DECENTRALISATION of power through the three-tier Panchayat system has empowered people at the grassroot levels across the country. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister further decentralised power through Zilla Sarkars. The communitisation programme in Nagaland is another form of decentralisation of power. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had once said that the new communitisation programme in Nagaland could be a model for the whole of country. In an effort to extend the programme beyond Nagaland, the Centre and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will jointly document the communitisation process in the State and also produce a film for educational purpose in rest of India.

Outsiders can learn from the communitisation experience in Nagaland because decentralisation was the best way for the development and in order to achieve it, capacity building had become the central theme. The kind of communitisation introduced in Nagaland has not only strengthened that tradition but has also given a sense of ownership and belongingness.  A team from Union Ministry of Personnel and the UNDP recently visited Nagaland to study the ongoing communitisation programme in the state. The team explored the areas in which they would extend assistance.

The Centre and the UNDP will anchor the Administrative Training Institute (ATI) in Nagaland where officials from various departments as well as communities would be given training. The ATI had the potential to become the regional training center. The new scheme of involving communities in education sectors in Nagaland needed to be exposed and learnt by outsiders.

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