Decentralised planning and district planning committees (DPCs): A case study of Rajasthan

Abstract

In the process of bottom-up planning, DPCs provide very pivotal link for both – horizontal and vertical purposes. The institutions take time to take roots and social stakes grow gradually. There has been consistent effort from the beginning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) to draw people’s participation in planning process and the 73rd Amendment provided the institutional back up by introducing a DPC. DPCs across the states have a mixed composition of elected representatives and bureaucracy and hence raised the concern for bureaucratic predominance in making of people’s plans. Secondly, the effective performance of DPCs requires permanent and continuous support from the upper level of governments and civil society. Therefore, it is desirable and very relevant to study the role of DPC for inclusive growth and realization of grassroots democracy in India. Rajasthan has been taken as a case for analysis as it has a long experience of working of PRIs with challenging social-economic background.