Democratic Decentralization through Panchayati Raj in Contemporary India: The Changes and Challenges

This paper seeks to make a critical review of the current status of the constitionalised panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) in India as institutions of self government and as instruments of planning for economic development and social justice in the light of empirical evidence collected by the researchers and critical analysis of the some of the actions of state . The background of the rise of the "new" panchayat system has been narrated in a nut shell to enable the readers to have an idea of the conceptual and institutional framework of the panchayat system Keeping the central objective in mind the article focuses on the challenges faced by the third generation PRIs in India from within and without and attempts to make an assessment about the future of these institutions. Reference has been made to the experience of some of the states in order to support the comments and observations. The article argues that despite the constitutional amendment to regenerate the PRIs there is still lack of genuine and strong political interest and bureaucratic support to fuel the institutions. These have been manifested in the actions of the state after the constitution has been amended. The traditional factors rooted in the socio-economic structure and political dynamics of the rural society continue to plague the working of these democratic institutions. It has been contended that there is need for another round of constitutional amendment coupled with continuous political and administrative support to ensure steady growth of the PRIs. The author finds a ray of hope in the rise of civil society organizations which have started acting as watchdogs in some of the states. They are working not only for generating awareness among the stakeholders but also for organizing the villagers to assert their rights and in this respect, the right to information has come as great boon

RURAL DECENTRALIZATION IN INDIA AT THE CROSS- ROADS: THE CONTEXT, CHALLENGES AND CONSEQUENCES

This article attempts to make a critical evaluation of the working of the institutional system of democratic decentralization in rural India against the backdrop of its historical development. It has been argued that although it is not difficult to trace the roots of decentralized government in ancient India it hardly resembles the modern model of decentralization conceived and developed by a host of the Western scholars. The colonial rulers introduced decentralized governance in India to promote colonial objectives and to help perpetuate the British rule. The post- colonial state took steps to initiate the process of rural decentralization in 1950s but it went out of steam soon. In 1990s there was a paradigm shift in India’s policy. And in 1992 the Constitution was amended to pave the road for democratic decentralization but currently it seems to be in the cross-roads. This paper seeks to capture the historical development of the journey of decentralization and identify the roadblocks and the takeaways from the experience of working of the institutions of rural decentralization in India

India's system of public administration and delivery of public services in turbulent times: challenges and solutions

The paper explores the peculiarities of the current system of public administration in India, the role and functions of civil servants and their interface and relations with politicians. It delienates existing main problem areas and outlines certain "remedy" actions to overcome current difficulties and raise performance of the national bureaucracy, in particular - its ability to deliver timely and better quality public services. The findings and inferences of the accomplished research are largely based on the analysis of the performance of Indian civil servants in the current administrative and political setting, specifically at the regional and local levels. The colonial legacy of civil service still persists in this fast-changing era of globalization. It is in this context that civil service reform constitutes a quintessential element of the system of good governance. The study focuses on the internationally recognized experience of the regional administration in Kerala State, focused on the successful mobilization of citizens, businesses and street level bureaucrats to withstand the impact of the pandemic. The relative success of Kerala in addressing key issues of survival for tens of thousands of citizens is largely explained by the ability of the regional and local governments to encourage and coordinate stakeholders in their joint anti-coronavirus efforts and support innovative grassroots intiatives

DECENTRALIZED PLANNING IN AN INDIAN STATE: AN EXPLORATORY EXERCISE

In India, the idea of decentralized planning gained momentum after the country became independent in 1947 but its rudimentary practice was not completely unknown before 1947. In post-independent India a number of government committees and commissions had recommended for introduction of decentralized planning at different points of time. The most remarkable event in this regard were twin Constitutional amendments which clarified the role of local bodies and institutionalized participation of the people which signaled what is often called a paradigmatic change. The amendments gave decentralized planning constitutional sanction and sanctity, and provided a model of planning for the whole country. In this paper, an attempt has been made to capture the different phases in the evolution of the decentralized planning processes in India as a backdrop and to assess and analyze the experiences of introduction of decentralized planning in one state of the Union of Indian states called West Bengal. It is one of the states where the exercise was done through active participation of people sought to be achieved through institutional structures created in the villages. This paper tries to make use of the available secondary data to arrive at some of the major conclusions and to justify the contentions made. Reference has also been made to some limited field work which was done through village survey. The authors have also highlighted some of the key emerging issues which call for further research. It also seeks to explores what could be the probable lessons  the developing countries in general, and India, in particular. 

