects ofviolence against women and the role of

Women’s Political Empowerment Day Celebrations

Dr. George Mathew, Ms. Anne Stenhammer, Mrs. Gursharan Kaur, Ms. MohiniGiri and Mr. Bharat Singh with the Outstanding Women Panchayat Leaders

Award winners Ms. Sanjo Kol, Ms. Shobha Sinha and Ms. Radha Devi.

ISS InternsLund University, Sweden

Mr. Geoffrey Gardella.Topic: Cooking Culture:South-Indian WomenEntrepreneurs in Delhi

Ms. Maria Mikkelsen.Topic: Knowledge, Behaviorand Approaches towards theEnvironment in ContemporaryIndia

Ms. Emilia Zabiliute:Topic: The Rhetoric andStrategies of Dalit ImageConstruction: a Case Study ofDalit Human RightsOrganization

Ms. Weibin WangTopic: SustainableLivelihoods in SlumRedevelopment Programs inNew Delhi

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panchayats in taking appropriatemeasures to prevent such violence. Thefirst plenary session was the presentationof the theme by Ms. Dinoo Mathew andDr. Santosh Singh. They dealt with theconcept of violence against women, andprovided background information on itsvarious forms and location, its incidenceand intensity in the country. They alsonarrated the efforts by local governmentsworldwide on this issue. The role ofpanchayats in addressing it the problemwas greatly emphasised. The session waschaired by Prof. S. Narayan, Member,Task Force on Panchayati Raj,Government of Bihar.

The Mahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Scheme(MNREGS), HIV/AIDS and Trafficking,and Violence against Women were othersignificant issues on which separateplenary sessions were organized.

Group DiscussionsIn the latter half of the first day, theparticipants were divided into groups todeliberate on the issue of violence againstwomen. The discussions were led byMs. Abhilasha Kumari, Professor,Communications and Ms. SowmyaKidambi. The summary of thediscussions were presented by therapporteurs in an open session chairedby Dr.Ash Narain Roy, AssociateDirector, Institute of Social Sciences.

Valedictory SessionThe valedictory address was deliveredby Mr.Mani Shankar Aiyar, Member ofParliament (Rajya Sabha).Congratulating the women electedmembers for their many achievements,Mr.Aiyar said that he was looking forwardto their reservation in the Lok Sabha aswell. He was happy to see many womencontesting and winning even fromgeneral seats. The perceptions of menand women vary greatly in terms ofneeds and decision making. Women, hesaid, have a reputation of being honestand bringing changes faster. “Panchayatleaders understand problems and havepolitical experience at the grassroots level.Therefore, they make better leaders atthe state and national level”.

The inputs from eminent speakers, thedeliberations and discussions during theconference were appreciated by thewomen leaders as informative andeducative. For many, violence has beena part of their lives as women and aswomen elected members; but they nowrecognize that it is a serious concern andshould not be tolerated. They resolved totake back the lessons to their family andcommunity and work towards endingviolence against women.

A delegation of women politicalleaders from Egypt attended theprogramme and witnessed the enthusiasmof women leaders from grassrootsinstitutions.

Dr. Yang Jianli’s LectureAs part of its Silver Jubilee celebrations,the Institute organized a talk by Dr YangJianli on the “Three Chinas”. Dr Yangwas one among the million or so youngmen and women who had assembled atTiananmen Square in 1989 to protestagainst corruption. He narrowly missedbeing massacred there. Few people know

Dr. Yang Jianli’s Lecture

Dr. Ash Narain Roy

University of Bucharest

Ms. Cristina MaglaviceanuTopic: Intraregional Migrationand its Impact on South Asiancountries

Stella Maris College,Chennai

Ms. Neethu S.ThottammariyilTopic: India’s Role as aMediator in West Asian PeaceProcess

Ms. Kshetrimayum AnnieDeviTopic: Maoism in Nepal

Ms. Shrutha S.Topic: Complete NuclearDisarmament – Distant Dreamor an Achievable Goal?

Ms. Anita Elizabeth MathewTopic: Changing Dynamics ofIndo-US Relations based onGeo-Politics

Mr. Antoine ArmstrongTopic: The India-ChinaRelationship, a Key toUnderstanding Future in Asia.

Ms. Vinita HarryTopic: Post Crisis views onGlobalisation.

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that when the Nobel Committee awardedthe 2010 Peace Prize to Chinese leaderLiu Xiabo, who is now in jail, despite thethreats from China, it was Dr Yang whohad worked behind the scene to make ita reality. Jianli often talks of three Chinas,excluding Taiwan.

Why is the world afraid of China? DrYang had an interesting explanation. Chinais run by a dictatorial party. “In the last100 years, no two democracies havefought a war”. He says there are twoChinas in China. One represents theCommunist Party or the establishmentand the other the ordinary Chinese whonumber over a billion.

There is a huge disconnect betweenthe two. The rulers have so corruptedthe judiciary, the academics, the journalistsand all the opinion makers that they havebecome their willing collaborators. Insharp contrast are the ordinary people,who are deprived of the freedoms ofspeech and movement, collectivebargaining power and all the rightsconsidered essential in a democraticsociety. They are the “shitizens” of China,a derogatory term used by a senior

Transport Department official to describethe teeming millions.

“In China, 0.4 per cent of thepopulation controls 70 per cent of thenational wealth. The minimum wages inChina are only 15 per cent of the world’saverage. In this respect, China is at the159th position”, said Dr Yang. Is it anywonder that the ordinary people intenselyhate the rich and the influential? It is notwidely known that every five or sixminutes, there is one protest somewherein China in which over 100 peopleparticipate?

The Chinese government keeps themunder control using 39 million spies. Itspends a huge amount on policing to keepthe “shitizens” under control. China nowspends billions and billions of dollars tospread its tentacles, not just in Asia butin Europe, Africa and the Americas.Simultaneously, the aspirations of the“shitizens” have also been growing.

The democracy movement in Chinamay not be in a position to challenge thebrute power of the corrupt oligarchy thatcontrols the state. But the feeling thatthe Chinese should have the freedom to

Dr. Yang Jianli’s Lecture

Seminar on Russia in IndianForeign Policy

In continuance of the SilverJubilee lectures and seminars,the Institute organized aRoundtable discussion on“Russia in Indian ForeignPolicy” on 9 December 2010.Besides the inauguralsession, the Roundtable hadthe following three WorkingSessions (1) Assessment ofIndo-Russia Strategic Ties (2)Future Directions: EnergySecurity, Defence and CivilNuclear Cooperation, and (3)Significance and Potential ofShanghai CooperativeOrganisation (SCO), BRICand RIC platforms for Indo-Russian Ties.

The objective of theRoundtable was to bring tolimelight the relevance ofIndia’s strategic ties withRussia in the fast changingglobal scenario and thedirection that these werelikely to take in the years anddecades to come particularlyin key sectors like Energy,Defence and Civil NuclearCooperation. Mr. KanwalSibbal, former foreignSecretary, was the KeynoteSpeaker.

