Politics of poverty

In view of the practical importance of the political factor in allocating economic resources in democratic countries, the question of how lack of access to the political power deprives of the economic resources holds keys to the problems of why do the poor remain poor and why do several anti-poverty or developmental program mes at work not reach them. Proper understanding of the relationship between the access to the political power and the access to the economic resources at the village and the house hold levels in India acquires added importance in the con text of growing emphasis on micro-level planning in the country and significance of understanding the problems of the weaker Sections at the grass roots level. The present study aims at examining this relationship in the context of Chakrabhavi, 'a development shadow village in the Bangalore district of Karnataka. Based on over two years (1978-80) of intensive field work in the village, the book makes a diagnostic study of the poverty and the political backwardness of the weaker sections in the village. and suggests some policy measures to help them. Since the village was one of those covered under the Village Survey Monograph Series in 1961 census, the study also brings out some of the changes that have occurred in the village.