Decentralization in Rural India: Gandhi’s Perspective, Constitutional Prescription and Emerging Trends

The term decentralization which has been used since the early 1950s for a wide range of institutional reform programmes all over the globe, has gradually gained considerable prominence in contemporary discourse on development and governance and practices A large majority of the third world countries are currently involved in some form of decentralisation, with varying degrees of commitment and success. These processes are fundamentally altering the institutional landscape in the developing countries. A number of push factors have contributed to this evolution. Mention may be made of the following: the erosion of the highly centralised ‘developmental state’ in the late 1980s; the rediscovery of the ‘local dimension’ of development and related recognition of local governments’ potential role and added-value in promoting local development and contributing to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); the quest for improved efficiency in the delivery of basic social services (health, education, water and sanitation, etc.), especially in reaching out to poor people; the global imperative for democratisation and good governance, which has fuelled societal demands for local democracy and accountable local governments; the rise of participatory development approaches that allow a wide range of new actors to express their voice and have a stake in policy processes with local governments, in particular, lobbying to be recognised as a dialogue partner (at all relevant levels) and as aid beneficiary; a wide range of other push factors, such as Agenda 21 (on sustainable development) and the concern to protect local economies against globalisatio

Dynamics of Hot QCD Matter -- Current Status and Developments

The discovery and characterization of hot and dense QCD matter, known as Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), remains the most international collaborative effort and synergy between theorists and experimentalists in modern nuclear physics to date. The experimentalists around the world not only collect an unprecedented amount of data in heavy-ion collisions, at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in New York, USA, and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland but also analyze these data to unravel the mystery of this new phase of matter that filled a few microseconds old universe, just after the Big Bang. In the meantime, advancements in theoretical works and computing capability extend our wisdom about the hot-dense QCD matter and its dynamics through mathematical equations. The exchange of ideas between experimentalists and theoreticians is crucial for the progress of our knowledge. The motivation of this first conference named "HOT QCD Matter 2022" is to bring the community together to have a discourse on this topic. In this article, there are 36 sections discussing various topics in the field of relativistic heavy-ion collisions and related phenomena that cover a snapshot of the current experimental observations and theoretical progress. This article begins with the theoretical overview of relativistic spin-hydrodynamics in the presence of the external magnetic field, followed by the Lattice QCD results on heavy quarks in QGP, and finally, it ends with an overview of experiment results.Comment: Compilation of the contributions (148 pages) as presented in the `Hot QCD Matter 2022 conference', held from May 12 to 14, 2022, jointly organized by IIT Goa & Goa University, Goa, Indi

Measurement of the top quark forward-backward production asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric and chromomagnetic moments in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract The parton-level top quark (t) forward-backward asymmetry and the anomalous chromoelectric (d̂ t) and chromomagnetic (μ̂ t) moments have been measured using LHC pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected in the CMS detector in a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. The linearized variable AFB(1) is used to approximate the asymmetry. Candidate t t ¯ events decaying to a muon or electron and jets in final states with low and high Lorentz boosts are selected and reconstructed using a fit of the kinematic distributions of the decay products to those expected for t t ¯ final states. The values found for the parameters are AFB(1)=0.048−0.087+0.095(stat)−0.029+0.020(syst),μ̂t=−0.024−0.009+0.013(stat)−0.011+0.016(syst), and a limit is placed on the magnitude of | d̂ t| < 0.03 at 95% confidence level. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

MUSiC : a model-unspecific search for new physics in proton-proton collisions at root s=13TeV

Results of the Model Unspecific Search in CMS (MUSiC), using proton-proton collision data recorded at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1), are presented. The MUSiC analysis searches for anomalies that could be signatures of physics beyond the standard model. The analysis is based on the comparison of observed data with the standard model prediction, as determined from simulation, in several hundred final states and multiple kinematic distributions. Events containing at least one electron or muon are classified based on their final state topology, and an automated search algorithm surveys the observed data for deviations from the prediction. The sensitivity of the search is validated using multiple methods. No significant deviations from the predictions have been observed. For a wide range of final state topologies, agreement is found between the data and the standard model simulation. This analysis complements dedicated search analyses by significantly expanding the range of final states covered using a model independent approach with the largest data set to date to probe phase space regions beyond the reach of previous general searches.Peer reviewe

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe