Strategy for Development of Jharkhand State

The Government of Jharkhand set up an Expert Committee to propose a strategy for development of the state. The committee is headed by Prof. Bibek Debroy, well-known economist and Research Professor, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. Mr Laveesh Bhandari and Mr. Vikas Singh are the other members of the committee.

A presentation by this Expert Committee on the developmental realities in Jharkhand will be held at PRIA, New Delhi on March 16, 2011 between 3 and 5 pm. Prof Debroy and members of the committee, a small group of civil society organizations and resource providers who are active in Jharkhand will participate in a discussion. This discussion will aim to generate some development debates with regard to:

• The governance scenario of Jharkhand

• Role of newly constituted local governments (panchayats and municipalities), and

• Explore coordinated actions and roles of civil society, corporates and donors in Jharkhand.

PRIA (Society for Participatory Research in Asia), which has been working in the area of strengthening local self-governance with its partners since 1995, conducted a Pre Election Voters Awareness Campaign (PEVAC) in the recently held panchayat elections in Jharkhand. PEVAC aims at making people aware of the importance of their participation in the electoral processes either as voters or candidates; the modes of participation; the procedure of becoming eligible for voting and to actually cast their vote; and ways to assess the poll-worthiness of a candidate. The goal of PEVAC is to create an environment for free and fair elections, and to encourage the participation of marginalized groups such as women, minorities, special ethnic communities and the poor. PEVAC was instrumental in the high voting percentage (about 68-70%) in these panchayat elections.