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choose their rulers, who will respecthuman rights and will be guided solely bythe principles of the rule of law, is nowwidespread. Those who nurse this feelingconstitute the third China. And a timewill come when there will be a clashbetween “China Incorporated” and the“China of Shitizens” which will signal theend of the Communist hegemony in themost populous nation”.

At one point Dr. Yang was compelledto ask the audience whether anybodyreally trusted China? There was not oneto raise his hands from the audiencewhich comprised academics, students ofMandarin, Tibetans and researchers. Whysingle out the small audience? Even thosewho go gaga over the giganticachievements of China do not in theirheart of hearts trust China that sent tanksto massacre the students at TiananmenSquare on June 4, 1989.

State Level Workshop onEmpowerment of PRIsA State Level Workshop was convenedon 31st July at the joint initiative of IndiraGandhi Panchayati Raj & Gramin VikasSansthan, SIRD - Rajasthan, Jaipur,Association of Local Governance of Indiaand Institute of Social Sciences, NewDelhi - in order to bring together a cross-section of newly elected representativesof Panchayati Raj Institutions, so as toenable them to articulate their views andexpectations from the State Governmentfor empowerment of PRIs. The Workshopparticipants included - all 33 ZilaPramukhs of the State, two Pradhansfrom each district - including one femaleand one male and two Sarpanches fromeach district - including one female andone male. Additionally, all Officers ofPanchayati Raj and Rural DevelopmentDepartment, Faculty & officers ofIGPR&GVS and ISS, and a few

representatives of media were also invitedfor the Event.

The Workshop was inaugurated byHon’ble Minister for Rural Development& Panchayati Raj, Shri Bharat Singh.Hon’ble Chief Minister, Rajasthan gavethe concluding address as the Chief Guestof the Concluding Session. Besides, theinaugural and concluding sessions, therewere two open interactive sessions inthe Workshop - which focused on issuesof empowerment of PRIs andstrengthening of the district planningprocess, as well as empowerment ofelected women representatives and GramSabhas.

At the outset, the Director Generalof the Institute welcomed the dignitaries.Dr. George Mathew, in his keynoteaddress congratulated the Government ofRajasthan for providing this platform tothe newly elected representatives forsharing their expectations forempowerment of PRIs with the StateGovernment. He also congratulated theInstitute for doing remarkable work forequipping PRIs, through capacity buildinginitiatives in a sustained manner. He theninvoked the State Government for takinglead in realistically devolving powers toPRIs and emerging as a leading State inNorthern States of India. Dr. Mathewreferred to the catalytic role that the State

State Level Workshop on Empowerment of PRIs

Shri Ashok Gehlot, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan speaking at theValedictory Session of the State Level Workshop on Empowerment of PRIs

S.K. Dey Chair on LocalGovernment

The Institute of SocialSciences established the S.K.Dey Chair in LocalGovernment as a tribute toS.K. Dey, India’s first Ministerfor Community Developmentin Jawaharlal Nehru’s Cabinetand the first leader inIndependent India whobrought to the forepanchayati raj and sahakarisamaj. In recognition of theInstitute’s pioneering work inresearch and promotion ofdemocratic decentralisation(Panchayati Raj) in India, theFord Foundation gave acorpus fund for this Chair.Mrs. Purabi Pandey (daughterof S.K. Dey) and Mrs.Barouta Malhotra alsocontributed to the corpusfund of the Chair. Prof. S.Narayan is presently the ChairProfessor.

16

Planning Board can play in empoweringGram Panchayats as ‘Village Republics’- the ultimate aim of our democracy.

In his inaugural address, Shri BharatSingh - hon’ble Minister (RD&PR),recounted that this is the 8th Workshopin his tenure as Minister, inviting viewsand expectations of PRI - electedrepresentatives, on empowerment ofthese local self-government institutions.He further said that this Workshop shouldfocus on ways and means for trueempowerment of PRIs, to equip them tofulfil their Constitutional mandate asInstitutions of grassroots democracy.

Hon’ble Chief Minister, Shri AshokGehlot was the Chief Guest of theConcluding Session. Mr. Giri Raj Singh,DG of the Institute welcomed the ChiefMinister. Hon’ble Chief Minister, in hisconcluding address, expressed hishappiness about being present in thisaugust Assembly of PRI-ElectedRepresentatives from all over the Stateand at their strong advocacy for realempowerment of PRIs. He went on toreinforce that Good Governance initiativescan be taken only with the support ofstrong Panchayats - as was the vision ofMahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and ShriRajiv Gandhi.

He then, expressed his strongcommitment for transfer of powers toPRIs to be initiated soon, ensuring a fool-proof strategy for no dilution happeningin the event of any change of regime, tothe empowerment of PRIs. He alsorecounted the devolution of powers givento PRIs - in his previous tenure as ChiefMinister, wherein, Cabinet approval wasgiven to devolving 29 Subjects related to16 Departments, but, with the change ofregime - those powers were withdrawnor diluted, in the wake of lack of politicalwill. He expressed his full support toworking out ways and means to immunizePRIs from such a revocation of powersthis time.

The Chief Minister also called uponthe PRI-Elected Representatives tofunction as trustees of Public Moneybeing invested on developmentprogrammes. He gave the example ofNREGA - wherein, each district of theState, is getting resource flow to the tuneof Rs.250-Rs.300 Crores per annum,whereas earlier, the total kitty underfamine relief works for the whole State- used to be-Rs.250 Crores.

Association of Local Governance ofIndiaAssociation of Local Governance of India(ALGI) is building a network of electedrepresentatives, institutions and individualsinvolved in activism on panchayati rajissues in India. This year also the processof building a network has continued, witha focus on north India. Briefly, theactivities of ALGI in the year 2010 havebeen the following:

ALGI National Council Meeting on29 March 2010ALGI president, Abdul Ghani Khanwelcomed the participants and gave anoutline of the progress made by ALGI

Association of Local Governance of India

Participants of the ALGI National Council Meeting on 29 March

Malcolm S. AdiseshiahChair on Development

Economics andDecentralised Planning

The Malcolm S. AdiseshiahChair was established in thename of Prof. Malcolm S.Adiseshiah who was theChairman of the Institute ofSocial Sciences from 1992 to1994. The Chair is supportedby the Malcolm & ElizabethAdiseshiah Trust, Chennai.Dr. Kamal Nayan Kabra is thecurrent Chair Professor.

17

Association of Local Governance of India

since the last meeting. Dr. GeorgeMathew said that the original vision ofALGI was to create something like a“trade union” where the members wouldfight for the improvement of thePanchayat system in the state and saidthat ALGI members would have to fighthard to achieve this vision. Dr. AshNarain Roy said there needs to be clarityregarding the vision of ALGI which is aplatform for members from the state andthe short and long-term plans of theorganisation need to be clearlyformulated. The progress report for ALGIactivities between August 2009 andMarch 2010 was presented to themembers by Debraj Bhattacharya, theCEO of ALGI, which was followedby discussions on future activities ofALGI.

