As local self-government institutions (LSGIs) in Kerala go to the polls in the first half of December, their history in the past five years will perhaps be marked for an unprecedented widening of their role and an increase in challenges, with local bodies being at the forefront of everything from post-disaster relief work to being the coordinating point for implementing almost every other programme of the various departments on the ground.
That this is the scenario at a time when Janakeeyasoothranam (People’s Plan Campaign) is completing 25 years of its implementation is noteworthy, as this was one of the aims when the decentralisation programme was rolled out in 1996.
More visibility
Two major natural disasters and two health crises over the past three years have certainly played a catalysing role in the increased visibility of the work done by the State’s local bodies, which were at one time associated just with local civic works and waste management.
When the unprecedented floods hit Kerala in 2018, local bodies across the State swung into action, even though they were never seen as key elements in disaster management. In coordinating local rescue efforts to being the coordinating point of collecting and transporting relief material, local body administrations lent help to areas much farther from their limited geographic spreads.
Some of them even sent squads to clean up houses and public spaces and provide medical help in other districts. By the time another major flood happened in 2019, this had become a standard expectation and many of the local bodies upped their game.
After the Nipah outbreak in 2018, local bodies in the affected areas initiated grassroots-level awareness campaigns and contact tracing, which aided much in arresting the spread of the virus as well as the fear around the same. But, it was after the COVID-19 outbreak that they played a much wider role, with the use of their network of health staff for contract tracing, in keeping track of quarantined people and in the setting up of community kitchens across the State.
Key role
When the government announced the Subhiksha Keralam project to ensure self-sustainability in vegetable production, it was the local bodies which worked with the Agriculture Department to identify and prepare several hectares of land for cultivation.
The local bodies have also played a key role in implementing the government's flagship projects including the LIFE Mission, the Haritha Keralam Mission’s river rejuvenation and mini-forests project and in the Health Department’s palliative care projects.
“In the early years of the People’s Plan, there was some kind of energy visible on the ground. Then, a kind of lull set in, with the plan being prepared only by October or so and at least 50% of the plan implementation happening in the last two months of the year. Since 2017-18, the annual plan has been prepared in the previous year and the local bodies are now getting an entire year to implement. This has also resulted in more innovative projects being proposed from various local bodies, touching upon various spheres of life,” says Planning Board member K.N. Harilal.