This book contains the proceedings of the National Conference on ‘Emergence Trends in State-Local Fiscal Relations in India’, held at the National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, in December, 1996, organized by Konrad Adenaur Foundation. This conference aimed at further development of local self-government institutions and to the concept of democratic decentralization in India. A meaningful democratic process must rest on the bedrock of vibrant local self-governing institutions and decentralized development planning at the grass-root level. There has, of late, been growing interest in decentralized planning and administration arising out of disillusionment with the centralized approach. 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendments are a step in the direction of revitalizing and empowering the local bodies and calls for a restructuring of state-local fiscal relations. The fifteen papers in this volume address various related issues such as the present status of these relations, a suggested approach, implications for decentralization, finances of city government and panchayats, resource mobilization for Panchayati Raj institutions, inter-state disparity in fiscal capacity, policy options, etc. Supported by several case studies and meticulously collected data, the papers will provide a fruitful contribution to the debate on the further development of local self-governing institutions and to the concept of democratic decentralization in India.
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