Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Development At Extreme Close Up -Sunil Bahri

Development At Extreme Close Up -Sunil Bahri

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Oct 15, 2017   modified Modified on Oct 15, 2017
-Outlook

Jholawala Dreze’s ‘research for action’ gets close to the people at the end of public policy. These essays urge greater collaboration between activists and economists.

SENSE AND SOLIDARITY: JHOLAWALA ECONOMICS FOR EVERYONEBY JEAN DREZE PERMANENT BLACK | PAGES: 354 | RS. 795

Manmohan Singh attracted much lampooning and ridicule during and after his ten-year-long tenure as PM for the nature of the relationship of his government with 10, Janpath. One of the institutional mechanisms for exercising influence over his government was the National Advisory Council (NAC) chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. NAC was unique in bringing together diverse stakeholders, including renowned grassro­ots activists who were perceived as anti-est­ablishment. NAC became a skylight for new perspectives and a catalyst for changing the way social policy was formulated. The most visible and far-reaching changes were the series of laws instituting rights to information, employment, education, food etc. Soc­ial activists or jholawalas had been pitching for these ideas for quite sometime. NAC enabled them an unprecedented influence over policy making.

A collection of essays written by Jean Dreze between 2000 and 2017, with the sub-title ‘jholawala economics for everyone’, assumes significance in this context. He was a member of NAC in both its avatars. He is as sincere a grassroots man you can get (and reportedly lives in a jhuggi) and is rated the best development economist by Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton.

In this era of evidence-based economics and big data analytics, Jean’s protracted effort establishes the value of personal experience and engaging with the inte­n­ded beneficiaries of poverty alleviation schemes. While all research entails eliciting information from them, Jean’s ‘resea­rch for action’ does not reduce it to sta­­tistical aggregates. His experiences have lives of people who have names and faces and they describe not only failures of public policy but also successes and best practices. At no point does he seek to replace evidence-based statistical research.

The book covers a whole range of development issues, namely drought and hunger, poverty, school meals, healthcare, child development and elementary education, employment guarantee and food sec­u­rity and PDS. Then there are chapters on corporate power and technology (a critique of the intrusive way Aadhaar is being used). Each chapter is enriched with a head note to link the essays. The themes are themselves indicative of the incisiveness of Jean’s engagement. This space, abandoned by most economists, has been taken up by government agencies, NGOs or social activists. It has been deprived of serious research on the one hand and faulted for manipulation on the other. Dreze’s work fills this major void.

Please click here to read more.
 

Outlook, 23 October, 2017, https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/development-at-extreme-close-up/299435


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close