Lok Satta constituted a high level committee of experts to study and advocate empowerment of local governments and stake holders.

Lok Satta has decided to make advocacy for empowerment of local governments, and where possible , direct empowerment of people as stake-holders, the centre-piece of its strategy for mobilizing public opinion in favour of democratic reforms. Towards this end, we propose to constitute a Working Group on Local-Governance and Empowerment of Stake-holders in Andhra Pradesh. The Working Group will comprise of the following eminent and experienced persons.

1.	Sri B.P.R. Vithal
(Member, Tenth Finance Commission)	- Chairman
2.	Sri D.V.Subba Rao
(Former Mayor, Vizag Municipal Corporation)	- Member
3.	Sri Reddappa Reddy
(Former Chairman, Ananthapur)	- Member
4.	Sri Ravi Kumar
(Chairman, Nalgonda Zilla Parishad)	- Member
5.	Sri Rajendra Prasad
(President, AP Grampanchayat Sarpanches Association)	- Member
6.	Sri M.Rama Reddy
(Member, Lok Satta Coordination Committee)	- Member-Secretary and Convenor

Several experts, including the following, will act as resource persons for the working group.

1.	Justice A. Lakshmana Rao,	Former Chief Justice, Allahabad High Court
2.	Sri K. R. Venugopal IAS (Retd.)	Former Secretary to Prime Minister
3.	Sri K. S. Sastry I.A &A.S (Retd.)	Former Chairman, National Housing Bank
4.	Sri K. Vijaya Rama Rao IPS (Retd.)	Former Director, CBI
5.	Sri N. K. Narasimha Rao IAS	Director, SIRD
6.	Dr. M. Sivaiah,	Former Professor, NIRD
7.	Sri K. Satyanarayana,	Former Law Secretary, GoAP

The proposed Terms of Reference (ToR) of the Working Group are as follows.

1. To review the literature and present situation prevailing in local governments and empowerment of stake-holders in all parts of India.
2. To critically review the present state of local governments and empowerment of stake-holders in Andhra Pradesh .
3. To prepare a suggested action plan for promoting genuine local self-governance and empowerment of people in Andhra Pradesh.
4. To prepare a draft legislation for local governments suitable for enactment in Andhra Pradesh.
5. To prepare draft Legislations for empowerment of people as stake-holders in selected areas suitable for enactment in Andhra Pradesh.
6. Identification of distortions and omissions in the constitutional provisions relating to local governance and empowerment of people.

The modalities of functioning will be decided by the working group. It is expected that the Group's functioning will involve, among other things, series of meetings, visits to selected districts of Andhra Pradesh and interaction with elected rural and urban local governments, general public, media, voluntary organizations, social activists, experts and officials.

The Working Group may consider, inter alia, matters relating to constitution of local governments at various levels, elections, election reforms pertaining to local governments, rational application of reservation for elective offices, prudent resources mobilization and management, subjects to be entrusted, transfer of subsidy programmes to local governments / communities, locally accessible justice system, local policing , control over public servants, and institutional checks to prevent abuse of office.


The final report of the Working Group is expected within about four months

All infrastructure and budget support will be provided by Lok Satta.