Turnaround for Bihar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDqj4jlBiZE&feature=player_embedded

Watch the video for and then read:

Bihar has reported the second highest growth after Gujarat in India. As the CM points out it has been a collective success. As we discussed in today's class that government failure leads to fewer co-operations among the village community. The Bihar government rather than talking fancy about SEZs or IT parks, is working at the grassroots level by bolstering the education infrastructure which will lead to off farm employment for the children. The local handicrafts industries which are based on co-operation among the small producers are also being revived due to government and law and order stability.

Don't March Alone, Take The 'Other India' Along In Growth Ride

On Sunday evening "The Economic Times Awards For Corporate Excellence" were given to the top guns of India Inc-people who are at the "top of the pyramid". Here in this award ceremony many ministers were also present. But corporate excellence is not only about turning in huge profit any longer. There are still around 68% population of India living in rural areas and many of them are at the "bottom of the pyramid". So the new mantra should be 'Inclusive Prosperity'.

Don't you think the issue needs a collective and cooperative action from the "top of the pyramid" for those who are at the "bottom of the pyramid"?

NGO intervention in a village

An external agency trying to build cooperation may actually end up eroding the already existing cooperation among people. The village where we went for fieldwork, women had been successfully running a Mangal-Dal to save money to be used for community purposes. As our NGO intervened to build capacity by forming SHGs, it destabilized the existent cooperation because of differential incentives to those who cooperated and those who didn’t cooperate with the NGO, creating a new divide of ‘with’ NGO and ‘against’ NGO people. This is inevitable as any outside intervention is bound to face resistance from some groups of people.

SUSTAINENCE OF A COLLECTIVE ACTION

To start any cooperative action there is a need of few unconditional co-operators and to make it a successful mixed motivation is required. But in long run if the number of unconditional co-operators gets diminished or vanished with an increase in full utilitarians, will this cooperative action remain sustainable is a matter of concern, as unconditional co-operators are hard to found.

Tajnagar-an example of collective action

Villagers of Tajnagar were in news for building a railway station in their village. Their motivation was connectivity. After the railways cited lack of funds; the villagers pooled in Rs 21 lakhs from among themselves. Everyone contributed as everyone stood to gain. With a dedicated gram seva samiti comprising of local people collecting funds for this purpose; it was ensured that everyone contributed according to ability and that no one could free ride. With the rail ways having agreed to halt trains at the station the entire action will now be considered as an example of successful collective action.

Collective Action In Business Market

In a perfectly competitive market where there exists a competition between all the firms there exists no economic profits.The firms can collude and collectively fix the price in the market so that they all can benefit from the higher prices. But this scenario is rarely seen . The firms rarely come together to sell a product .This is attributed to the fact that the firms also aim at selling the maximum to gain maximum. So in the collusion their this interest gets defeated as all the benefits are shared. So again here the self interest comes over the collective action.

What was discussed in the class!

In today's last case , involving the lorry accident, a real life example was given by someone about the looting of coal from trains in Dhanbad. But I picture it differently. While, the lorry's was a one time incident, the coal loot occurred quite often as the train used to pass that region from time to time. So, while the train case is an example of well planned collective action, the lorry incident is a case where a leaderless group exists and people's motivations are triggered by observing others.