Re-energizing Democratic Decentralization in India

Author(s):  
T.R. Raghunandan

This chapter describes the current status of democratic decentralisation to local governments (LGs) in India. The political support for decentralisation has been fitful and typically driven by a few champions. The transition to a system of LGs as autonomous spheres of government has been caught in limbo because administrative and fiscal arrangements have not kept pace with well-intentioned legal provisions. This has resulted in LGs that are burdened with a wide array of devolved functions on paper, but with little fiscal space and low administrative capability to execute these effectively. The earlier paradigm of top-down devolution should be supplanted by a demand-driven approach that incentivises elected representatives from LGs to build a body of effective practice from below. Several interesting experiments in building collaborative knowledge networks and awarding local initiative might trigger the transformation that has eluded efforts made so far.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2408
Author(s):  
Anissa Nurdiawati ◽  
Frauke Urban

Industries account for about 30% of total final energy consumption worldwide and about 20% of global CO2 emissions. While transitions towards renewable energy have occurred in many parts of the world in the energy sectors, the industrial sectors have been lagging behind. Decarbonising the energy-intensive industrial sectors is however important for mitigating emissions leading to climate change. This paper analyses various technological trajectories and key policies for decarbonising energy-intensive industries: steel, mining and minerals, cement, pulp and paper and refinery. Electrification, fuel switching to low carbon fuels together with technological breakthroughs such as fossil-free steel production and CCS are required to bring emissions from energy-intensive industry down to net-zero. A long-term credible carbon price, support for technological development in various parts of the innovation chain, policies for creating markets for low-carbon materials and the right condition for electrification and increased use of biofuels will be essential for a successful transition towards carbon neutrality. The study focuses on Sweden as a reference case, as it is one of the most advanced countries in the decarbonisation of industries. The paper concludes that it may be technically feasible to deep decarbonise energy-intensive industries by 2045, given financial and political support.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 493
Author(s):  
Soo-Hyun Sung ◽  
Minjung Park ◽  
Jihye Kim ◽  
Sun-Woo Jeon ◽  
Angela Dong-Min Sung ◽  
...  

Korea is currently executing a pilot program for community care of its aging population and aims to implement community care systems on a national scale by 2025. This study examines the traditional Korean medicine (TKM) service to be provided within community care by understanding the current status of TKM services. The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHW) sent official letters to 242 local governments (cities, districts, and counties) from October to November 2019 to survey the status of the public TKM services provided in 2018. The items of the survey included basic demographic information as well as information that could reveal how the program was implemented. In 112 local government jurisdictions (response rate 46.3%), a total of 867 TKM service programs were in place. As a result of the survey, it was revealed that they did not have any service manuals or evaluation results. To provide home-care-based TKM service for the elderly as an integrated part of a community care system, it is necessary to develop, distribute, and evaluate a standard service manual including an evaluation index by the central government.


2021 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luu Thi Phuong Thao ◽  
Nguyen Thi Dao

Objectives: To determine the rate of physical activity and some associated factors between adequate physical activity and understanding, barriers, and support from family and friends in diabetic patients at the Long Ho district Health Center in Vinh Long province in 2021. Subjects and research methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study with analysis. The toolkit is based on the GPAQ (Global Physical Activity Questionnaire) questionnaire and related research [9]. Results and discussions: Patients with incorrect knowledge about diabetes accounted for 53%, with sufficient physical activity 43.6%. The results of multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that there were relationship between sufficient physical activity and age (p<0.05), barriers including exercise taking a long time, remote locations, and a lack of facilities (p<0.05) and the patient was still confident in futures activities even when the weather was bad (OR = 0.486, p<0.05). The family and friends had not supported (OR= 0.317, p<0.05). Conclusions and recommendations: Patients need to sufficient physical activity as recommended with an average intensity of 150 minutes/week. It is necessary to update the knowledge of diabetes as well as the knowledge of sufficient physical activity from health workers, family and friends. Local governments should construct cultural houses and playgrounds to make it easier for patients to participate in activities.


Author(s):  
Sangjin Han ◽  
Hyejin Lee

More than two-thirds of road fatalities in the Republic of Korea (hereafter Korea) occur on roads managed by local governments. There is also a big difference in road traffic death rates between local governments. This study aims to develop indicators to evaluate the current status of road safety management systems (RSMS) of local governments, which can result in different road safety performance. The indicators for RSMS will be categorized into: institutional management, intervention, intermediate outcome, and final outcome. A comparison of those indicators will help local governments to identify the pros and cons of their RSMSs. It will also help to benchmark good practices of other local governments and eventually contribute to reducing the gap of road safety outcomes between local governments. Indicators have been developed for both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The former includes road mortality rates for various road user types and budgets for road safety, and the latter includes the existence of a road safety team and the level of cooperation between relevant organizations. The overall road safety score is calculated based on the weighted sum of the selected indicator scores. The weights are derived through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). A comparison of developed indicators between local governments shows many local governments in Korea need to set up a responsible organization for road safety. This comparison will also provide useful information on how the central government can help local governments with low scores.


