Experiments in Local Government Reform in Bangladesh

Abstract

Since it assumed power in March 1982 the government of General Ershad has undertaken a number of measures to reform local government and administration in Bangladesh. The measures were introduced on the recommendations (June 1982) of the Committee for Administrative Reorganization/Reform (CARR) and provide, inter alia, for abolishing the subdivision as a tier of administration, democratizing the rural local government, devolving adequate authority and responsibility to various local councils, and enhancing popular and political control over the local bureaucracy. To the protagonists of reform, these represent a big leap toward designing a new governmental system in rural Bangladesh. The main objective of this article is to examine the important features of the Ershad government reforms and to assess their politico-administrative implications, focusing upon three issues. First, the article identifies the areas in which the new measures differ from local government reforms carried out in the past. Second, it elaborates some of the major problems that cropped up during the process of implementation of reforms, and third, it identifies a number of drawbacks that are likely to limit the potential of the reforms. Before we examine the issues in detail, a brief overview of experiments in local reform during the first decade of independence will provide perspective against which judgments on new reforms can be made.