Question

When Power is taken away from central and state governments and given to local governments, it is called ______________.
A. Centralisation
B. Federation
C. Decentralisation
D. Government local

Answer 1

Hint: Local government is the government for the people in the village and district. It is the government closer to the average people involved in daily life and trying to solve the problems of ordinary citizens. Democracy is in reality, about meaningful participation and transparency. Strong and vibrant local governments therefore ensure both active involvement and purposeful responsibility.

Complete answer:
The ultimate objectives of decentralisation are to enhance the delivery of services to the public sector and to improve the quality of life of people. Decentralization has been seen as an important part of resolving issues such as growing pressures on public services and increasing public standards for the quality of services. From a policy perspective, decentralisation should enhance the planning and delivery of public services by integrating local needs and requirements while at the same time achieving regional and national priorities.
Decentralization has been proposed in several countries for economic reasons. There may be a lack of scale in the provision of some services at national or even regional level which means that the local provision of services may be less expensive. Decentralization is also proposed to improve democracy by taking the level of decision-making closer to those most affected by government intervention. One hope is that the delivery of services should improve if the different desires and needs of the public are addressed by elected officials who have more knowledge about what people need. Decentralization should be accompanied by public accountability in the event that local governments are subject to democratic control. In this way, people can control the decisions taken by the elected councils of local governments.
Decentralization is therefore an important element of the development of democracy.

The Answer is Option C - Decentralisation.

Note: 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments, by establishing constitutionally the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in India, mandated the creation of panchayats and municipalities as elected local governments. They handed over a number of powers and duties to local councils and made them accountable to the people for their implementation, but very little concrete progress has been made in this direction, even after more than 25 years.