Collusion,Co-option and Capture: Social Accountability and Social Audits in Karnataka,India |
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Authors: | Salim Lakha Durgam Rajasekhar Ramachandra Manjula |
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Affiliation: | Institute for Social and Economic Change, Centre for Decentralisation and Development, Salim Lakha (corresponding author), Parkville, Victoria, Australia. Email salim@unimelb.edu.au. Durgam Rajasekhar, Nagarbhavi, Bangalore560072, Karnataka, India. Email raja@isec.ac.in. Ramachandra Manjula, Nagarbhavi, Bangalore560072, Karnataka, India. Email manjula@isec.ac.in |
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Abstract: | The concept of accountability has generated extensive discussion in studies of international development, linking it with good governance, democratisation, participatory development and empowerment. India's national rural employment guarantee scheme, which aims to improve the rural infrastructure and reduce poverty by providing wage work to the rural poor, involves mandatory social audit by the beneficiaries of the scheme, in order to ensure accountability of those implementing the scheme. In this paper, we examine the social audit process in a district in the state of Karnataka to ascertain the role played by the beneficiaries in achieving such accountability. We find that Vigilance and Monitoring Committees, entrusted to spearhead the social audit process in villages, consist mainly of males and cultivators, some of whom are large landowners. We also find that social audits are dominated by the local elite who stifle “voices” from below. |
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