The Urgency of Strengthening the Rights and Participation of Indigenous Peoples in Realizing Sustainable Management of Customary Forest

This article aims to analyze the urgency of strengthening the rights and participation of indigenous peoples in customary forest management in Indonesia. Law No. 41/1999 on Forestry, which is still centralized in nature, has limited the rights and roles of indigenous peoples in managing their customary forests. The regulation regarding customary forest in the Forestry Law is inconsistent with protecting ecosystem carrying capacity and democratic decentralization. This article was prepared using a normative legal research methodology in which a statutory and conceptual approach is used. Then, secondary sources of legal material were analyzed and qualified to be narrowed down to answer existing juridical problems. The results show that the rights and roles of indigenous peoples in managing their customary forests are still minimal. Customary forest management centered on the central government and prioritized a sectoral approach can have implications for exploitation that ignores the interests of conserva-tion and sustainability of customary forest natural resources.

Democratic Decentralizaton and Socio-Political Inclusion of Marginalized Communities: A Study of Musahar Community in Madhubani District of Bihar, India

Democratic decentralization is the process of devolving the state’s roles and resources from the centre to the lower-level elected officials to encourage greater direct participation of people in governance. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act (1993), which gave the constitutional mandate to the Panchayati Raj Institutions in India, is considered as an opportunity for historically marginalized groups like women, Dalits (Scheduled Caste) and others to actively engage in the grassroot governance as members of local government institutions. Further, gram panchayats have been mandated for formulating their own annual development plan for economic development and social justice in their area. Although in these 25 years, since the enactment of the Act, various measures have been introduced through Panchayati Raj Institutions for increasing people’s participation and effective implementation of developmental programmes, but there is a little or no evidences—either the theoretical or the empirical, which can give a hint on its performance on social and political inclusion of marginalized communities. Against this backdrop, this empirical research paper attempts to explore the linkages between the democratic decentralization and socio-political inclusion of marginalized, by focussing on the Musahar community in Bihar state of India, using primary data collected from the field. The researchers argue that decentralization has ameliorated the social inclusion to some extent but shows very dismal rate of political inclusion of the Musahar Community.

Rural Development by Panchayat in Undivided Midnapore District, West Bengal

The unique experiment of democratic decentralization through the working of Panchayati Raj Institutions in West Bengal has already brought about an unmistakable transformation of the rural society and contributed to the awakening of consciousness among the less privileged sections regarding their ability and capacity to rebuild their future and to bring the fruits of development within the easy reach of one and all. This intimate involvement of the people in the entire process of rural development and the spontaneous growth of genuine rural leadership in the villages and blocks were the main features of the Panchayati Raj system in this state. Yet this great experiment is not free from some problems which have arisen in the day to day or long-term working of Panchayat bodies. These have to be identified and appreciated without in any manner, casting any reflection upon either the Panchayat system or functionaries in the field whether official Panchayat public relations, upon which depends largely the effective and efficient working of the system. N other words, the dysfunctions of the Panchayat institutions should be properly identified in order to check the entropic tendency of the system. Let us now see the types of dysfunctions of this grass-root experiment. The transfer of power and decision-making authority to elected representatives in the field of rural development has understandably disturbed the earlier ‘balance’ between official and non-officials. A process of trial and error, a process of adjustment has, however, already started and there is an increasing appreciation of the viewpoints that power has necessarily to be with the people and their elected leaders and the bureaucracy must consciously and wholeheartedly provide the needful support and assistance in the decision racking process and also in the process of implementation of programmes decided upon.

DEMOCRATIC DECENTRALIZATION AND DEVOLUTION OF POWERS AT THE GRASSROOTS LEVEL DEMOCRACY: ISSUES CHALLENGES AND IMPLICATIONS

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.