Spread of ALGI in Different StatesDuring 2010 the network of ALGI spreadto different parts of India. Some of the

activities that were carried out were asfollows:

Uttar Pradesh: In 2009, ALGI wasable to develop partnerships withstrategic grass-roots organisations inthe state. Following this it was plannedthat a pre-election voter awarenesscampaign (PEVAC) would beorganised in the state. Accordingly 4conventions, 2 public-hearings and anintensive campaign in Chitrakootdistrict were organised. Posters andother campaign materials wereproduced to generate awareness onvarious wrong practices duringelections. The final event that wasorganised to complete the PEVACwas a press conference in Lucknowon the eve of the elections. The entirecampaign was widely covered in thepress and helped in ensuring thatseveral candidates from the weakersections of the society got elected.

Visit of EgyptianDelegation to India

The Institute of SocialSciences and the NationalDemocratic Institute (NDI), aWashington-based nonprofitorganization working tosupport and strengthendemocratic institutionsworldwide, organized a visitof eight women politicalleaders from Egypt from 23 to30 April 2010. The delegationof women leaders hadrepresentation from variouspolitical parties.

The delegation visitedIndia to learn about the Indiandemocratic process and thevarious institutions of IndianParliamentary democracy.

Women Political Leaders of Egypt with Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar and Dr. George Mathew

18

Second IBSA-LGF Meeting in Curitiba

Following the Voter awarenesscampaign three micro-projects havebeen initiated in the state to improvethe panchayats. A study has also beeninitiated to understand the reasonsbehind the violence that occurredduring the panchayat elections.

Jharkhand: In 2009 ALGI hadcampaigned for the holding of electionsin the state which had not seen anyelections to its panchayats since itsformation in 2000. After the electionswere announced ALGI organised anelection watch with specific focus onEast Singbhum and Deoghar Districts.Voter’s Councils have also beenformed in 300 villages to make thevillagers aware of the process ofelections. ALGI is currently workingto strengthen the gram sabhas andcampaigning for the capacity buildingof the elected representatives.

Karnataka: ALGI has developedpartnership with a local organisationnamed Bharati Welfare Society whichhas long experience of working withpanchayat representatives in the stateand has developed a concrete plan ofaction to hold regional conventionsfollowed by state level convention tostrengthen ALGI in the state and raiseissues relevant to the panchayats ofthe state.

Uttarakhand: ALGI forged allianceswith local organisations, HimalayiParyavaran Shiksha Samity and DishaSocial Organisation in the state andchalked out an action plan for themicro-level programmes as well as astate level convention to beimplemented in 2011.

Jammu and Kashmir: ALGI sentseveral letters to the Hon’ble Chief

Minister to hold panchayat electionsin the state and also held a civil societymeet to generate public opinion in thestate regarding panchayat elections.Several CSOs of the state havebecome institutional members ofALGI.

West Bengal: ALGI establishedpartnership with the leading CivilSociety Organisation of the stateworking on Panchayati Raj issues,Loka Kalyan Parishad.

Haryana: ALGI sent a team to studythe panchayat election process in thestate. It was observed that althoughthe elections were held peacefullythere was a serious concern regardingdistribution of cash and liquor andhusbands/male members using womenas proxy candidates in seats whichwere reserved for women.

Second IBSA-LGF Meeting inCuritibaThe second meeting of India Brazil SouthAfrica Local Governance Forum (IBSA-LGF) was held in Curitiba, Brazil onMarch 13, 2010 on the sidelines of theInternational Conference of InnovativeCities (IC-IC 2010). It was inauguratedby Mr. Rodrigo da Rocha Loures,President of Chamber of Commerce andIndustry of Parana. Incidentally, theParana Chamber of Commerce andIndustry was the main sponsor of IC-IC2010. Mr. Loures expressed confidencethat civil society will play a far biggerrole in future. Mr. Obed Mlaba, Hon’bleMayor of Durban, along with CouncilorL M Mhlongo-Ntaka, Senior ManagerShelley Gielink of Durban Municipality;and Dr. Rama Naidu, Executive Director,Democracy Development Programme,Durban, represented South Africa in the

Faculty NewsGeorge Mathew

International Conferences/Workshops

Attended theInternational conferenceof Innovative Cities IC-IC2010 from 10 to 13 Marchin Curitiba, Brazil.Participated in India-Brazil-South Africa LocalGovernance ForumMeeting from 13 to 14March at Curitiba.Participated in SixthAssembly - WorldMovement forDemocracy from 11 to 14April and presented apaper on How canProvincial and LocalGovernments PromoteHuman Rights andDemocratic Practices? inJakarta, Indonesia.Attended InternationalStanding Committee (ISC)Meeting on 1 Julyorganized by Communityof Democracies atKrakow, Poland.Delivered 2010 KeithRoby Memorial Lecture atMurdoch University,Perth, West Australia on12 August.Attended the workshopon CollaborativeResearch on South AsiaTax System in Singaporefrom 8 to 9 Augustorganized by GINI,Islamabad in cooperationwith IDRC, Canada

National Conferences/Workshops

Delivered annual lectureon Political Economy ofDecentralisation atDepartment ofEconomics, Mar ThomaCollege, Tiruvalla on 2February

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Second IBSA-LGF Meeting in Curitiba

From Left: Dr. Manu Kulkarni, Dr. Rama Naidu, Ms. Madan Kaur, Ms. V. Sukanya,Mr. Abdul Gani Khan, Dr. George Mathew, Mr. P.P. Soti and Dr. Ash Narain Roy

meeting. Besides Mr. Loures, those fromBrazil who participated in the meetingincluded, among others, Mr. CezarSchirmer, Hon’ble Mayor of Santa Maria;Mr. Roberto Paranhos do Riobranco,President, Brazil-India Chamber ofCommerce; Mr. Cezar Augusto Busatto,Secretary of Political Coordination andLocal Governance, Santa Maria; seniorofficials of Curitiba Municipality, includingMs. Lara de Lacerda Santos Rodriguez,Head, Department of InternationalRelations. About 40 representatives fromBrazil participated in this programme.

Dr. George Mathew, Director, Instituteof Social Sciences, Delhi, made apresentation and explained the rationalefor the IBSA-LGF as also its vision andfuture agenda. Seven delegates fromIndia including Mr. Abdul Gani Khan(Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir), President,Association of Local Governance of India(ALGI); Mrs V Sukanya, President of

Vellimalaipatinam Panchayat, Tamil Nadustate; Mrs Madan Kaur, DistrictPresident, Zilla Panchayat, Barmer,Rajasthan state; Mr P P Soti, Member,State Planning Board, Government ofChhattisgarh; Dr Manu Kulkarni, UrbanSpecialist, Bengaluru, Karnataka Stateand Dr Ash Narain Roy, AssociateDirector, ISS participated in theprogramme. The first meeting of IBSA-LGF was organized by the Institute ofSocial Sciences in January 2008 in Delhiwith the support of Ministry of PanchayatiRaj and Ministry of Urban Development.Several mayors from South Africa andBrazil besides mayors and panchayatpresidents from various parts of Indiahad attended that meeting. Mr. ManiShankar Aiyar, then Union Minister forPanchayati Raj and Mr. S. JaipalReddy, Union Minister for UrbanDevelopment had addressed thatgathering.

