DECENTRALISED GOVERNANCE THROUGH GIS 
Jacob Georges, V.Madhava Rao^ 
a. Associate Professor, NIRD, NERC, Khanapara, Guwahati — 781 022, Assam, India -jacobgeorge nird()yahoo.co.in 
^ Associate Professor, NIRD, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad — 500 030, AP, India — madhava85S5@eth.net 
Key Words: GIS, Human Settlement, Planning, Databases, Land Use 
ABSTRACT 
The advent of all pervading space technology and the pace of ICT facilitating the data acquisition on almost real-time mode gives 
opportunity for judicious decision making at all levels of governance for the developing world for reduction of redundancy and time 
and for optimum utilization of the scarce resources. The planning process has undergone considerable change in recent years where 
decentralized participatory decision-making is resorted to for ensuring sustainability. However for this participatory decision- 
making, accessibility to a comprehensive data base which is easy to access and understand is needed. This is an area where spatial 
technologies can play a key role by generating timely and reliable information for planning and decision-making at all levels. The use 
of GIS for a micro administrative unit for planning and implementation was tested in an Action Research Project in one of the 
panchayats in India, where the knowledge base is developed up to cadastral level (land parcel level) and the household socio 
economic data is embedded on this layer on a GIS platform, with all graphic features of house type and household linked, to enable 
stakeholders to take decisions in a dynamic mode. 
INTRODUCTION : 
Decentralisation and participation are indispensable for 
achieving sustainable development. Towards this the 
Government of India has amended the constitution (73° & 
74" Amendment) creating a third tier of government at the 
local level called “Panchayats”, to promote decentralized 
Governance. Accordingly it is the constitutional 
responsibility of the local self-government (Panchayat) to 
plan and implement projects for social and economic 
development in a participatory manner. In this context 
building reliable and accurate database enabling information 
flow is indispensible for planning and monitoring of schemes. 
In addition, creation of reliable interactive database can also 
help in revenue collection (house tax, property tax etc.) which 
in turn will lead to better service delivery and efficient 
management of rural local self Governments (panchayats). 
The present study looks at the creation of an interactive 
Geographic Information System (GIS) which is cost effective 
and people friendly for effective planning and management at 
the Gram Panchayat Level. The Gram Panchayats are the 
lowest unit of the rural local self-government system 
covering a population of approximately 1500 to 5000. Even 
though it is widely recognized that the Geographic 
Information System (GIS) has the capacity to analyse both 
spatial and temporal data on a cost effective manner for 
effective planning and management, its application at the 
micro level for participatory planning and management is 
limited as of now. In this context an Action Research Project 
was taken up at the Panchayat level by the National Institute 
of Rural Development where efforts were made to develop an 
interactive package for participatory management at the 
panchayat level. 
OBJECTIVES 
The broad objective of the study was to develop an 
Interactive GIS Package for Gram Panchayat Planning, to be 
used by the Gram Panchayat and also by the people, at grass 
root level summarised as under: 
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1. To generate data base at household and farm field 
level in a participatory mode. 
2. To develop an Interactive GIS Gram Panchayat 
level Plan 
3. To integrate all aspects of rural economy and life 
4. To analyse spatial spread of infrastructure and link 
it up with resources and optimum utilization 
5. To formulate an Action Plan for the Gram 
Panchayat Level on an interactive mode using a 
GIS platform. 
6. To test the Interactive GIS based Gram Panchayat 
Plan on pilot basis . 
STUDY AREA 
The study area was Villivalam Gram Panchayat of 
Wallijabad Block of Kanchipuram District, Tamil Nadu State 
in India. The Villivalam Gram Panchayat has 450 households 
with a population of 1876 and an area of 665.67 hectares with 
net sown area of 205.26 hectares. 
METHOD AND TYPE OF DATA COLLECTED 
The data collection was done on a participatory mode using 
volunteers from the Gram Panchayat. The volunteers were 
trained by technical personnel on collecting data. Data on 
Land Resources were collected using cadastral maps in 
1:5000 scale. Participatory Rural Appraisal is being 
conducted to validate data collected. For maintaining record 
of the family digital photographs of family/individual and 
houses are also taken. Data relating to following areas were 
collected. 
I, Integrated resource surveys (Natural resources and 
Human resources). 
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