Intervention of parallel bodies to be contained

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The UDF Government will contain the intervention of parallel bodies in the functioning of local bodies in the state, Panchayat Minister M K Muneer said here on Tuesday. Putting the fears of many to rest, Muneer said that the UDF Government would ensure all support to the decentralisation programmes as the Kerala model had turned into a livelihood mechanism for women in the state.The Minister was inaugurating the twoday workshop on 'Kerala's participatory planning and Porto Alegre's Participatory Budgeting (PB)' at the Institute of Management in Government (IMG) here. Giving a brief idea of the workshop, economist M A Oommen said that Porto Alegre was reeling under military dictatorship when a vast majority of the country's population got marginalised. It took to participatory budgeting in 1989 setting a revolution of sorts. The workshop intends to compare the Kerala model with Porto Alegre's model and to draw similarities between the two, he said.The workshop is being jointly organised by the Institute of Social Sciences (ISS) and IMG. Speaking at the function, ISS director George Mathew said that Kerala ought to take forward its decentralisation process by institutionalising it. There should not be any changes made in its framework as and when the government or political party in power changes, he said. Later, the counterparts from Porto Alegre presented an insight into the theory and practises of PB in Brazil.Andre Luis da Silva Seixas, counsellor of PB in Porto Alegre, elaborated on the process. Equivalent to grama sabhas in Kerala, they have the regional plenaries where the public participate in the budgetary process. Their demands are put forward, right from education to food and housing.
There are 17 regions in Porto Alegre where these plenaries meet and decide on the necessities of their region. Among the 10 people who participate, a delegate is chosen. The elected counsellors, delegates, the public and the authorities brainstorm at a session to decide on the resources to be allocated for citizen's demands.