Attended a workshop onDecentralisation andDevolution and presenteda paper on PanchayatiRaj, Decentralisation andDevolution in Indiaorganized by SPP GTZ IS,Chhattisgarh from 7 to 8JuneAtttended a conferenceof newly electedpanchayatrepresentatives inRajasthan on 31st July

Ash Narain Roy

Ash Narain Royparticipated in theInternational Conferenceon Innovative Cities fromMarch 10-14, 2010 inCurritiba, Brazil. He alsoparticipated in the SecondIBSALGF meeting inCurritiba and Porto Alegreon March 14-15.Dr Roy also participatedin the Sixth WorldMovement for Democracymeeting in Jakarta in April2010. He was a presenterin two workshops, one on“Religion, Tradition &Rights: How can CivicEducation help Build theBridges?’ and another on“Global Network on LocalGovernance—GNLG:Agenda for 2020”.Dr Roy also presented apaper in an internationalconference on “Right toEducation”, University ofDuisburg-Essen, Germanyin June.He also participated in theUlaanbaatar Roundtableon Democracy in Asiafrom September 28-30,organized by theCommunity ofDemocracies.

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Centre for Multilevel Federalism

Project on Water, Sanitation andPanchayatsInstitute of Social Sciences felt the needto undertake a systematic andcomprehensive study to review thefunctioning of panchayats, speciallyfocusing on water and sanitation schemesbased on primary data collected throughfield work in 2010.

Broadly, the study focused on thefollowing:

The state of devolution to the PRIsvis-à-vis WATSAN at the state,district, block and village level.

Performance of panchayats inrendering their constitutional functionsvis-à-vis WATSAN?

The key issues with panchayats inWATSAN which must be fixed forthe post-2015 situation to make themeffective.

The study was conducted in the sixstates –Kerala, Mizoram, Orissa, Gujarat,Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand selectedon the basis of their performance in waterand sanitation programmes andpanchayats.

The methodology included four steps:

Activity mapping to assess thedevolution of funds/functions/functionaries at state level

Schedule based interviews with state/district/block officials, panchayatmembers, experts and NGOs workingin the area

Questionnaire based survey at village/panchayat level

And in-depth case studies involvinggood and bad practicesA detailed survey of available

secondary sources was carried out. Pre-testing of questionnaire was done. Non-

participant observation was an inherentpart of all the four steps of themethodology.

Experienced field investigators wereselected to conduct the interviews. TheField operatives and coordinators had totravel to all the villages, blocks and districtheadquarters in all the selected states topersonally meet the respondents and toconduct in-depth studies and interviews.

The study was supported by the WaterAid, India

Centre for Multilevel Federalism(CMF)The Institute of Social Sciences, foundedin 1985, has established, as its silverjubilee year initiative, the Centre forMultilevel Federalism (CMF). Dr BalveerArora, former Professor of PoliticalScience and Rector, Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, is the Centre Chairman. TheCMF aims to develop and propagate theinterdisciplinary study of Indian federalismin a comparative perspective. It wouldseek to involve economists, lawyers,journalists and public policy expertsalongside political scientists andsociologists from universities andresearch institutes as well as from thinktanks working on political institutions andprocesses.

The interest in how India is governed,through its multilevel structures of federaldemocracy, received a significant boostwhen constitutional recognition was givento panchayati raj local self-governmentinstitutions. The Institute of SocialSciences has been in the forefront ofresearch on decentralization and local self-government. The CMF would contributeto theorizing federal practices in Indiaand working on conflict-resolutionmechanisms and processes.

There is nothing in federal theory orpractice that limits federal systems to two

M.A. Oommen

Membership of CommissionsChairman, 4th FinanceCommission, Government ofKerala

Important professionalVisits and Conferences

Delivered a Keynoteaddress at the NationalSeminar on‘DecentralizedGovernance and WomenEmpowerment, Impact ofPanchayath Election2010’ at Kannur.Conference onDemocratic Governancein Cities InternationalSymposium, Porto Alegre,Brazil Dec 2009 – January2010.

Books PublishedFreedom, EconomicReform and the Kerala‘Model’, inDevelopment, Democracyand the State; (ed.),Routledge ContemporarySouth Asia, London 2010.

Papers Published‘The State FinanceCommissions: Have theydelivered theirconstitutional mandates?’Gulati Institute of Financeand Taxation, TrivandrumJanuary 2010.‘Have the State FinanceCommissions FulfilledTheir ConstitutionalMandates?’ Economicand Political Weekly,VOL 45 No. 30 July 24 -July 30, 2010.‘The Thirteenth FinanceCommission and theThird Tier’, Economicand Political Weekly,special Issue. Vol. 45 No.48 November 27 -December 03, 2010.

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Centre for Multilevel Federalismlevels of government. Conventionally, thedual polity framework has tended to viewlocal self-government as the exclusivepreserve and concern of the federatedunits, states or provinces. Given themagnitude of India’s diversity anddevelopmental problems, it has becomeincreasingly apparent that a multilevelfederal framework alone is capable ofaddressing these issues. It is infurtherance of this perspective, and witha view to strengthening and deepeningthe roots of democracy by exploringinnovative mechanisms for popularparticipation and representation, that theCentre aims to contribute to thedevelopment of India’s multilevel federaldemocracy.

The Centre proposes to organise/participate in seminars/symposia/conferences for dissemination of researchby its members. It would encourage thecreation of a network of scholars,affiliated at various levels (Senior Fellow,Fellow, Associate Fellow, ResearchInterns). Affiliated scholars would beexpected to contribute to the researchprogrammes and activities of theCentre, but would be free to carry ontheir independent research in otherareas. Doctoral and postgraduateresearch scholars , as wel l asresearchers working in think tanksand civil society organisations wouldbe encouraged to participate in theactivities of the Centre as ResearchInterns. Scholars located outside theNational Capital Region would beencouraged to participate in theactivities of the Centre as Affiliatesat various levels. The Centre alsoaims to invite Visiting Scholars fromtime to time in order to draw uponnational and international expertise.

The CMF aims to organize andparticipate in research through seminars/

conferences and research projects. Itwould also organize meetings withpractitioners, in variable and appropriateformats. It has been designated as arepository for the various publications ofthe Forum of Federations, Ottawa. It willthus provide a platform as well as a nodalpoint for a network of scholars andresearchers on Indian and comparativefederalism.

The CMF has an internshipprogramme to encourage theinvolvement of young researchers,doctoral and post-doctoral. It wouldexceptionally involve promisingMasters and M.Phil. students with aspecial interest in the focus areas ofthe Centre in order to draw youngtalent to research on multilevelfederalism. It would encourageapplications from foreign researchersfor affiliation as visiting scholars andresearch interns.

