Participatory development
- New Delhi Sage Pub. 1990
- 163 p.
When conventional methods of development fail to yield any sizable results, as they have in India, there is need to critically re-examine the socio-economic institutions that link resources, people and the government. In the context of planned development, conven tional wisdom generally advocates the intro duction of the government as an alternative to the people in the process of making and implementing decisions. While formulating policy and taking action on matters such as resources, financial management and pricing are well within the realm of the government, its role in bringing about sustainable develop ment at the grass-roots level is becoming increasingly doubtful.
This book examines people's participation as an alternative institution to market forces and the government for the management of common property resources, namely, land, water and forests. Based on primary data gathered from five villages located in the lower Shivalik ranges, this study provides evi dence that people's societies can be meaning fully utilised in the management of land, forest and water resources.
Given the acknowledged failure of conven tional rural development programmes, the authors provide an alternative rural develop ment strategy that is based on the creation of community assets like irrigation tanks and common land. They argue that people's par ticipation in the management of common property resources can, in fact, increase the productivity of privately owned assets like agricultural holdings and milch cattle. In this manner, the links between privately and com monly held assets can be strengthened.
Finally, the study provides analytical mod els, based on Nash-two person cooperative games, for the optimal sharing of the manage ment of resources between governmental agencies and people's organisations. These models illustrate that there are income as also social gains that accrue to both the govern ment and to village societies from the type of participatory development suggested by the authors.
This book will be widely welcomed by economists, sociologists, environmental plan ners, agricultural and soil scientists, and all those engaged in rural development.