C. R. de Silva points out that there are four methods of distributing authority in a unitary state. It must be noted that this is quite different to the current selling of national assets which the present government is charged with. In privatisation, the state usually reserves the right and the legal ability to revoke any such transfer of responsibility. Delegation where powers are transferred to a statutory body or corporation, which thereafter comes under the control of the central government. Deconcentration where certain government functions are handed over to field officers in the regions.
Control still rests at the centre.
This is in operation in Sri Lanka, where a number of government departments have set up 'decentralised' offices in the districts. Devolution 'devolution' differs qualitatively from the three mechanisms described above. Devolution is the creation and strengthening, both legally and financially, of regional and local political bodies whose activities within a demarcated sphere are thereafter, largely outside the control of the central government. To put it bluntly, once political powers are devolved on a region in Sri Lanka, it will not be possible to take them back. The arguments in favour of privatization and delegation relate largely to the relative inefficiency and rigidity of the bureaucracy in comparison to that of voluntary organisations.