Introducing Collaborative Governance in Decentralized Land Administration and Management in South Africa: District Land Reform Committees Viewed through a ‘System of Innovation’ Lens

A Fit-for-Purpose (FFP) land administration system strives for a more flexible, inclusive, participatory, affordable, reliable, realistic, and scalable approach to land administration and management in developing countries. The FFP finds itself thus at the interface with the coordination and governance challenges of the mainstream promotion of democratic decentralization of the past decades in general, and collaborative systems for decentralized and participatory land governance in Africa, in particular. One recent example of such collaborative systems for decentralized land governance is the introduction in South Africa between 2015 and 2019 of District Land Reform Committees (DLRCs). We analyze this official experiment in collaborative land governance from a ‘system of innovation’ (SI) perspective. An adapted SI framework is developed and applied in three DLRCs. This study points out that for the innovation of collaboration to be effective, DLRCs require a firm operational and institutional backup. This is an important lead for the general discussion on inclusion, participation, and collaboration in FFP. We not only need these innovations to be well-supported and -resourced; they also require the explicit adoption of a systemic perspective in which various technical and social dimensions are interlinked.

The Political Economy of Public Procurement Reform and Democratic Decentralisation in Indonesia

Procurement has been one of the most important areas of reform at both national and local levels since the fall of the New Order. This article provides an overview of procurement reform in Indonesia. This paper explains that following the implementation of democratic decentralization in 1999, the Indonesian government has embarked on efforts to ensure that Indonesian procurement procedures comply with international standards, particularly with regards to good governance and the competitiveness of public procurement. However, there is no substantial evidence that the implementation of procurement reform has resulted in more democratic procurement practices. Rather, the process of democratic decentralization has provided a political environment whereby the public procurement budget has become vulnerable to capture by predatory elites for their private interests, a process involving local politicians, local leaders, bureaucrats and business actors.

GANDHIAN IDEAS OF GRASSROOT DEVELOPMENT AND INDIAN DEVELOPMENT POLICY IN 21ST CENTURY (SPECIAL REFERENCE OF PANCHAYAT RAJ INSTITUTIONS)

In the recent times, 'Good Governance' is associated with efficient and effective of administration in a democratic framework and responsiveness of the state and its institutions. The main key elements of 'Good Governance' refer that respect for human rights, equity, rule of law, transparency in public procedure, strong democracy and capacity in public administration.The ideal democracy depends upon the equality of all the purely public opinions. In the same way Gandhian ideas of Panchayat Raj system is a broad concept in independent india and it is a transparency of government in public administration as a part of good governance. It was a concept of diffused grass-roots democracy and process of democratic decentralization. It's a large number of rural people who are directly involved in the field of democratic participation. From ancient times the village has always been regarded as the primary unit in the governance of India. Important govt. policies are implemented through panchayats. The Gram Sabha plays an important role in the whole Panchayat Raj institution in India's democratic system. This is a purely qualitative study. So, Present study is going to focus on the Gandhian point of view Panchayat Raj. This is necessary to development in India 21st century and this conception go ahead powerful in the Nation.

WOMEN REPRESENTATION AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT THROUGH PANCHAYATI RAJ SYSTEM IN INDIA- EMERGING TRENDS AND CHALLENGES

In our country, it has been an ancient and rich tradition of democratic decentralization through Panchayati institutions. Today, the independent India has completed 25 years on the path of democratic decentralization through the Panchayat Raj Act. During this period, more than 20 states have increased the number of seats reserved for women from 33% to 50%. In terms of number of women representatives -Jharkhand is on top in states like Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh, while Mizoram is at the bottom in this list. During the period of these 25 years, some new trends have emerged in Panchayati institutions like-Conversion of elite politics into mass politics, decline the concept of sarpanch pati, three-tier pressure on women in a three-tier Panchayati system, conflict status regarding the exercise of political rights, increase in percentage of women representatives and their political awareness, different role and different work culture of women representatives in urban and rural areas, efforts for economic self-reliance through self-help groups etc. .In this era of information revolution in 21st century,these women leaders will have to be technically equipped for the practical implementation of transparent schemes like e-governance and m-governance.Today,panchayati institutions are being entrusted with the important responsibility of connecting people through various schemes related to rural India like “Make in India” and “Digital India”. In such a situation, the success of the scheme like Digital Literacy Mission, Ayushyaman Bharat Yojana, Jal shakti Abhiyan, single use plastic ban and e-market plus depend to some extent on the working capacity of these representatives occupying more than half of the Panchayati posts. We can hope that maximum governance and minimum government based our Panchayati system will create immense possibilities in the female leadership, which will change the picture of rural India in the near future, it will also change destiny. KEYWORDS- Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, Decentralization, Political Awareness, Information Technology, E-Panchayat, E-Governance,Women's Reservation.