Decentralisation of Family Welfare Programmes in the Country

Abstract

Decentralized governance is the very attribute of any modern state. It is in harmonious with the spirit and the concept of ownership and participation of the modern mind. The traditional system of governance by remote control from distant location is no substitute for a system of local governance and local participation. The local participation enables not only selection of locally relevant schemes with its bearing on living environment, it also promotes cost efficiency by subjecting openness to public scrutiny and by institutionalizing accountability to the stake holder community and other individuals. Further, involving local people may also result in investment in socially desirable services, particularly in drinking water, health care and primary education and in the process meets development deficit of the locality to a great extent. The 73rd and the 74th Amendments of the Constitution of India provides for decentralisation of Family Welfare Programmes in the country. Centralised family planning services is seldom effective in promoting family planning in the un-served and underserved locations in the countryside. There is great scope and dedicated space for rural and urban local bodies to share the national duty of population control and family planning in their respective areas.