Finding a common model for grassroots economic and environmental development: A study of two villages from West Bengal, India

This dissertation has two emphases: first, to investigate the factors that restrict the success of India's grassroots development programs and second, to find ways by which India could improve these programs.; In the 1980s, the Government of India introduced a highly publicized grassroots development program named Integrated Rural Development Program, or IRDP. IRDP had an objective of direct financial intervention among the poor to make them producers of goods and services in the market economy. The program aimed to bring nearly seventy-five million people above the poverty line. Initially, the government was highly optimistic about the success of the program, and spent a large amount of money for it. After a few years, the government openly acknowledged that IRDP had failed to provide the expected benefits to the poor.; Since 1970s, the Indian Government has also been engaged in another highly publicized development program, the Social Forestry Program. The objective of this program was to reverse an ongoing process of massive deforestation in the nation, and to provide the poor with various forest products that are necessary to maintain their subsistence. By the mid 1980s, there were conflicting reports regarding the achievements of this program.; Grassroots development programs often fail because the planners lack key information about rural life. During formulation of these programs, the planners are guided by their preconceived notions about the socio-economic life of the poor. Often these preconceptions are vague and contradictory.; Another factor that prevents grassroots development is the overwhelming faith of the planners that only a market oriented economy is capable of reducing poverty. Often planners ignore the fact that producing something for the poor's subsistence could also effectively curb poverty. If restored properly the subsistence economy is capable of reducing the chronic malnutrition of the poor.; The goal of economic development for the poor and the goal of ecological development for the poor's habitat cannot be separated. Those two goals are not only related, but also complementary; achieving one benefits the other.