About the Book: Decentralization Cooperatives and Rural Development
Institutions improve access to qualitative services and are therefore
considered to be important for rural development. In post-independence India,
panchayats and cooperatives were entrusted with the responsibility of social and
economic development at the village level. The vision was that these two
institutions must function harmoniously and in a complementary manner for the
speedy rural development. Subsequently, these two rural institutions have gone
in different ways. In view of the worldwide recognition for decentralization and
the role that decentralized institutions can play in rural development, several
countries have embarked the path of decentralization and development approach to
rural development. The