Apart from its regular researchseminars, the Centre runs ‘SpecialLectures’ series in which senior visitingscholars are invited to share their ongoingresearch concerns and results. It seeksto involve young researchers through the‘Research Seminars’ series which wouldfocus on new trends and directions inthe study of Indian and comparativefederalism. This series is aimed atdoctoral and post-doctoral researchers,either associated with the Centre asInterns or as visiting special invitees. Itwould provide a forum for presentationsby researchers of the current status oftheir work to scholars with similarinterests.

The Centre proposes to publish aQuarterly Newsletter covering recentdevelopments in multilevel federalism inIndia, as also in comparative federalism.It also plans Occasional PapersMonograph series.

Archana Ghosh

PublicationsArchana Ghosh andMadhulika Mitra:InstitutionalizingPeople’s Particpation inUrban Governance: AnInter – City Perspectiveof Ward Committees inWest Bengal in the NewForms of UrbanGovernance in India ,edited by ISA Baud andJ.De Wit, SagePublications.Archana Ghosh et. al: ‘AComparative Overview ofUrban Governance inDelhi, Hydrabad, Kolkataand Mumbai’ inGoverning India’sMetropolises edited byJoel Ruet and StephanieTawa Lama – Rewal,Routledge Publications.Archana Ghosh:‘Participatory UrbanGovernance and SlumDevelopment inHydrabad and Kolkata’ inGoverning India’sMetropolises edited byJoel Ruet and StephanieTawa Lama – Rewal,Routledge Publications.

Seminar ParticipationArchana Ghoshparticipated in theNational Round Table ofCivil SocietyOrganisations on“Inclusive UrbanGovernance:Opportunities andChallenges” conductedby PRIA in New Delhi on28 and 29 January 2010.Ms. Ghosh presented apaper on “Devolution ofFunctions, Functionariesand Funds to the Urban

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ISS Regional CentersISS Regional Centers

Kolkata

Research ProjectsA. Urban StudiesSocial Audit of Indira Gandhi NationalOld Age Pension Scheme(IGNOAPS) in Kolkata MunicipalCorporation (on-going)The project has been entrusted to theInstitute by the Kolkata MunicipalCorporation in September 2010. Theobjective is to conduct social audit ofIGNOAPS, being implemented byKolkata Municipal Corporation in 141wards. A three pronged method is beingadopted for conducting the project.i. Interview with the officials of the

concerned departments at the KMCheadquarters and 15 Borough offices.

ii. Focus group discussions with aselected group in each selected ward.

iii. A detailed beneficiary survey throughstructured questionnaire in 20 samplewards selected from 15 boroughs ofKMC (at least one ward from eachborough) from which 25 percent or781 beneficiaries are selected onrandom basis for interview.Data collected from beneficiary

survey are to be tabulated and reportprepared on the basis of data generatedfrom all the three methods.

Imparting Training to the MunicipalFunctionaries in SikkimThe project was funded by Indo SwissProjects Sikkim (ISPS). A trainingprogramme was organized in Gangtok,Sikkim on 5–7 October 2010 by ISPSfor the elected representatives andfunctionaries of Gangtok MunicipalCorporation and two other MunicipalCouncils of Sikkim. Mr. B.D. Ghosh andMs. Madhulika Mitra were the resource

persons for the entire trainingprogramme.

Regional Consultations forPreparation of Housing and HabitatPolicy for Eastern and North-easternStatesA regional level consultation wasorganized by the ERC for the preparationof state urban housing and habitat policyand state level action plans on 23rd

November 2010 at Administrative TrainingCollege, Kolkata. The Ministry of Housingand Urban Poverty Alleviation,Government of India entrusted this taskto the ERC. Representatives from threestates, namely, West Bengal, AndhraPradesh and Tripura participated in themeeting. Mr. S. K. Singh, Joint Secretary,MoHUPA delivered the keynote address.Three experts were invited in the meetingto speak on different issues relating tothe housing policy.

Municipal Election Study 2010The Centre for Policy Research, NewDelhi and the Institute of Social Sciences,Kolkata conducted a municipal electionstudy in May to December 2010 in thecontext of elections held in 84municipalities in West Bengal in June2010. The study examined:

i) the mode of campaign conducted bythe political parties before themunicipal elections of 2010;

ii) the characteristics of the emergingmunicipal leadership; and

iii) analyzed the results of elections ofKolkata Municipal Corporation(KMC) and selected municipal bodiesoutside Kolkata. The results of 2010elections in 84 ULBs and 2009elections in 17 ULBs were analyzedin a comparative perspective.

Local Governments:Recommendations of theAdministrative ReformsCommission on LocalGovernance”. Archana Ghosh Chairedthe final consultationheld in BurdwanUniversity on the paperby Dr. Gopa Samana aspart of the FordFoundation supportedand public Policydivision of IIMAhmedabad conductedresearch project on ‘TheGlobalising State, PublicServices and the NewGovernance of UrbanLocal Communities inIndia’ on 10 July.

B. D. Ghosh

Publication‘Globalization and PublicAdministration in India’in Burdwan Journal ofPolitical Science,University of Burdwan,Vol III, 2010.‘Decentralisation: AConstitutional Manadateor Rhetoric?’ in Economicand Political Weekly,September 18, 2010.Citizens’ Report onPanchayati Raj in WestBengal for Social Watch,West Bengal, 2010.

Seminar ParticipationMade a presentation onthe sixth report of theAdministrative ReformsCommission on ‘LocalGovernance’ at a seminarorganized jointly by LokKalyan Parishad and ISSat Kolkata on 7September 2010.

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ISS Regional Centers

In order to capture the nature of themunicipal leadership emerging out of thetwo elections referred to above, a fieldsurvey was done among the Councillorsof KMC and those of 10 municipal bodiesoutside Kolkata by canvassing astructured questionnaire. In Kolkata, thesample consisted of 32 Councillors (outof 141) of KMC and 152 Councillors (outof 295) of the 10 municipal bodies outsideKolkata. Among the 10 municipal bodiesoutside Kolkata, elections to 2 municipalcorporations, namely Siliguri and Asansolewere held in 2009. Elections to the other8 municipal bodies in the sample wereheld in 2010.

For analysis of electoral data, a sampleof 34 municipal bodies was chosen.Among them four were municipalcorporations including KMC. Elections to9 municipal bodies of the sample wereheld in 2009. Elections to others wereheld in 2010. The basic electoral datawere obtained from the data-baseprovided by the State ElectionCommission.

Third Party Inspection of IntegratedLow Cost Sanitation Scheme underRevised Guidelines 2008 (ongoing).This project started in January 2010 andthe final report was submitted inSeptember 2010. The project wassponsored by the Ministry of Housing andUrban Poverty Alleviation, Governmentof India. The project covered nine statesnamely, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir,Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland,Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and WestBengal. It was based on intensivesecondary and primary survey in theseselected states. Altogether 52 ULBs wereselected where total 41,135 toilet unitshad been surveyed. The survey had beenconducted in March-April 2010. ArchanaGhosh and Madhulika Mitra were the

Coordinator and Assistant Coordinator ofthe project respectively.

