Panchayat Udyogs in Uttar Pradesh: A Democratic Experiment in Micro Enterprise Development

Abstract

This paper documents a unique experiment in micro enterprise development that has been underway in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh for the past three decades. Inspired by the Gandhian economic philosophy of ’gram swaraj’, this experiment has given birth to a distinct set of enterprises, which are owned and operated by panchayats, the grassroot level self-governments. Christened panchayat udyog, these ventures have proven that decentralisation of industrialisation becomes more meaningful when the economic and political structures at the local level cooperate with each other