Today our focus was learning about the government, decentralization and people's planning. In Kerala, there is a very level platform for each of the different political parties, and they all have a fairly equal chance of being in power. There has only been one time in the history of the government where one party was re-elected after their first term. This is good because it gives each party a chance to be in power, but it also doesn't facilitate any long term planning. Terms here are 5 years, and so parties in power usually only focus on projects that will affect Kerala during their term. There has been a shift since India's independence to move towards a decentralized government system. This type of system gives local government a lot of power, especially over planning and on projects in their specific area.
Goals of a decentralized government:
1. give people the power to demand what they want, but also allow them and empower them to participate in the process necessary to make the change.
2. revamp politics by nurturing grass-roots politicians and encourage rational vs ideological thinking, which functions better at the local level
3. come up with diverse solutions by using the people's ideas
4. inclusion; bring the people into mainstream development
**overall goal was to "humanize" the government
One definition that was mentioned in class today that I really liked was this:
good governance should open the door on hearing the footsteps, rather than waiting for the knock. This basically means that good governments anticipate the needs and respond in quick and effective ways, before those needs become more of a priority.
People's planning encourages the villages to take public project requests to the state for funding. Kerala sets aside 1/3 of it's budget for these types of projects. The state will review the project and make sure it is feasible and check to make sure the amount of money requested is accurate, and the disperse the funds if they believe it is a worthwhile project. They are taking a risk giving out money in this way, but typically only about 1/15 of these projects fail and they feel that the empowerment and positive effects seen from these successful projects far outweigh the associated risk.
After lecture today, we went to former General Pillai's house, who is the American equivalent to Colin Powell. His house was built by Costford and we were able to talk to him and his wife.
This beautiful picture below is my dinner. We found this really yummy italian place called Casa Bianca right by our hotel. Even though I really do like Indian food, I'm still feeling a little iffy on eating it after getting sick, so this was the perfect meal. This pizza had pesto, tomatoes, mushrooms, ricotta cheese and mozzeralla on it. DELISH!
Goals of a decentralized government:
1. give people the power to demand what they want, but also allow them and empower them to participate in the process necessary to make the change.
2. revamp politics by nurturing grass-roots politicians and encourage rational vs ideological thinking, which functions better at the local level
3. come up with diverse solutions by using the people's ideas
4. inclusion; bring the people into mainstream development
**overall goal was to "humanize" the government
One definition that was mentioned in class today that I really liked was this:
good governance should open the door on hearing the footsteps, rather than waiting for the knock. This basically means that good governments anticipate the needs and respond in quick and effective ways, before those needs become more of a priority.
People's planning encourages the villages to take public project requests to the state for funding. Kerala sets aside 1/3 of it's budget for these types of projects. The state will review the project and make sure it is feasible and check to make sure the amount of money requested is accurate, and the disperse the funds if they believe it is a worthwhile project. They are taking a risk giving out money in this way, but typically only about 1/15 of these projects fail and they feel that the empowerment and positive effects seen from these successful projects far outweigh the associated risk.
After lecture today, we went to former General Pillai's house, who is the American equivalent to Colin Powell. His house was built by Costford and we were able to talk to him and his wife.
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