Decentralised Governance, Development Programmes and Elite Capture - Rajasekhar, D.

Dr. R. Manjula holds a Ph.D. in economics and is working as Assistant

Professor at the Centre for Decentralisation and Development at ISEC, Bengaluru.

She was Academic Visitor at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford,

UK. She has published several books and research papers (in national and international journals and as chapters). Her co-authored paper on 'Collusion,

Co-option and Capture: Social Accountability and Social Audits in Karnataka,

India' published in Oxford Development Studies (Taylor & Francis) was awarded

the Sanjaya Lall Prize for its contribution to the development studies. Her recent

co-authored paper on 'Motivating Knowledge Agents: Can Incentive Pay

Overcome Social Distance?' is being published in The Economic Journal

(Wiley-Blackwell). She has worked on several of the centre's research projects,

covering themes of decentralisation, child labour, social security, health insurance

and public works programme and collaborating with researchers from the London

School of Economics and the Universities of Bristol, Melbourne and Oxford.

The policy makers in India introduced decentralised governance to facilitate the participation of marginalized groups in the planning and implementation of development programmes at the local level, and to ensure that development benefits reach them. International agreements such as the Hyogo Framework for Action, Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals also call for decentralised governance for inclusive growth.

The issue of elite capture has traditionally been studied mainly from the sociological perspective, i.e., how the local upper/dominant castes and classes garner the positions and benefits. But with the new and structured governance system that is in place at the local level in contemporary India, this book explores how decentralised governance is addressing the issue of elite capture. The study closely analyses micro processes of decentralisation to understand how elite capture is taking place. Additionally, it examines this concern from both governance and economic perspectives. The scope of the book is wide, and encompasses several aspects such as the functioning of the local government, decentralised governance, checks and balances in development programmes, community-based organisations, the upward political linkages and elite capture. It is equally relevant to researchers from several social science disciplines, civil society, policy makers, and implementers from the grassroots to national level government.