Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewHow do you get cash payments for labor to the rural poor in the world's largest anti-poverty program? From the commanding heights of the bureaucracy to the front-lines of the village, from sophisticated software to grass roots social audits, Patching Development brilliantly shows us how the National Rural Employment Guarantee program in India has confronted the infamous problems of the last mile. The challenges and conflicts of implementing public policies to fight poverty have never been illuminated in such detail and with such analytic power. * Patrick Heller, Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs, Brown University *
Brilliant! In Patching Development, Veeraraghavan offers an innovative solution to bureaucratic hierarchy that is unable to respond to clients as it faces off against local power structures. * Michael Burawoy, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley *
Peppered with exhilarating stories from in-depth research among tribal communities, village councils, social activists, and state officials, Patching Development illuminates a rare case where a combination of political will and digital technology enables democratically accountable socio-economic transformation. * Kentaro Toyama, W.K. Kellogg Professor of Community Information, University of Michigan *
Veeraraghavan provides an excellent sectional analysis of social audit as patching—a mechanism to check misuse of money and authority in MGNREGA, a massive Indian public works programme. An important addition to systemic research on poverty and unemployment, Patching Development enriches the discussion on the challenges and potential of this emergent process. * Aruna Roy, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan *
Development theory needs fresh thinking to move forward. Patching Development answers the call. The multilevel contestation of public officials, local politicians, and social movements is dissected together with the possibilities and limits of information technology to create a synthetic, original vision of how the needs of the poor might be better served. * Peter Evans, Professor of Sociology Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Map Abbreviations Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. The Genesis of Rights-Based Governance Chapter 3. Patching Technologies of Control Chapter 4. Patching Institutions Chapter 5. Public Meetings at the Last Mile Chapter 6. Reading and Writing the State Records Chapter 7. Caste, Class, and Audits Chapter 8. Conclusion: Patching the Power at the Last Mile Appendix 1. Methodology: Using Ethnography to Study Political Economy of Information Appendix 2. Explanatory Note on Comparing NREGA Performance across States
