Decentralization of local government

Dr. M Abul Kashem Mozumder and Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque :
The term local self-government has been traditionally used of local government in the United Kingdom and Germany. Thus, the Basic Law (the constitution of Germany) says, “Municipalities must be guaranteed the right to regulate all local affairs on their own responsibility, within the limits prescribed by the laws.” hus, modern local government has a twofold aspect-it is a mixture of both deconcentration and decentralization, of central convenience and an acknowledgment that not all authority ought to be exerted by the centre. The mixture is revealed by the extent to which some of the powers exercised by local government units are exercised compulsorily and under fairly strict control by central authority with financial assistance, while others are not. This mixture produces the high complexity of modern local government. Further, local government is a departmentalization of the state’s work, based on the territorial distribution of services, as contrasted with (1) division into departments at the centre or (2) decentralization of functions to public corporations. In local government, territorial distribution of power is the essence.(Encyclopedia Britannica)
Whereas local government stems from deconcentration local self-government is related to decentralization specially devolution. Decentralization is an important ingredient of development administration. A good deal of research work on decentralization advocates local-self government and popular participation. The studies conducted by Conyers (1981), Rondinelli (1983), Routray (1987), Sidentoph (1988), Schoroeder (1985), Blair(1985), Hill (1987), Esman and Uphoff (1984)(all cited in Mashreque 2002), Ruland and Sujo (1988) attempt to relate cross-cultural experiences of rural development and decentralization as a social movement(cited in Mashreque 2002)
TTDC is a new concept of development administration at the local point TTDC stands out to be a symbolic reference for decentralized development administration at the local level. It is an important component of Comilla model.
TTDC was “designed as a model of decentralised and coordinated rural administration for the sake of development aiming at effective coordination between nation-building departments and organisations of the rural people (local councils, cooperatives, etc). The people and the government are partners of development. TTDC provides the institutional mechanism to promote this partnership. Replication of TTDC in phases throughout the country was accepted as a programme by the government in 1963, and was gradually replicated in all the thanas. It was used as a base for introducing a decentralized administration system under the thana parishad in 1982.”(Banglapedia 2003)
Esman (1966), Fainsod (1963), Riggs (1965) (cited in Mashreque 2002) discussed the process of administration of development and development of administration which involves a ‘new value orientation’ and ‘institutional set up’ for nation building. These theoretical studies may help us to find out a common pattern of socio economic, political and administrative development in transitional societies. Development as defined by these studies refers to ‘administrative capabilities’ and operational efficiencies of the government agencies in the determination of the ‘goals of nation building’ and ‘socio economic development’. Huq (1978) explained this animated concept to depict the dynamics of changing societies. SK Jha (1988) depicted changing pattern rural administration in Rural India
Rondinelli (1983 cited in Mashreque 2002) offered a cross-cultural study of decentralization taking eight countries as test cases. These countries are India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Nepal, Malaysia, Srilanka, and Pakistan.. Based on cross-cultural studies Rondinelli (1983 cited in Mashreque 2002) comments:” The initiative for decentralization in these countries came from the central government and not from demands for participation or devolution of authority from below. However state initiative in this respect was a belated realization. Bangladesh is no exception. Although new global trends in the empowerment of local government (LG) somewhat influenced thinking on reformation line at the local point new LG system was anchored in Thana Training and Development Center (TTDC) concept.
Thana Training and Development Center (TTDC) is a concept replete with development administration at the local point TTDC stands out to be a symbolic reference for decentralized development administration at the local level. It is an important component of Comilla model. The Thana Training and Development Centre was “designed as a model of decentralized and coordinated rural administration for the sake of development. (TTDC) aims at effective coordination between nation-building departments and organizations of the rural people (local councils, cooperatives, etc). The people and the government are partners of development. (TTDC) provides the institutional mechanism for this partnership. Replication of (TTDC) in phases throughout the country provided a basis for participatory local governance for rural development. In 1982 Committee on Administrative Reform and Reorganization (CARR) recommended for the creation of strong and autonomous local-self government based on devolutionary dimension of decentralization.
Local self government created by decentralization amounts to participation in community organization, participation in the project cycle, participation in local organization, participation local government institutions. Local self government like Union parishad ensures participation in the project cycle, most particularly within the implementing institution itself, involves popular participation in planning, implementation, output, and evolution stages of the project cycle. It may even entail participation in administration itself as reoriented bureaucracy assigns high priority to opening itself to increased participation. Participation in the local-self government organizations involves participation in the whole range of local institutions such as Local Governments, Co-operatives, Social Organizations and etc.
(Dr. M Abul Kashem Mozumder, Pro-VC, BUP and Dr. Md. Shairul Mashreque, Retired Professor, Chittagong University).