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Articles by Raghabendra ChattopadhyaySubscribe to Raghabendra Chattopadhyay

The Information Deficit: Use of Media in a Deliberative Democracy

Vol. 46, Issue No. 52, 24 Dec, 2011
Raghabendra Chattopadhyay, Swati Bhattacharjee

This study of more than 40 gram sabha proceedings in West Bengal finds that villagers use information on people's entitlements to challenge local governments. The media is a significant source of information: out of 27 meetings in which villagers speak up, the media is cited in nine. But the "thinness" of information on entitlements in the media makes it easy for gram panchayat members to refute legitimate claims. The information deficit in the public sphere, arising from media apathy and political collusion, translates into inability of the poor to assess local governments. While the role of the media in strengthening the functioning of electoral democracy is acknowledged, media indifference to deliberative democracy limits poor people's capacity to translate immediate demands for goods and services to aspirations for a good life.

Impact of Reservation in Panchayati Raj

Vol. 39, Issue No. 09, 28 Feb, 2004
Esther Duflo, Raghabendra Chattopadhyay

A necessary condition for the efficacy of the reservation policy in panchayati institutions is that elected representatives have independent power and autonomy over and above not only the direct control of the villagers, but also above the control of the bureaucracy, party hierarchies and the local elite. Two important questions that must be asked to establish whether or not reservations make a difference for political outcomes and governance are (a) do panchayat leaders matter at all and (b) do they make decisions that better reflect the interest of their own groups? This paper summarises findings from a research project on local decentralisation conducted in two districts of West Bengal and Rajasthan. The findings establish that reservation introduced as a tool to ensure adequate representation also assists in adequate delivery of local public goods to disadvantaged groups.

An Early British Government Initiative in the Genesis of Indian Planning

Vol. 22, Issue No. 5, 31 Jan, 1987
Raghabendra Chattopadhyay

While the idea of planning emerged as central to Indian nationalist economic thought only after the election of 1937, economic planning was a known concept to Indian thinkers in early twentieth century. Gokhale in 1903 and K T Shah and Visvesvaraya in the early twenties had stressed the importance of economic planning. In the early years of the thirties, people like Visvesvaraya, Mitter, Birla and Sarkar were enthused by the de facto recognition by the British rulers of the Indian demand for a positive role of the state in organising the socioeconomic development of the country This allowed them to formulate blueprints of plans and appeal to the colonial regime to implement them.

Interaction between Merchant Capital and Industrial Capital-A Theoretical Study

Vol. 16, Issue No. 42-43, 17 Oct, 1981
Ajit K Chaudhury, Raghabendra Chattopadhyay

and Industrial Capital A Theoretical Study Ajit K Chaudhury Raghabendra Chattopadhyay This paper develops a model that analyses the interaction between merchant's capital and industrial capital in a transitional society involving different modes of production. The model has been developed in terms of market relations. The object is to examine the circumstances under which market forces tend to hinder the growth of industrial capital in a transitional society. The possible non market forces that can release the forces of production have also been examined.

Trend of Industrialisation in Bengal,

Vol. 16, Issue No. 35, 29 Aug, 1981
Raghabendra Chattopadhyay

Trend of Industrialisation in Bengal,
Raghabendra Chattopadhyay While the Bengal Presidency area follows the same pattern of de-industrialisation as India as a whole, when the Presidency area is disaggregated into its three constituent provinces, the provinces of Bihar and Orissa are seen to have suffered from de-industrialisation during the period studied in this paper and the Province of Bengal stands out as the newly industrialising area, notwithstanding the destruction of traditional industries. Bihar and Orissa, hinterlands in the industrial map of colonial lndia, followed the familiar pattern of de-industrialisation and their rate of deceleration was so high as to more than offset the industrialisation of Bengal province.

De-industrialisation in India Reconsidered

Vol. 10, Issue No. 12, 22 Mar, 1975
Raghabendra Chattopadhyay

De-industrialisation in India Reconsidered Raghabendra Chattopadhyay This article discusses the findings of Daniel Thorner and J krishnamurthy on the question of de-industrialisation in India during the early year of this century. The author also attempts an alter native measurement of changes in industrial employment and argues that the process of de-industrialisa tion continued right upto 1931.

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