Support to ULBs for compilation ofDDP and Internal Appraisal of DDPsfor Non-KMA ULBs of West BengalThis project started in March 2008 andcontinued till the end of 2010. The projectwas sponsored by the ProjectManagement Unit of the DFID supportedKolkata Urban Services for the Poor(KUSP) for the appraisal of DraftDevelopment Plans prepared by theurban local bodies(ULBs) situated outsidethe boundary of Kolkata MetropolitanArea in West Bengal. Till the end of2010 appraisal work of ten DDPs often ULBs were carried out by theInstitute.

Panchayat Studies

Political Economy of PanchayatsWest BengalIt is a World Bank funded project whichstarted in November 2009 and ended inJanuary 2010. The project sought toexplore the linkages between thePanchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) andthe politics that has been going on sincethe Left Front Government came topower. The central theme was to explorethis linkage and the impact it has createdon the growth and the style of functioningof panchayats. Additionally, the projecttried to review the accountability andtransparency issues of panchayats inWest Bengal. Mr. B. D. Ghosh was theCoordinator of this project. DebrajBhattacharya and Madhulika Mitraworked with him in the project.

Awareness about Poverty AlleviationSchemes among the PoorThe project was conducted incollaboration with Loka Kalyan Parishad,

Presented a paper on“Agriculture to Industry:What Can We Learn fromSingur?’ in the seminaron Agriculture toIndustry: The WestBengal Perspective,organized by theDepartment of PoliticalScience, Rabindra BharatiUniversity, Kolkata on 17March, 2010.Gave a talk on ‘DistrictPlan Methodology’ at thetraining programme heldat ATI West Bengal fromMarch 15 to 19, 2010 forthe resource persons ondistrict planning ofseveral states.Presented a paper on‘Globalisation and PublicAdministration in India’at the seminar onGlobalisation andPublic AdministrationToday: The IndianPerspective, held at theDepartment of PoliticalScience, University ofBurdwan on 31 March2010.Participated as aResource Person in theSDC-sponsoredinternational trainingworkshop held at Pelling,Sikkim on 19-22 April,2010 on functionalassignment (Activitymapping) for the localgovernment institutions.Participated in the brainstorming workshop on16-17 August, 2010organised by IRMA,Anand in partnershipwith Swiss DevelopmentCooperation (SDC) todiscuss various aspectsof developing aneducational programme

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ISS Regional Centersan NGO under the DFID supported WestBengal Civil Society Support Programme.It started in September 2009 and the finalreport was submitted in August 2010. Thestudy was conducted in three districts ofWest Bengal namely, Uttar Dinajpur,Dakshin Dinajpur and Birbhum. Itexamined the extent of accessing thebenefits of programmes and servicesfrom GP by the poor and marginalizedsections of the rural community. Thestudy also tried to understand whetherorganizations of the poor like self – helpgroups help them to access these benefitsor articulated their voice in the processof inclusive development.

Bhubaneswar

Land Alienation and Entitlements inSelect Tribal Districts of OrissaThe project on Land Alienation andEntitlements in select Tribal Districts ofOrissa funded by Irish Aid, Departmentof Foreign Affairs was implemented byISS, Bhubaneswar initially in Koraputdistrict for two years and Rayagadadistrict in the final year i.e. 2009-2010.The project was formally closed inDecember 2010.

Key Activities of the project includedsensitization, education and empowermentof select group leaders in the communityon land problems, research study andcreation of data base including intensiveintervention.

Research Study on Water, Sanitationand Panchayats in Six States of OrissaISS, Bhubaneswar conducted Orissachapter of the aforesaid study funded byWater-Aid, India. The study was carriedin two scheduled districts of Orissanamely Kandhamal and Sundergarhdistrict.

Prevention of Human Trafficking(Women and Children), India:Making Interventions throughElected Representatives ofPanchayats and Other Stakeholdersin High Source Trafficking AreasThis was a four-month-old pilot projectwhich began in November 2009 in Ganjamdistrict of Orissa. The key activities ofthis project included district level andblock level meetings to sensitize keystakeholders, develop and use appropriateIEC strategies for prevention of humantrafficking, sharing experience of successstories, compiling them for distributionamong stakeholders and conduct anti-trafficking campaign to create awarenessin the project area.

Verification of Data on Sanitation inOrissaInstitute of Social Sciences, Bhubaneswarconducted a base line survey forverification of data on sanitationimplemented by BISWA, an Orissa basedOrganization during 2009-2010. Theobjective of the survey was to verifywhether the implementing agency hadconstructed toilets in all the 30 identifieddistricts of Orissa as per the dataprovided. The survey in all the districtswere conducted simultaneously during15th

to 25th April 2010 by the field surveyors.Based on the survey, the report wassubmitted to the Funding Agency-FINISH.

ResearchResearch study was one of the keyactivities of the project on “LandAlienation and Entitlements in selectTribal Districts of Orissa”. The study wascarried out in two scheduled districtsnamely Koraput and Rayagada, of Orissa.Three blocks from each district wereselected based on (i) the incidence of

on ‘Decentralisation andLocal Governance’ forprofessionals workingwith panchayats.Attended a nationalworkshop at IIPA, NewDelhi on 24 September onthe methodology ofgovernancemeasurement.

Madhulika Mitra

PublicationsArchana Ghosh andMadhulika Mitra:InstitutionalizingPeople’s Particpation inUrban Governance: AnInter – City Perspectiveof Ward Committees inWest Bengal in the NewForms of UrbanGovernance in India ,edited by ISA Baud andJ.De Wit, SagePublications.

Seminar ParticipationParticipated in theconsultation held atBurdwan University onthe paper by Dr. GopaSamana as part of theFord Foundationsupported and PublicPolicy Division of IIMAhmedabad conductedresearch project on ‘TheGlobalising State, PublicServices and the NewGovernance of UrbanLocal Communities inIndia’ on 10 July.Presented a paper on‘Making NGOs moreTransparent andAccountable: Issues andOptions’ in a seminar on“Civil Society:Conceptual and EmpiricalIssues” organized byCentre for Studies inDecentralisation and

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land alienation and displacement in andaround the areas (ii) consultation of keystakeholders. A total of 3355 householdswere covered under the study. Researchreport was prepared and published in bookform. The book titled “Land Alienation-its Dimensions” was released in ISS, NewDelhi office by the Honorable IrishAmbassador on 26 November 2010.

Another study on Water, Sanitation andPanchayats was carried out in twoscheduled districts of Orissa namelyKandhamal and Sundergarh district. Thestudy covered 2 districts, 4 blocks (twofrom each district) and 16 villages (8 fromeach block). A total of 447 Samplehouseholds (15% of total households ofeach select village) were covered underthe study.

Training/ Workshops/Seminars

A one-day district level Workshop onRole of PRIs in Anti-Trafficking ofWomen and Children was organizedat Chatrapur on 10th January.

A block level-sharing workshop onRole of PRIs in Anti-Trafficking ofWomen and Children (display ofposters, screening of documentariesand open house discussion) wasorganized at Sanakhemundi Block on28th January.

