Paper short abstract:

Decentralisation is a key topic in the process of good governance in light of the enlargement perspective and the multilevel institutional architecture adopted in India and in many developing Countries for achieving the millennium development goals and India’s vision document 2050 towards the progress which has to achieve in the fields of decentralisation and enhancement of local governments in poverty eradication. As the overall trend of decentralization gained momentum in India after 1992, a number of challenges surged forward. In the wake of post globalization era considerable change has been brought in the socio-economic structure of rural areas all over the world especially in India.

Paper long abstract:

The paper explores means and ways for the general consensus that the elusive search for appropriate developmental policies failed to reap desired results over the past decades as a consequence of underestimating the value of governance and institutions. Appropriate economic policies cannot be conceived independently of their institutional and political context; these in turn have a direct correlation to the role of civil society, community empowerment, good governance and the rule of law. In this backdrop the paper explores all the convergences, prerequisites for poverty eradication policies and good governance which include social and economic rights, free and contestable elections, the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and the media, a list that is enriched and extended with the passage of time and the sense that societies should primarily seek out and support the weak and the vulnerable as the better off and the strong can look after themselves. However, the prerequisites for effective decentralization are still emerging and are not altogether clear in their focus and are in cross cutting. For many analysts effective decentralization for poverty eradication invariably means that there is devolution of power and that participation, empowerment and accountability of communities is a measure on how successful the process has been. Finally the paper summarizes the paper summarizes the convergence of poverty eradication effectively with policies and Programmes through decentralization and effective participation of local people and local leaders for social justice.