Role of Elites and Citizens in Rural Development of India
Role of Elites and Citizens in Rural Development of India

Author: Sharada Rath

Publisher: M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd.

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 9788185880181

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The chief concern of this book is the role of elites and citizens as prime movers of rural development in india. Elites encompass social elites, political elites and goverment field officials in rural areas.

Power, Protest and Participation
Power, Protest and Participation

Author: Subrata K. Mitra

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-09-05

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1000424448

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This book, first published in 1992, examines the attitudes of local elites – the hinge between Indian state and rural society – towards protest and participation in development, illuminating arguments about the nature of the state as well as the development process. It looks at the role of local elites in India both as the representatives of the state and of the rest of rural society, and explains their importance in the country’s development. The book deals with the elites’ contribution to the credibility of the state and examines the strategies through which they manipulate the allocation of resources and influence the pace and direction of social change. It contrasts the rural elites in two areas, one more economically advanced than the other. The elites in the first area were shown to be capable of combining institutional participation with radical protest, whilst in the other they tended to rely on state channels to achieve reform. The author concludes that despite the different settings, both groups were informed, active and responsive to political conditions. This contrasts with the conventional view that local elites of the dominant castes oppress the lower ones by obstructing reforms, for reasons of self-interest.

Democracy of the Oppressed
Democracy of the Oppressed

Author: Ramdas Rupavath

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2020-04-06

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 1527549178

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The book revisits the concepts of “the new politics of welfare” and “Adivasi and Indigenous livelihoods”, situating the existing body of knowledge of these subjects within the context of state policy and the socio-cultural developments witnessed in India after independence, specifically the impact of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) in the Adivasi/ Indigenous areas. Since India’s independence, the major challenge before the State has been how to provide employment to the vast amount of unskilled labour in rural areas. In order to examine the functioning of institutions under MGNREGA in a tribal community of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, this book assesses the act’s impact on, and drawbacks regarding, the socio-economic condition of the Indigenous people, evaluating the constraints faced by the functionaries in implementing the scheme. Its findings point out the inefficiency and rampant corruption involved in the implementation of the MGNREGA over the years. The book will serve to contribute to raising awareness on the part of the targeted groups and, above all, to showing officials the importance of transparency and responsible governance for the effective implementation of this scheme. India needs to develop its own pro-active measures to cultivate a democracy of the oppressed, in order to combat the current tyranny of the majority which prevails in the country. Its findings also provide new data showing that large-scale MGNREGA policy represents an important tool of mitigating violent conflict in India.

Oral Democracy
Oral Democracy

Author: Paromita Sanyal

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 1107019745

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Studies citizens' deliberation on governance and development in Indian democracy, and the influence of state policy and literacy, analysing three hundred village assemblies. This title is also available as Open Access.

Elite Pluralism and Class Rule
Elite Pluralism and Class Rule

Author: Jayant Lele

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 1981-12-15

Total Pages: 427

ISBN-13: 1487586574

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Based on a study of recent political behaviour in a rural region of India, the author presents a critique of pluralist theories of democracy and advances a new approach to political sociology. Professor Lele insists that the politicians of Maharashtra sustain, however dispersed, a hegemonic class rule. The processes of development and modernization directly serve strategies of private gain through the public sphere; the elites continue to enclose the public sphere while propagating the myth of open competition. Case studies of local, state, and national politicans illustrate this behaviour and show how competition between powerful alliances is effectively moderated. The concluding section proposes a new comparative approach to political sociology. It demonstrates the inherent contradiction between domination and community, and argues for a historical analysis of the rise and fall of classes and ideologies. Professor Lele challenges the emphasis on modernization and instrumentality in contemporary social science, and suggests that the insights of Marx and Weber can lead to a more previse and universal framework for the study of societies.