Is the Stage set for Mainstreaming International Trade into National Development Strategy of India? Results of the field survey in West Bengal

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Is the Stage set for Mainstreaming International
Trade into National Development Strategy of
India?Results of the field survey in West
Bengal
Presentation by (25 years of Social Change)
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Major Findings of the study

• Panchayats are still male dominated
• High incidence of illiteracy in rural West Bengal
• Access to state regulated mandis, cold storage
  facilities and large farmers cooperatives in
  West Bengal have been identified as the important
  impediments in farmers receiving the right price
  for their produce.
• The respondents lack awareness about the size and
  contours of various government support
  programmes.

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• Major Findings of the study.(contd.)
• Local money lenders and traders form the most
  important source of funding to the small-scale
  agriculturists
• In the case of highly competitive political
  environment that exist in West Bengal, the
  stakeholders view contact with panchayat members
  as a primary condition for ensuring access to
  government funds or influencing the bureaucracy,
  as the case may be.
• Because of the operation of pressure groups with
  vested interests at local level and poor quality
  of information available to the target population
  a vicious circle exist that results in rendering
  the developmental programmes ineffective and
  corrupt.
• A majority of respondents from West Bengal did
  not perceive that government support will be
  forthcoming at the time of a crisis.

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GRAM SABHA
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AWARENESS ABOUT GRAM SABHA

• In Purulia and Malda most of the small farmers
  and agricultural labourers did not know about
  Gram Sabha.
• Specific requests relating to agriculture were
  few in the Gram Sabhas.
• There is considerable lack of understanding about
  the working of Grama Sabha or its utility.
• The Gram Sabhas could not be responsive to local
  needs due to pre - determined budgetary
  allocation, even though conceptually it is the
  corner stone of participatory governance and
  planning.

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AWARENESS ABOUT GRAM SABHA..(contd.)

• Only a few voters who are loyal and active
  members of the local ruling party attended the
  Gram Sabha meetings.
• Resolutions from such meetings are neither
  documented nor circulated properly.
• In one of the villages, out of 25 households
  questioned only about three people were aware
  that such meetings actually took place though on
  record the Gram Sabha meetings attendance crossed
  100.

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AWARENESS ABOUT GRAM SABHA..(contd.)

• There was considerable lack of awareness on the
  availability of funds at the local level. Almost
  half of the total respondents did not know about
  the available funds at the Gram Panchayat level
• Most of the stakeholder who were aware about the
  funds available to the Gram Panchayat were of the
  opinion that the funds are insufficient to meet
  the growing demands of the people and
  developmental activities even though they opine
  that there is high incidence of corruption.

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NREGS as an important Safety Net
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The Positives

• This scheme is one of the most visible and
  arguably the most successful development
  programmes being implemented at present.
• The achievements of the scheme, especially in
  terms of ushering in transparency unseen in
  previous schemes, is commendable.
• One possible reason for its relative success is
  that the scheme is demand-driven from the users
  point-of-view, and not supply-driven as in the
  case of the most other government support schemes.

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The Positives....(contd.)

• To some extent this scheme has been able in
  generating increased employment opportunities for
  the rural population
• Since introduction of the NREGS scheme local
  agricultural wages have gone up
• Strategies aimed at increasing the purchasing
  power of the stakeholders of the rural areas may
  yield higher participation and success

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Major Roadblocks to Effective Implementation of
NREGS

• Often discretion is applied while distributing
  job cards. Such discretion often depend on socio
  economic and political factors.
• A sizeable number of stakeholders pointed out
  that they did not receive the stipulated wage as
  well.
• A large percentage of the respondents seemed to
  be completely unaware about their rights to
  demand compensation in case the Panchayat fails
  to provide employment within fifteen days of
  submission of application.
• Lack of technical expertise to identify and
  design projects to be undertaken under the scheme.

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Overall Perception about the Peoples
Representatives
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Overall Perception about the Peoples
Representatives

• Peoples representatives at the local were by and
  large termed as corrupt and inefficient except in
  few cases, even though respondents themselves
  could not answer why the same set of people were
  re-elected.
• At the local level many of the peoples
  representatives were not sure about their roles
  and responsibilities as an elected member.
• The inadequate capacities of the peoples
  representatives in understanding and executing
  complex government programmes resulted in
  inefficient delivery of various developmental
  schemes.
• Respondents especially in the backward villages
  pointed out that MPs and MLAs visit the area only
  before the elections.
• MLAs coming from the backward districts often do
  not get chance to put forward their views in the
  Legislative Assemblies.

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Observation and Conclusion
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Observation and Conclusion

• Government officials and peoples representatives
  at the local level either act hand in hand or are
  in confrontational mode. Theoretically, these two
  components should act in unison to achieve the
  development goals.
• Womens participation in the Panchayati Raj
  System has been very limited.
• Awareness among people belonging to the SC and ST
  communities about their rights and government
  support programmes was very low.
• The asymmetric information problem coupled with
  multiple layers of leakage of government funds
  ensure that government support almost certainly
  fail to reach its target.

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Advocacy Points
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Advocacy Points

• At the national level, there is a pressing need
  to strengthen the capacities of the Central
  Government in mainstreaming the local inputs on
  concerns related to livelihood and development in
  policy making.
• Use of Social Accountability Tools should be made
  mandatory to judge the quality of service
  provided at the grassroot.
• Development Decisions should be made free from
  Political Biases.

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Advocacy Points

• Raising awareness at the local level on the
  rights and privileges of the various stakeholders
  under the Panchayat Raj System
• Reduce transaction costs and ensure faster
  execution of development decisions.

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THANK YOU