Seeing the State: Governance and Governmentality in India (Contemporary South Asia, Series Number 10)

Poor people confront the state on an everyday basis all over the world. But how do they see the state, and how are these engagements conducted? This book considers the Indian case where people's accounts, in particular in the countryside, are shaped by a series of encounters that are staged at the local level, and which are also informed by ideas that are circulated by the government and the broader development community. Drawing extensively on fieldwork conducted in eastern India and their broad range of expertise, the authors review a series of key debates in development studies on participation, good governance, and the structuring of political society. They do so with particular reference to the Employment Assurance Scheme and primary education provision. Seeing the State engages with the work of James Scott, James Ferguson and Partha Chatterjee, and offers a new interpretation of the formation of citizenship in South Asia. Cover......Page 1 Half-title......Page 3 Series-title......Page 4 Title......Page 5 Copyright......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Boxes, figures and tables......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 11 Glossary......Page 14 Abbreviations......Page 16 Introduction......Page 19 Technologies of rule, sightings of the state......Page 23 The organization of the book......Page 27 Part I The state and the poor......Page 31 Introduction......Page 33 Differently poor, differently sighted......Page 38 When, why and who?......Page 39 How and where?......Page 48 State and society: embeddedness, scarcity and territoriality......Page 51 Mending the state? Views from outside......Page 57 Exit, Voice and Loyalty......Page 58 Accountability, participation and decentralization......Page 60 Conclusion......Page 63 Introduction......Page 65 From charity to capabilities......Page 69 Provider, protector and promoter......Page 72 Economy, demography, poverty......Page 76 Garibi Hatao......Page 82 Democratizing poverty......Page 89 Empowering the poor......Page 95 Conclusion......Page 100 Part II The everyday state and society......Page 103 Introduction......Page 105 Experiencing poverty: livelihoods, inequality and social networks......Page 108 Income poverty and livelihoods......Page 111 Education and capabilities......Page 114 The non-state social networks of the poor......Page 120 Seeing the state from the villages......Page 126 Geographies of the state......Page 127 Challenging the Mukhiya in Murhu......Page 132 The politicized poor in Sahar......Page 134 The power of the panchayats in Debra......Page 135 Conclusions......Page 137 Introduction......Page 139 Pathways to participation......Page 141 Rates of participation......Page 144 The Employment Assurance Scheme......Page 145 Participatory school management......Page 146 Information circulation......Page 149 Managing projects and project management......Page 152 Costs and benefits......Page 158 The tyranny of participation?......Page 164 Introduction......Page 169 Good governance......Page 171 Good governance in India......Page 175 Embedded officials and the Employment Assurance Scheme......Page 176 Counting on development? Politicians and the rural poor......Page 186 Educating the state......Page 194 The politics of good and bad governance......Page 201 Introduction......Page 206 The constitution of political society: fixers and leaders......Page 210 Engaging the state: networks of power......Page 217 The price of rule......Page 224 Midnapore: politics as development......Page 225 Vaishali: caste politics and political competition......Page 228 Conclusion......Page 231 Part III The poor and the state......Page 235 Introduction......Page 237 Information circulation and the question of accountability......Page 239 Decentralization: getting closer to the state?......Page 243 Madhya Pradesh......Page 244 Kerala......Page 246 'I am the state'......Page 249 Combating the state......Page 255 Damaging the (urban) state......Page 258 Reforming the state......Page 261 Conclusion......Page 264 Post-colonialism and political society......Page 268 Development studies and civil society......Page 273 Spaces of empowerment......Page 280 9 Postscript: development ethics and the ethics of critique......Page 283 Rural self-employment programmes......Page 293 Rural wage employment programmes......Page 294 II Special Area programmes......Page 296 Education......Page 297 Housing and sanitation......Page 298 V Subsidies......Page 299 Appendix 2 The 1999 general election in Hajipur......Page 301 The election looms......Page 302 Big men (and women) and local politics......Page 303 Campaigns, rhetoric, transport......Page 305 Issues for the villagers......Page 307 Election day......Page 308 References......Page 310 Index......Page 332 Poor people confront the state on an everyday basis all over the world. But how do they see the state? This book considers the Indian example where people's accounts, in particular in the countryside, are shaped by encounters staged at the local level, and are also informed by ideas circulated by the government and the broader development community. Drawing extensively on fieldwork conducted in eastern India, the authors review a series of key debates in development studies on participation, good governance, and the structuring of political society in South Asia. How do poor people in India understand and make use of the state in their daily lives? The authors consider key debates in development studies on participation and good governance to answer these questions. They study the extent to which poorer people can engage the political process as citizens Poor people confront the state on an everyday basis throughout the world, but how do they view the state? This book considers the Indian case where people's accounts, particularly rural ones, are shaped by a series of encounters shaped at the local level