IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fas/journl/v3y2013i2p14-53.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A New Statistical Domain in India: An Enquiry into Gram Panchayat-Level Databases

Author

Listed:
  • Jun-ichi Okabe

    (College of Economics, Faculty of International Social Sciences, Yokohama National University, joka@ynu.ac.jp.)

  • Aparajita Bakshi

    (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai)

Abstract

This study deals with a new statistical domain, that of the village (or gram) panchayat. This domain has emerged in rural India as a consequence of the decentralisation programme initiated by the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution. The work of the Expert Committee on Basic Statistics for Local-Level Development represents a landmark in this regard because it sheds light on the potential of village-level data sources for the new era of democratic decentralisation in India. This paper examines data sources at the gram panchayat level in relation to the needs that are generated if the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 is implemented comprehensively. From this point of view, the paper identifies three categories of data needs. These are: data required for self-governance, of which data required for managing the transition to full-scope constitutional devolution are a special component (Data Needs I and Ia); data required for matters of public finance (Data Needs II); and data required for micro-level planning (and plan implementation) for economic development and social justice (Data Needs III). The paper proposes that an essential constituent of village-level data should be a list of individuals and families resident in the village (a ÒPeopleÕs ListÓ). The accuracy and quality of the various peopleÕs lists available with gram panchayats and other village-level agencies are examined here, using data from independent surveys conducted by the Foundation for Agrarian Studies in two villages.

Suggested Citation

  • Jun-ichi Okabe & Aparajita Bakshi, 2013. "A New Statistical Domain in India: An Enquiry into Gram Panchayat-Level Databases," Journal, Review of Agrarian Studies, vol. 3(2), pages 14-53, July, 201.
    • Handle: RePEc:fas:journl:v:3:y:2013:i:2:p:14-53
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ras.org.in/index.php?Abstract=a_new_statistical_domain_in_india
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fas:journl:v:3:y:2013:i:2:p:14-53. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Prof. VK Ramachandran (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ras.org.in .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.