A block level-sharing workshop on“Role of PRIs in Anti-Trafficking ofWomen and Children” with display ofposters, screening of documentariesand open house discussion wasorganized at Ganjam block on 29th

January.

Training and Awareness Programmeon Land Related Acts and Laws forresidual GPs of Rayagada district wascompleted.

A District Level Workshop on LandAlienation and Entitlements in Select

Tribal Districts of Orissa was held on31st July at Rayagada.

A state level Workshop on LandAlienation and Entitlements in SelectTribal Districts of Orissa wasorganized on 30 November atBhubaneswar

A Research Study Book on LandAlienation and its dimensions-A studyof Orissa was released by IrishAmbassador at ISS, New Delhi on26 November.

Bangalore

Plan India – I: “Promoting UniversalBirth Registration Among Childrenin Difficult Circumstances inKarnataka”Goal: To achieve 100% universal birthregistration by focusing on children indifficult circumstance (marginalized andvulnerable) in the project area.

Karnataka is one of the states whereboth birth and death registration is over

H.E. Mr. Kenneth Thompson, Ambassador of Ireland releasing the book“Land Alienation and its Dimension”. Also seen Dr. George Mathew and

Mr. K.K. Patnaik

Rural Reconstruction,Rabindra BharatiUniversity Kolkata onApril 9.Gave a lecture on “CaseStudies related to HumanTrafficking” on 23 Marchin a training course on‘Anti – HumanTrafficking and Role ofPolice’ conducted byCentral DetectiveTraining School, Kolkata,Mininstry of HomeAffairs for police officersof various states of thecountry and para -military forces.

B.S. Bhargava and K. Subha

Recent PublicationsB.S. Bhargava and K.Subha, “Dynamics ofNew Panchayati RajSystem in India” (Editedby G. Palanithurai),Concept PublishingCompany, New Delhi

26


90 per cent and has demonstrated thatwith several problems it has been able toshow remarkable progress and is muchcloser to achieve 100 per cent registrationby 2010 with continued efforts. Thepresent programme is another step in thisdirection. Focusing on children in difficultcircumstances as they have remainedexcluded from the mainstream. Suchchildren in the project areas are mainlythe tribals, lambanis (gypsies), migrantsand vulnerable/marginalized childrenincluding children of devadasis, HIV+persons, child labourers and children inslums. ISS is the State Nodal Partner inthis programme working with 3 DistrictNGOs namely;

1. SAHAYOG, Bidar District

2. PMSR, Chamarajanagar District

3. Child Rights Trust , Bangalore Urban

The first activity was undertaken inSituational Analysis for understanding theirspecial problems and raising solutions.Based on this, activities were conducted.

Plan–II: “Conducting Trainings andUndertaking Publicity Measures forImprovement of Registration System”Plan India is conducting successful birthregistration campaigns in 8 districts ofKarnataka under Universal BirthRegistration Programme. Under thisprogramme registration system hasimproved. A two pronged approach toimprove the birth registration in ruralareas would be capacity building/trainingprogrammes and informationdissemination/publicity through hoardingsand brochures. Institute of SocialSciences is the Nodal Partner inimplementing this programme in close co-ordination with the State Government andPlan India who are the two parties inimplementing this project.

Situational Analysis in the newlyselected target area namely slums inBangalore City.

a. Coordination meeting with ChiefRegistrar, DSO & Partners

- To prepare strategies for ensuring100% UBR among these groups

- To elicit the support of the aboveOfficials

- To work towards an amendment ifnecessary

b. Orientation workshops- Organizing orientation/workshop for

new GP members and youth groups

c. Sensitization programme for theCampaign in new project area

1. Development of innovative of IECmaterials, preparation and distribution

2. Wall writings3. Street plays4. Narrowcasting programmes using the

existing materials

B.S. Bhargava and K.Subha, FinancialManagement ofPanchayati Raj System(Edited by M.R. Biju),Kanishka Publishers,New DelhiB.S. Bhargava and K.Subha, Inclusion andExclusion in LocalGovernance (Edited byB.S. Baviskar and GeorgeMathew), SagePublications, New DelhiK. Subha “Women inUrban LocalGovernance”, JournalCarmelight, September.

Journal PublicationsB.S. Bhargava and K.Subha, “Training ForPanchayati RajFunctionaries ThroughSatellite in Karnataka”,Department of PublicAdministration,Presidency College,Chennai

(From L to R) Dr. Sneha Siddham, Plan International,Mr. H.E. Rajashekarappa, Chief Registrar, Births and Deaths, GOK,

Sri. R.G. Nadadur, Principal Secretary, Primary Education, GOK,Sri. C. Narayanaswamy, Ex-MP, Dr. K. Subha, Senior Research Officer, ISS

27


The Institute of SocialSciences organized a trainingprogram for Prison officialsof Punjab on 29th January2010 on the topic “HumanRights in Indian Prisons”. Itwas held in the Punjab JailTraining School, Patiala. Itwas inaugurated by theDirector General of PrisonsShri Anil Kaushik. Amonograph on the theme“Human Rights in IndianPrisons” written by Dr.Upneet Lalli of Institute ofCorrectional Administration,Chandigarh brought out bythe Institute of SocialSciences under the projectwas circulated among theofficers

5. Organizing bicycle rallies with theparticipation of children

d. Registration CampsIn the proposed project period 117registration camps were conducted. Theexact number of children we envisage tobe registered will be decided during theSituational Analysis Survey. However,efforts will be made to register aminimum of 50 children in each camp.

e. Networking and Advocacy1. Liaison with government, NGOs and

federation.2. District level Quarterly review

meetings.3. Working with PRIs, Education

Department, mass based forums andothers towards bringing about qualityand accountability in the developmentof ICDS, and other programmers

4. The Institute of Social Sciencesundertook “The Impact Study ofKarnataka State LiteracyProgrammes in Karnataka”covering all the districts of the Statefor the Directorate of MassEducation, Karnataka. The Institute

studied the various literacy programmecarried out in the districts of the Stateto assess their impact on the literacyrate. The Final Report of the studywas submitted on 11 August 2010.

EventThe Institute of Social Sciencesconducted a State DisseminationWorkshop on “Promoting UniversalBirth Registration Among Childrenin Difficult Circumstances inKarnataka” on 8th June, 2010, SenateHall, Central College, BangaloreUniversity, Bangalore.

VisitorsAcademics, Researchers, Students, andActivists from India and abroad visit thiscentre. After having detailed discussionwith the faculty, they also collected datafrom the resource centre. The generalresponse is very good and people findthe centre very informative.

Other Related ActivitiesIn addition to the above, the facultymembers participate and contributepapers in seminars and conferences

Participants at the meeting on Promoting Universal Birth Registration among Children inDifficult Circumstances in Karnataka

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The Institute of SocialSciences organized a trainingprogramme in Chandigarh forPolice officers on 29th & 30th

June 2010 on the topic“Scourge of Human Traffick-ing”. It was held at theInstitute of CorrectionalAdministration, Chandigarh.The Valedictory Address wasdelivered by the DirectorGeneral of Prisons Shri AnilKaushik.

organized from time to time by UniversityDepartments and other ResearchInstitutions; also they serve as ResourcePersons for training programmes indecentralized governance. They alsodeliver lectures in different Universitiesas outside faculty, especially in theDepartment of Political Science,Sociology and DevelopmentAdministration in some of the leadingUniversities in Southern India.

Thiruvananthapuram

Ongoing ProjectsComparative study of Kerala’sParticipatory Planning and Porto Alegre’sParticipatory Budgeting.

Research Projects Directed andReports SubmittedA Study on The Economy ofThiruvananthapuram District, Centre forBudget and Policy Studies, Bangalore(2010).

Prof. M.A. Oommen addressing the gathering at the Conference on DemocraticGovernance in Cities International Symposium, Porto Alegre, Brazil.

L.C. Jain on ISS New Role

“Truly MLAs have an honourable anddefined role in our system; Membersof Parliament (MPs) too have a role.Now the Member of Parliament LocalArea Development Scheme (MPLADS)has been legitimized by the SupremeCourt and it no longer will be Rs. 2crores a year. I can see it going uphigher. They are strengthening localbodies on one hand and destroyingtheir very essence on the other. Nowwhat can be done - the entire burdencannot be left on the courts or theministry. There has to be a mobilizationof public opinion. And this is whereapart from seminars the Institute ofSocial Sciences will have to play a veryradical role to protect the wholescheme of panchayati raj from theinvasion of MPs and MLAs.”

L.C. JainGandhian Thinker and Economist and

former High Commissioner to South Africa17 July 2010

29


Mr. Sankar Sen addressing at a seminar on“Human Rights in Indian Prisons” in Patiala

The Institute of SocialSciences organized a oneday inservice training courseon the topic “Human Rightsin Criminal Justice System”was held for the officers ofWest Bengal police on 9th

March 2010 at the TrainingBranch, Salt Lake City,Kolkata. The participantswere from the ranks ofInspectors and SubInspectors.

Mr. K.K. Patnaik speaking at the District Level Workshop. Also seen Dr. Nitin BhanudasJawale, IAS, District Collector Rayaga, Governmnet of Orissa.

30

Tribute to Laxmi Chand Jain (1925-2010)

A well wisher and ardent supporter of the Institute of Social Sciences,Shri Laxmi Chand Jain’s death is a great loss to the ISS and all thosewho believe in democratic decentralization in the country as a whole. L.C.Jain was an eminent Gandhian thinker, specialist on decentralization anda staunch advocate of Panchayati Raj. He had been active in the advocacyof democratic decentralization and just and equitable economic policies.Author and editor of several publications, including the famous Grasswithout Roots, he was conferred the Magsaysay Award for Public Servicein 1989. He held several important positions including India’s HighCommissioner to South Africa and Member, Planning Commission ofIndia.

L.C. Jain was one of the national leaders who shaped up the decentralization vision of ISS. Alongwith S.K. Dey, Minister for Community Development in Jawaharlal Nehru Government, Upendra Baxi,eminent lawyer, Nirmal Mukherji, former Cabinet Secretary and Abdul Nazir Sab, Minister of PanchayatiRaj, Government of Karnataka, L.C. Jain was a source of great inspiration for the Institute from its verybeginning.

Shri V.P. Singh, then President, Janata Dal, appointed in June 1989 a six-member committee underthe chairmanship of Shri S.R. Bommai to examine the Constitution (Sixty-Fourth Amendment) Bill in thelight of the Janata Dal’s approach to democratic decentralization. L.C. Jain was one of the membersand the entire work was done atthe Institute. (Other memberswere: Shri Nirmal Mukherji, Dr.K.S. Krishnaswamy, Prof. B.K.Chandrasekhar and Dr. GeorgeMathew). L.C. Jain was thespeaker and resource person atthe discussion on “TheConstitution (72nd Amendment)Bill, 1991: The Panchayats”,organized by the ISS on 25September 1991 at IndiaInternational Centre. The reportof the panel discussion was wellreceived. Even today it is highlyrelevant. L.C. Jain joined the ISSGoverning Body on 19December 1996.

L.C. Jain edited the volumeentitled, Decentralization and Local Governance. Nationally and internationally known experts like ManiShankar Aiyar, T.M. Thomas Isaac, S.S. Meenakshisundaram, Philip Oldenburg, Mark Robinson, AnwarShah, Kamal Siddiqqui, Nilco Steytler and Sten Widmalm among others contributed to this volume.

During the period of his association with the ISS (1985-2010) L.C. Jain contributed immensely to thegrowth of the Institute in the area of decentralized governance and grassroots democracy. His suggestionsand ideas immensely helped in our studies on the theme. Mention may be made of the Women’sPolitical Empowerment Day Celebrations and the Conferences he participated in various states especiallywith Biju Patnaik in Orissa in September 1992 and Kashmir leaders in Jammu in December 2002. TheSeminar on Thirteenth Finance Commission and Local Government (17 July 2010) at the Institute wasthe last public function he attended along with Devaki Jain.

L.C. Jain is one of the most quoted scholars on decentralized governance in the Institute’s studiesand publications.

We pay our respectful tributes to Laxmi Jainji.⎯ George Mathew

From left: Prof. U.R. Ananthamurthy, Dr. Manmohan Singh, L.C. Jain and Dr. Bidyut Mohanty

31

Governing Body

Vice-ChairmanT. S. KannanTreasurerJaya JaitlyExecutive Director/SecretaryGeorge Mathew

MembersL.C. JainRanjit C. BhanuAloo DasturSudhindra BhadoriaSurindar SuriSumit ChakravarttyC. NarayanaswamyNirmala BuchMeenakshi Gopinath

Chairman DirectorU. R. Ananthamurthy George Mathew

Headquarters:8 Nelson Mandela Road

New Delhi 110 070Tel: 91-11-43158800, 43158801

Fax: 91-11-43158850Email: [email protected]

Website: issin.org

Eastern Offices:CF-149, Sector I, Salt Lake City

Kolkata 700 064Tel: 91-33-23340233

Email: [email protected]

Plot No. 75/A, B.J.B. NagarOpposite B.J.B. English Medium School

Bhubaneshwar 751 014Tel: 91-674-2310292


Southern Offices:No.9, 8th Main Road, 8th Cross

Malleswaram, Bangalore 560 003Tel/Fax: 91-80-23315017


AK-Block, Plot No. 32,3310th Main Road, TAS Enclave

(Behind Sundaram Foundation Hospital)Shanti Colony, Chennai - 600 040

Tel: 91-44-26125244, 26224157Email: [email protected]

TC - 4/2376Vikramapuram Hills

Thiruvananthapuram 695 003Tel: 91-471-2438405


ISS NEWSLETTERNumbers 33-34, January-December 2010

EditorAsh Narain Roy

Layout and DesignJoshy Jose

Published by Ash Narain Roy for the Institute of Social Sciences, 8 Nelson Mandela Road, New Delhi 110070,India. Printed at Kalpana Printing House, L-4 Green Park Extension, New Delhi 110 016.For private circulation only.

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