About the Book :

Acquiring a Constitutional status in 1993, the Panchayati Raj Institutions in India gave the vision of a democratic governance down even to village level (the Gram Sabha) by decentralizing State’s developmental functions, finance and functionaries to PRIs, granting them autonomy so that they function as institutions of self-government, securing people’s participations in local development and ensuring accountability and transparency of the government to the people. It is not only a system of participative self-governance but it ensures political empowerment to the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed. The Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act has made Panchayats instruments of local governance with potential space for women and marginalised groups in the federal set‑up. It has perceptually widened the democratic base providing the potential for local level planning and implementation of development programmes. These potentialities include the participation and self-governance by ensuring political empowerment to the poor, marginalized and oppressed — Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women — at the grassroot level. The present volume attempts to address the issues pertaining to rural governance, people’s participation, financial inclusion, environmental sustainability and watershed development initiatives. The volume contains twenty two research papers and articles contributed by senior academics, administrators and rural development activists with rich experience on the core areas of the study. In their submissions, the authors have tried to explore the existing problems faced by rural development in the aforesaid areas and present solid suggestions to revamp the system.

About Author :

M.R. Biju, is currently Dean, School of Social Sciences, Dean, School of Legal Studies and Head, Department of Public Administration and Policy Studies, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod. He is also serving as Chairperson of Board of Studies, Public Administration and Policy Studies. He is also a Member of the Court of the University. He is the Editor of South Asian Journal of Socio-Political Studies (SAJOSPS) and Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Political Science (IJOPS). He is a prolific writer on socio-political and developmental issues and published twenty-nine books, One Hundred and Seventy (170) research papers, Seventeen [17] book chapters, and has reviewed over Nine Hundred books for South Asian Journal of Socio-political Studies.
His teaching and research experience, spanning more than 26 years, includes several achievements. 
He is consistently making professional academic contributions in the capacity of an Associate Board member of Economics and Management, a prestigious journal published by the Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic, as the Director and Member Secretary of the Asian Institute of Development Research (AIDR), and is a life Member of several Academic and Professional Bodies. He is also serving on the Editorial Board of International Journal of Business and Innovation, Administration. He is a member of the PG Board of Studies Political Science and Public Administration of the Central University of Rajasthan and Gandhigram Rural Institute, Dindigul.