Kerela in India has an outstanding performance in taking panchayati raj system forward.It ranked first for for taking additional initiatives under taken during 2010-2011 for deepening democratic decentralization in the state

The State has achieved the much-coveted recognition on the strength of its success in devolution of powers and functions to the local self-government institutions.

The recognition for the additional initiatives undertaken during 2010-2011 is significant given the great strides the State has already made and the difficulty in effecting dramatic changes on the decentralisation front during a single year.

Kerala is currently poised at the cutting edge of decentralised governance with the focus sought to be shifted from merely performing administrative functions, spending of funds and creation of more infrastructure to evidence-based policymaking; data-based planning; problem solving; efficient management of resources, capabilities and institutions; well-organised public service delivery; and ensuring social security and environmental sustainability.

Kerala has been chosen for the top honours after an exhaustive analysis of the work done by all the States, particularly during 2010-2011. Kerala is the only State where, besides reserving 50 per cent of seats in the local bodies for women, a provision has been made for extending the reservation scheme to the posts of the president, vice-president and the standing committee chairperson. The State has also reserved 50 per cent of the positions in the District Planning Committees (DPCs) for women.

Further, the State has gone in for massive devolution of resources to the local self-government institutions in the 2011-2012 Budget on the basis of the Fourth State Finance Commission Award. Thus, the devolution for development purposes has been enhanced from Rs.2,010 crore in 2010-2011 to Rs.2,750 crore for 2011-2012, taking the percentage of funds devolved to the local bodies from 20.1 per cent to 25 per cent.

The devolution formula has been revised, giving 30 per cent weightage to the deprivation index, thereby ensuring that backward local bodies would get higher allocations.

New initiatives

The government has constituted accounts wings in all village panchayats for greater accountability and has also initiated a new project, with World Bank support, to strengthen account keeping, capacity building, improvement of data base and to strengthen institutionalisation.

While deciding the award, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj also took into account the watershed master plans prepared by 600 village panchayats in the State to improve the quality of implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which had been accepted as a national model.