Research & Conferences

The centre provides research grants on emerging themes on local democracy. A few indicative themes are:-

Rigorous analysis, including key determinants of good practices of Gram, Block and Zilla Panchayats in any of the areas of resource mobilisation, governance of natural resources, welfare, equity and social justice.
Legal analysis of conflicts between Panchayats Acts/Rules, PESA Act/Rules between states and between state and central Acts with respect to Article 243ZF of the Constitution.
Study of the functioning of the traditional governance systems of the Adivasis and their integration with constitutional local governance structures and processes.
Study of the challenges faced by Nagar Panchayats in meeting urban aspirations and the resource and capacity gaps.
Study of the functioning of Nyay Panchayats and other alternative dispute resolution systems and possibilities of their integration with the mainstream justice delivery system.
Study of the barriers faced by elected women representatives in Gram Panchayats having prior experience in community based work or in social movements.

Two rounds of research grants have been provided and the reports can be found below. The centre invites proposals from researchers on these related themes.

First Cycle (Research Funding Programme 2020)

Name of the study	Name of the Researchers (PI/Co PI) and the Institution (if any)
Study of the institution of Gram Kachahari in Bihar, India	Manabendra Nath Roy, Principal Investigator(PI) and Sabari Bandyopadhaya, Co-Principal Investigator (Co PI), Sigma Foundation
Adaptive management practices in the governance of CFR areas in Tadoba TR buffer	Poorva Joshi (PI), Independent Researcher
Unpacking indigenous self-governance amidst FRA: Comparative insights from Nilambur and Sigur areas of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve	Jyotsna Krishnakumar (PI), Keystone Foundation

Name of the study

Name of the Researchers (PI/Co PI) and the Institution (if any)

Study of the institution of Gram Kachahari in Bihar, India

Manabendra Nath Roy, Principal Investigator(PI) and Sabari Bandyopadhaya, Co-Principal Investigator (Co PI), Sigma Foundation

Adaptive management practices in the governance of CFR areas in Tadoba TR buffer

Poorva Joshi (PI), Independent Researcher

Unpacking indigenous self-governance amidst FRA: Comparative insights from Nilambur and Sigur areas of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve

Jyotsna Krishnakumar (PI), Keystone Foundation

Name of the study	Name of the Researchers (PI/Co PI) and the Institution (if any)
Does identity politics subsume local governance? A study of the Darjeeling hills	Gorky Chakraborty (PI) and Biswanath Saha (Co-PI), Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata
Functioning of tribal political structure: Interaction in traditional tribal self-governance and constitutional panchayats in selected tribal villages of south Gujarat	James Dabhi (PI), Kanchan Bharati (Co-PI) and Dhananjay Kumar (Co-PI), Centre for Culture and Development
Local democracy in the woods: Understanding decentralised forest governance through Forests Rights Act, 2006	Satyapriya Rout (PI), University of Hyderabad
Gender-sharing between local leaders and frontline workers: Implications for public services	Deepak Singhania (PI) and Anupam Sharma (Co-PI), Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar; Soledad Prillaman (Co-PI)

Name of the study

Name of the Researchers (PI/Co PI) and the Institution (if any)

Does identity politics subsume local governance? A study of the Darjeeling hills

Gorky Chakraborty (PI) and Biswanath Saha (Co-PI), Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata

Functioning of tribal political structure: Interaction in traditional tribal self-governance and constitutional panchayats in selected tribal villages of south Gujarat

James Dabhi (PI), Kanchan Bharati (Co-PI) and Dhananjay Kumar (Co-PI), Centre for Culture and Development

Local democracy in the woods: Understanding decentralised forest governance through Forests Rights Act, 2006

Satyapriya Rout (PI), University of Hyderabad

Gender-sharing between local leaders and frontline workers: Implications for public services

Deepak Singhania (PI) and Anupam Sharma (Co-PI), Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar; Soledad Prillaman (Co-PI)