Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 16 Jul: Leading economists, senior administrative officials, policy makers and local bodies and civil society representatives from across the country are gathering at Doon University as part of a national workshop on ‘Decentralisation and Devolution in Uttarakhand Post 73rd and 74th Amendments’ to discuss challenges and opportunities associated with grassroots governance.
Announcing this here, today, Doon University Vice Chancellor Professor Surekha Dangwal said that leading academicians, researchers, policy makers and representatives of local bodies and civil society will hold deliberations at the workshop being organised on 18 and 19 July 2025 at Doon University under the aegis of the 6th State Finance Commission.
Underlining the importance of the national workshop, Head of the Department of Economics and Dean of School of Social Sciences Professor Rajendra P Mamgain said that, in view of the administrative challenges in the functioning of local government institutions, the 73rd and 74th Amendments are yet to realise their optimum potential.
“In this backdrop of compelling challenges of local self-governance and opportunities associated with strengthening grassroots governance, the proposed Workshop aims at assisting the achievements made in decentralisation and devolution in the state of Uttarakhand post 73rd and 74th Amendments, identify existing challenges and suggest strategies for strengthening grassroots governance in the state,” Professor Mamgain said.
The workshop will focus on devolution of functions, finances and capacity buildings of functionaries in rural and urban development planning process at all levels, with special emphasis on peri-urban areas and semi-urban clusters which have been ever growing.
The workshop also aims at eliciting empirical observations and views on the status of ULBs and PRIs in Uttarakhand while documenting practical experiences and best practices from various regions of the country.
Prominent speakers who will deliberate at the workshop include N Ravi Shankar (Chairperson, Sixth State Finance Commission, Uttarakhand), Dr Arvind Mayaram (Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India), Dr Pinaki Chakravarty (former Director, National Institute of Public Finance & Policy, New Delhi), SM Vijayanand (former Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India & Former Chairman, Kerala State Finance Commission), Prof VN Alok (Professor, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi), Sangram Jit Nayak (former Director, Municipal Administration, Odisha and ex-Member of the State Finance Commission, Odisha), Shatrughna Singh (Chief Executive Officer, SETU Aayog), Indu Kumar Pandey (former Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand & Former Chairman, Finance Commission, Uttarakhand), Subhadhra Sankaran (Director, Department of Economic Policy and Research, Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai), Prof SP Singh (Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee), Manmohan Mainali (Additional Commissioner, GST & Budget Officer, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand), Dr Javed Alam Khan (Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies and Advocacy, New Delhi), Prof HC Pokhriyal (former Executive Director, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi), Prof OP Bohra (Chair, Business Administration Department, School of Business Administration, Aldar University College, Dubai, UAE), Munna Singh Chauhan (MLA, Vikasnagar), Dr Narendra Kumar Gajula (Director General, National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Hyderabad), Krishna Mohan Poddar (Programme Manager, Piramal Foundation, Jharkhand), Prof Dilip Kumar Pal (former Special Secretary, Government of West Bengal & Senior Consultant, NIRDPR), MC Joshi (Member, Sixth State Finance Commission, Uttarakhand), Arti Bhandari (Mayor, Srinagar), Dr Manoj Pant (Director, SETU Aayog, Government of Uttarakhand), Jot Singh Bisht (Political Activist & former President, Block Pramukh Sangthan, Uttarakhand), and Saurabh Thapliyal (Mayor, Dehradun), among others.
Based on well-researched select background papers, the workshop would offer a platform for discussing the perplexing issues pertaining to efficient functioning of grassroots governance for inclusive development in Uttarakhand besides assessing the progress made so far in terms of devolution of functions, funds, and functionaries (the 3Fs). While drawing lessons from national and international experiences, the workshop would suggest a roadmap for facilitating the fuller utilisation of the grassroots governance institutions’ potential in the coming years. It would also help in re-orienting development priorities in the allocation of finances to local level institutions.
The proceedings of the seminar would be available at an opportune time when the newly constituted 6th State Finance Commission starts finalising its recommendations for allocation of financial resources and improving the governance structures of PRIs and ULBs for accelerating people centric sustainable development process in the state.
