Excerpt:
"Democratic decentralisation is the process of devolving the functions and resources of the
state from the centre to the elected representatives at the lower levels so as to facilitate greater
direct participation by the citizens in governance. The basic principle governing the devolution of
functions and resources should be that of subsidiarity: what can be done best at a particular level
should be done at that level and not at higher levels. All that can optimally done at the lowest
level should be reserved to that level. Only the residual should be passed to the higher levels."