Urban local bodies in Kerala, such as corporations and municipalities, are incorporated entities responsible for the governance and administration of towns and cities within the state.
The senior most officials of various departments brought under the control of the Panchayat Raj Institutions have been declared as ex-officio Secretaries for that subject.
According to a study Dr Martin Patrick (Chief Economist) CPPR, "Gram panchayats are performing better when compared to their performance three decades earlier but they are still not meeting expected standards in generating own funds with which they can plan their own special projects, s Steps need to be taken to generate own assets by collecting more non-tax revenue, particularly collecting potential building and professional tax"[10] All Village and Block Panchayats have three Standing Committees and the District Panchayat five Standing Committees.
While Government can issue general guidelines regarding national and State policies it cannot meddle in day-to-day affairs or individual decisions.
Similarly a Panchayat can be dissolved directly by government, only if it fails to pass the budget or if majority of its members have resigned.
In Kerala, Local Self-Government Institutions have been meaningfully empowered through massive transfer of resources as well as administrative powers.
[11] Some of the key field departments under the Local Self-Government Department in Kerala include: To reduce governmental control and foster growth of self-government as envisaged in the Constitution, the Act provides for creation of independent institutions to deal with various aspects of local government functioning.
They are listed below:-[12] The extent of decentralization and its nature can be gauged from the following facts:[13][14] In short, most of the responsibilities relating to human and social development have been passed down to local governments.
Welfare and poverty reduction are now largely dependent on local governments who also have considerable area of responsibility in the primary sector.
It utilizes backend computerization to e-enable the delivery of services and ensures transparency and uniform application of rules.
In a nutshell E-District is a tailor-made program for minimizing effort and time to provide prompt and effective services to the public.
Pampakuda panchayat has achieved this feat by digitalizing over 18,000 citizens' survey data with the help of E-Gram, a software built by a private IT company operating in Technolodge Piravom.
E-Gram's objective is to make panchayats more efficient, transparent and symbols of modernity by leveraging ICT at the cutting edge level to ensure transparency and accountability in their functioning through disclosure of information, social audit, efficient delivery of services and improving internal processes and management of panchayats.