As the acclaimed People’s Plan Campaign in Kerala turns 30 years, a year-long action plan is being launched to attract the younger generation to decentralisation and people’s planning through initiatives such as student internships with local bodies for taking the campaign into the coming decades.

Former Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, who was in charge of the People’s Plan Campaign when he was a member of the State Planning Board, explained the action plan at a daylong conclave of People’s Plan campaign activists held in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday (August 16, 2026) to mark the 30th anniversary. A non-governmental initiative led by experts, the People’s Plan Campaign 2.0 will be steered by high-power committee formed on Sunday with Dr. Isaac as chairman. Former Local Self-Government Institutions (LSGI) Minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty is the patron of the panel and all LSGI Ministers after the launch of the campaign in 1996 are co-patrons.

The internships are planned as a major component of the People’s Plan Campaign 2.0. College students will be encouraged to do internships in their subjects of study with LSGIs, he said. Dr. Isaac said the internships are planned as an extensive programme to link the new generation to Kerala’s local bodies.

Tech-driven

Over time, it would build youth collectives that support the LSG institutions. But unlike in the past when the campaign banked on multi-level training programmes, People’s Planning 2.0 will be tech-driven. At the core of the action plan will be a comprehensive website on the process which was launched on Sunday. The student internship programme also will be coordinated via this website which will be managed from the A. Suhruth Kumar Library at the Grameena Patana Kendram in Karakulam panchayat.

“In EMS’s words, decentralisation and the people’s plan campaign were the most crucial reforms Kerala witnessed after the land reforms,” Dr. Isaac said.

Local Self-Governments Minister K.M. Shaji inaugurated the conclave which featured panel discussions on a range of topics related to the future of the People’s Plan. The themes included employment and regional development, climate change and disaster management, secularism, gender justice, waste disposal and local governance of the marginalised.

The People’s Plan Campaign, which played a critical role in the decentralisation process, was inaugurated in Kerala on August 17, 1996. “In the case of Kerala, democratic decentralisation has been part of a larger struggle for self-reliance and an attempt to meet some of the most keenly felt needs of the people through mass participation,” notes the preface to the book ‘People’s Planning,’ which Dr. Isaac co-authored with Richard Franke, Professor Emeritus at Montclair State University, US.

On Sunday, Mr. Shaji launched the pre-publication sale of a three-volume history of the campaign. Transport Minister C.P. John launched the website on people’s planning. CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan launched a webinar series.

Published - August 16, 2026 08:09 pm IST