2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 965-978
Author(s):  
Dolly Daftary

Global policy organizations, financial institutions, and national governments have emphasized high-value agriculture in the world’s semi-arid areas inhabited by the greatest proportion of its poor, stressing linking households to markets to improve their well-being. This is assumed to involve state withdrawal and the ascendance of self-evident market forces. By means of ethnographic fieldwork in semi-arid western India, this paper discusses how the market does not arise spontaneously, but is deepened through state intensification. Rural households are imbricated with new markets by the state’s rendering of development policy market-driven, and through democratic decentralization, which has emerged as an instrument to facilitate the penetration of market actors into remote rural communities.


1991 ◽  
Vol 67 (6) ◽  
pp. 691-697
Author(s):  
Ilan Vertinsky ◽  
Donald A. Wehrung ◽  
Shelby Brumelle

This paper describes the results of a survey of desired and perceived priorities for public silvicultural investments in British Columbia. The objective of the survey was to examine the extent to which non-timber benefits command the attention of the public and of managers in government and industry having responsibility for silvicultural investment. To reflect the "public view," elected representatives from local governments were surveyed. The industry sample consisted of senior foresters, while the government sample consisted of managers at both headquarters level and in the different forest regions and districts. The study revealed that non-timber benefits commanded attention in all the groups studied but, not surprisingly, the mean priority weights varied among groups. Surprisingly, however, only a few regional differences in priorities for silvicultural investments were discovered.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-232
Author(s):  
Primož Pevcin ◽  
David Špaček ◽  
Daniel Klimovský

AbstractThis paper presents findings on the developments of PA education in 11 CEE countries and discusses various patterns based on the data on the historical background of PA education, forming thus the initial outcome of a more complex research carried out within the PAQUALITY project. The analysis is based around two main contextual factors: the role of imprinting (path-dependence) of the PA education in the framework of history and evolved PA ideologies, and the development of PA as discipline; and the role of institutional and HE legal factors on the current existence and status of PA education in the selected cluster of countries. The research question relates to the potential observation of differences in the development and current status of PA education in 11 CEE countries today. For this purpose, we utilize a co-variational international comparative case-study methodological approach, since this is a variable-centered approach, as it is acknowledged that a full-fledged theory might be absent in the framework of this specific investigation. The results indicate that we can argue in favor of the role of path-dependence in shaping PA education in CEE countries, where different starting points affected the outcomes in the content of current PA education. However, path-dependence is not to be taken as a sole factor corresponding to the development of the PA discipline in specific countries, as also more context-based factors and legal provisions do play the role. The outcome is that there is a lack of uniformity of PA education across CEE countries, where the country-specific context is the major factor in shaping the structure and content of programs, in some instances even creating new “sciences”. Although it would be expected to have some convergence in PA programs after almost three decades after the political and economic transformations started, we can even argue that PA education is more diverse now. This would give a specific role to the internalization and / or international accreditation in re-shaping and reversing the divergence processes in the future, but the anticipation for program consolidation might also be the factor that could have converging effects.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 947-951
Author(s):  
L. Thirupathi ◽  

This article attempts to evaluate the Grassroots democracy and the problems which are associated with the ineffective functioning of Panchayati Raj Institutions. It argues that how constitutional provision has created a scope for accomplishing development with social justice, which is the mandate of the new Panchayat Raj system. The new system brings all those who are interested to have a voice in decision making through their participation in Panchayat Raj Institutions. How it becomes the Panchayati Raj system is the basis for the Social Justice and Empowerment of the weaker section on which the development initiative has to be built upon for achieving overall, human welfare of the society. My research paper also analyses the working status and various issues and challenges of PRIs for 26 years after the 73rd constitutional amendment establishment of panchayats and municipalities as elected local governments devolved a range of powers and responsibilities and made them accountable to the people for their implementation, very little and actual progress has been made in this direction. Local governments remain hamstrung and ineffective mere agents to do the bidding of higher-level governments. Democracy has not been enhanced despite about 32 lakh peoples representatives being elected to them every five years, with great expectation and fanfare. My study would explore the grey areas such as lack of adequate funds, domination of bureaucracy, untimely elections, lack of autonomy, the interference of area MPS and MLAs in the functioning of panchayats also adversely affected their performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucca Henrion ◽  
Duo Zhang ◽  
Victor Li ◽  
Volker Sick

From technology to policy, the US is thinking about construction differently. The federal government is motivated to address the aging infrastructure across the country, and policy proposals are surfacing that seek green methods of performing this construction. This paper reviews the current status of concrete technology and policy to provide insight into the current state of the art. The scale of CO2 emissions from concrete production and use is elucidated. Current embodied emissions reduction methods show that action can be taken today in small and large projects alike. Additionally, developing concrete technologies offers pathways to reuse and rely on concrete for longer service lifetimes and reduce their lifetime embodied emissions. These concrete technologies must be implemented, and public procurement proves a unique tool to develop a nationwide demand signal for low embodied carbon building materials. Local governments closely interact with concrete producers, state governments oversee large infrastructure projects, and the federal government invests massively in construction. All three levels of government must coordinate for the effective rollout of low embodied carbon construction practices. Disparate policy approaches show successes and pitfalls to developing an effective construction policy that is aligned with climate. Importantly, approaches to addressing the twin challenge of climate change and crumbling infrastructure must consider the whole lifetime of the concrete. Throughout this paper, we examine the sector to highlight current practices and provide a vision for effective implementation.


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