ABSTRACT
The Bhagidari scheme, defining itself as ‘a partnership between citizens and government’ represents in several respects an innovation in the history of participation in India. The scheme is now nine years old. The scheme mainly relies on neighbourhood associations, the resident welfare associations (RWAs). RWAs have existed in Delhi since the 1950s. They are linked to the process of occupation of the plots sold and/or built by the Delhi Development Authority — an agency of the central government created in 1957 to prepare and implement the Master Plan in the capital. The method of the Bhagidari scheme essentially consists of regularly organising thematic workshops, through which representatives of RWAs and representatives of the various administrations dealing with urban services can meet and debate. A reconstruction of the history of the conception and implementation of the Bhagidari scheme, on the basis of interviews with the main concerned actors, highlights a dynamic which in many ways is typical of management reforms.
