Towards Citizen-Centric Administration Through Decentralisation: Lessons from Gandhian Constitution for Free India

Abstract

Contemporary democracies have recognised that the traditional top-down administrative machinery needs to be reviewed in favour of a citizen-centric administration. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) had produced a number of significant reports in this regard. In this context, this article looks at an alternative document, Gandhian Constitution for Free India, to draw lessons in decentralisation and citizen-centric administration. Through a comparative reading of The Gandhian Constitution in light of Gandhi’s life and ideas, and the extant administrative system in India, this article highlights the importance of Gandhi’s ideas of decentralisation for citizen-centric administration in contemporary times. From a Gandhian vantage point, this article provides a doctrinal defence of decentralisation as a characteristic of a perfect democracy. The article also revisits the extant constitutional and administrative scheme for decentralisation—political, administrative and judicial—and provides suggestions that could help upscale and appraise the process of citizen-centric administration through proper decentralisation.