IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/eurjdr/v35y2023i4d10.1057_s41287-022-00545-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Two Cheers for Decentralisation: Unpacking Mechanisms, Politics and Accountability in the ICDS, Central India

Author

Listed:
  • Devanshi Chanchani

    (Brunel University)

Abstract

From long-term qualitative research this paper argues that Chhattisgarh’s decentralised mechanisms in implementation of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) foster increased stake of local communities and local politics, and that these work to enhance accountability and programme quality. A larger number of actors with financial interests in the scheme at the level of the sub-block ICDS ‘sector’ and down to the village leads to wider distribution of financial gains from delivery of ICDS Services, thereby increasing local competition and political interest from lower tiers of governance. Decentralised mechanisms work to enhance checks and balances via formal and informal routes to governance and accountability. Chhattisgarh’s ICDS represents a ‘hybrid model’ between the short and long routes to accountability. While competing interests from local politics and institutions of governance work to improve ICDS accountability, they also work to appropriate the programme for political gain, or unfairly target ICDS workers. The paper unpacks mechanisms by which local politics relate with decentralised prescriptions in ICDS implementation. It gives the decentralised mechanisms a qualified two cheers.

Suggested Citation

  • Devanshi Chanchani, 2023. "Two Cheers for Decentralisation: Unpacking Mechanisms, Politics and Accountability in the ICDS, Central India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 35(4), pages 891-913, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:35:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1057_s41287-022-00545-x
    DOI: 10.1057/s41287-022-00545-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41287-022-00545-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41287-022-00545-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fischer, Harry W., 2021. "Decentralization and the governance of climate adaptation: Situating community-based planning within broader trajectories of political transformation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    2. Sunita Abraham, 2014. "The Necessity of Engaging with Politics: Lessons from the Grass Roots in South India," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(2-3), pages 56-69, March.
    3. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Khemani, Stuti & Walton, Michael, 2011. "Civil Society, Public Action and Accountability in Africa," Working Paper Series rwp11-036, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    4. Fischer, Harry W., 2016. "Beyond Participation and Accountability: Theorizing Representation in Local Democracy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 111-122.
    5. Fischer, Harry W. & Ali, Syed Shoaib, 2019. "Reshaping the public domain: Decentralization, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), and trajectories of local democracy in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 147-158.
    6. D. Rajasekhar & M. Devendra Babu & R. Manjula, 2018. "Decentralised Governance, Development Programmes and Elite Capture," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-981-13-1900-6, July.
    7. Acemoglu, Daron & Johnson, Simon & Robinson, James A., 2005. "Institutions as a Fundamental Cause of Long-Run Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 385-472, Elsevier.
    8. Khaleghian, Peyvand & Gupta, Monica Das, 2005. "Public management and the essential public health functions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1083-1099, July.
    9. Sundar, Nandini, 2001. "Is Devolution Democratization?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(12), pages 2007-2023, December.
    10. Faguet, Jean-Paul, 2014. "Decentralization and Governance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 2-13.
    11. Craig Johnson & Priya Deshingkar & Daniel Start, 2005. "Grounding the State: Devolution and Development in India's Panchayats," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(6), pages 937-970.
    12. Veron, Rene & Williams, Glyn & Corbridge, Stuart & Srivastava, Manoj, 2006. "Decentralized Corruption or Corrupt Decentralization? Community Monitoring of Poverty-Alleviation Schemes in Eastern India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 1922-1941, November.
    13. Pranab Bardhan, 2002. "Decentralization of Governance and Development," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 185-205, Fall.
    14. Raghuram G. Rajan, 2009. "Rent Preservation and the Persistence of Underdevelopment," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 178-218, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fischer, Harry W. & Ali, Syed Shoaib, 2019. "Reshaping the public domain: Decentralization, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), and trajectories of local democracy in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 147-158.
    2. Dutta, Anwesha & Fischer, Harry W., 2021. "The local governance of COVID-19: Disease prevention and social security in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    3. Changwony, Frederick Kibon & Paterson, Audrey S., 2019. "Accounting practice, fiscal decentralization and corruption," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(5).
    4. Fischer, Harry W., 2021. "Decentralization and the governance of climate adaptation: Situating community-based planning within broader trajectories of political transformation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    5. Foa, Roberto Stefan, 2022. "Decentralization, historical state capacity and public goods provision in Post-Soviet Russia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    6. Fischer, Harry W., 2016. "Beyond Participation and Accountability: Theorizing Representation in Local Democracy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 111-122.
    7. Abu Elias Sarker & Faraha Nawaz, 2019. "Clientelism, Partyarchy and Democratic Backsliding: A Case Study of Local Government Elections in Bangladesh," South Asian Survey, , vol. 26(1), pages 70-91, March.
    8. Gani, Azmat & Scrimgeour, Frank, 2014. "Modeling governance and water pollution using the institutional ecological economic framework," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 363-372.
    9. Kahsay, Goytom Abraha & Medhin, Haileselassie, 2020. "Leader turnover and forest management outcomes: Micro-level evidence from Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    10. María Orduz, 2022. "Effect of educational spending on academic performance under different institutional arrangements," Documentos CEDE 20224, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    11. Berg, Andrew & Ostry, Jonathan D. & Zettelmeyer, Jeromin, 2012. "What makes growth sustained?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 149-166.
    12. Mauro, Luciano & Pigliaru, Francesco & Carmeci, Gaetano, 2018. "Decentralization and growth: Do informal institutions and rule of law matter?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 873-902.
    13. Danne, Christian, 2009. "Commitment devices, opportunity windows, and institution building in Central Asia," MPRA Paper 16597, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. van der Kamp, Denise & Lorentzen, Peter & Mattingly, Daniel, 2017. "Racing to the Bottom or to the Top? Decentralization, Revenue Pressures, and Governance Reform in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 164-176.
    15. Harris, J. Andrew & Posner, Daniel N., 2022. "Does decentralization encourage pro-poor targeting? Evidence from Kenya’s constituencies development fund," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    16. Tan, Jing & Liu, Tianyi & Xu, Hao, 2024. "The environmental and economic consequences of environmental centralization: Evidence from China's environmental vertical management reform," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    17. Ann-Sofie Isaksson & Dick Durevall, 2023. "Aid and institutions: Local effects of World Bank aid on perceived institutional quality in Africa," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 523-551, July.
    18. Behera, Bhagirath & Engel, Stefanie, 2006. "Institutional analysis of evolution of joint forest management in India: A new institutional economics approach," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 350-362, June.
    19. Juan S. Mora-Sanguinetti & Javier Quintana & Isabel Soler & Rok Spruk, 2024. "The heterogenous effects of a higher volume of regulation: evidence from more than 200k Spanish norms," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 137-153, June.
    20. Fortuna Casoria & Marianna Marino & Pierpaolo Parrotta & Davide Sala, 2019. "Local Government and Innovation: the case of Italian provinces," Working Papers halshs-02278092, HAL.

    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:pal:eurjdr:v:35:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1057_s41287-022-00545-x. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    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.