Does participation in village assembly lead to improved public good allocation? Evidence from India

In decentralized governance, citizen participation plays a key role in improving development outcomes at the local level. In India, a constitutional amendment in 1992 created an institutional mechanism of village assembly at the grassroots level to enable citizens to present needs, assist in the implementation and administration of programmes, and monitor the implementation of plans and programmes. However, the performance of village assembly and factors influencing the same are under-researched due to the lack of quantitative data. This study analyses the relationship between participation in village assemblies and the allocation of public goods, based on detailed data collected from 50 village councils in the state of Karnataka. This study uses constituency-level data on public good allocation, records of village assemblies, and participation details of approximately 1000 voters. Using this dataset, we address three questions: Who participates in village assemblies? Why do they participate? What is the association between citizen’s participation and public goods allocation? This study shows that (1) the awareness of village assembly is lower among female voters and among minorities, (2) many voters passively attend village assembly mainly to find out what goes on rather than to present the problem or to ask for benefit, and such passive participation is more pronounced among voters from disadvantaged groups, and (3) those voters who attend village assembly received public goods such as streetlights, water supply and drainage. However, attendance is influenced by political connection indicating elite capture. Since low participation in village assembly is the reason for elite capture, citizen participation should be improved through awareness and innovative mechanisms.