The Kerala Panchayat Raj and Municipality Acts were passed in 1994. The first effort was the transfer of beneficiary-oriented schemes to local governments. This was followed in 1996 by an unprecedented transfer of resources and power– financial and institutional. Around one-third of the State’s development funds were devolved as grants to the local governments. Huge transfers of institutions and functionaries were effected. A framework for participatory local development plans was operationalised. A massive campaign for bringing people into the decentralised planning process was undertaken. Support systems for sustaining these processes were developed including digital support infrastructure under the Information Kerala Mission, innovative insertion of the District Planning Committee, the institution of a strong community network of women under Kudumbashree, etc.

Many years, and many course corrections later, a very strong institutional framework of local governance is in place in the State. The State Election Commission has ensured that elections and by-elections are held without a hitch, right on time. KILA ensures that every batch of newly elected representatives is taken through the entire template of local governance in Kerala. The annual and five-year plan frameworks are meticulously drawn up and the plan cycle is religiously followed through the efforts of the department, the State Planning Board and the DPCs. Accountability of local governance (audit and accounts) is entrusted to the Local fund audit department (KSAD), apart from the CAG, and the Ombudsman and LSG Tribunals stand as watchguard against corruption, nepotism and bad decisions by local governments. The State Coordination Committee chaired by the Minister of LSGD and anchored by the decentralisation division of the State Planning Board and the State Resource Group for LSGD meets on a fortnightly/monthly basis to address plan implementation related and interdepartmental/inter agency issues that impede governance and cannot get resolved locally.