Social Accountability and Beneficiary Participation: Rural Local Self-governing Institutions (LSGIs) in Barpeta District, Assam A thesis submitted to the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Pankaj Kumar Kalita Registration No.: 126141015 Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Guwahati, Assam, India – 781039 January, 2020 TH-2476_126141015 Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Guwahati, Assam, India – 781039 Declaration I hereby declare that the thesis, entitled “Social Accountability and Beneficiary Participation: Rural Local Self-governing Institutions (LSGIs) in Barpeta District, Assam”, is the result of investigation carried out by me in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG), India, under the supervision of Dr. Pahi Saikia, Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG), India. The thesis, or any part of this, has not been previously submitted for any other degree. This is my original work. In keeping with the general practice of reporting observations, due acknowledgements have been made, wherever the work is based on the findings of other investigators. January, 2020 Pankaj Kumar Kalita IIT Guwahati PhD Research Scholar (Political Science) Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India i TH-2476_126141015 Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Guwahati, Assam, India – 781039 Certificate This is to certify that the thesis, entitled “Social Accountability and Beneficiary Participation: Rural Local Self-governing Institutions (LSGIs) in Barpeta District, Assam”, submitted by Mr Pankaj Kumar Kalita for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India, embodies research work carried out under my supervision and guidance. The present thesis, or any part of it, has not been submitted to any other university or institute for award of any degree or diploma. He has fulfilled all the requirements according to the rules of the institute for submission of thesis. January, 2020 Dr. Pahi Saikia IIT Guwahati (PhD Supervisor) Associate Professor (Political Science) Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India ii TH-2476_126141015 Acknowledgement During the various stages of writing this thesis, different contribution and help extended by a large number of people made me indebted to them. I acknowledge the contribution I received enabling me to complete the work. First and foremost, I express my deep sense of gratitude to my PhD supervisor, Dr. Pahi Saikia, Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG). She deserves lion share of my sincere gratitude for her invaluable advice, outstanding support, constant encouragement, constructive criticism, immense patience and time. I am grateful to her for enriching my research skills and developing innovative ideas. I feel really privileged having her my PhD supervisor. I know no amount of gratitude is sufficient to thank my honourable supervisor. Immense amount of my sincere gratitude goes to my PhD Doctoral Committee (DC), comprising Prof. Saundarya Barbora, Dr. Dilwar Hussain, and Dr. Bodhisattva Sengupta for providing me needed inputs, academic comments, and encouragement. During my field work, I was helped by a large number of people across my study areas to pick up the gems from the ocean of information. Enlisting their names is space-consuming. So, I express my heartfelt gratitude to all of them. Providing constant support, my family (extended) members make me sincerely grateful to them. I acknowledge contribution of my parents; Uncles Dashrath Kalita, Birendra Nath Das, Dhairya Kanta Kalita, and Surath Ch. Kalita, Pravat Pathak, Bhabananda Kalita, Naren Kalita; Aunts Labanya Kalita, Narmada Pathak, Gita Kalita, Pranita Das, and Niru Kalita; and brothers and sisters (in-laws included) including Hiranya, Jinti, Chandana, Abhimanya, Niva, Phulen, Dhanmoni, Champak, Kabita, Bimal, Manjit, Nikhil, Niren, Phuljit, Sumi, Hirak and Mrinmoy (Mirin), who trust me and teach me to work hard. My brother Hiranya, who specializes in home management and carries high social sensitivity, is always outstanding with his encouragement and support extended to me. 90+ years old maternal grandmother (Daiboki Kalita) is still young to bless and encourage me, making me thankful to her. I must thank some of my well-wishers including Prof. Bipul Bhuyan, Dr. Bipul Das, Sumi Kalita, Kulen Ch. Das, Runumi Das, Dr. Jogendra Mohan Baro, Dr. Ranjit Deka, Smriti Kona Das Boro, Anil Das, Dr. Ashok Talukdar and Pabitra Kalita for their encouragement. iii TH-2476_126141015 Prativa deserves all-time thanks for always being supportive with a high value of confidence on me. True friends always curve a living ocean of knowledge and inspiration. This is true when I have friends like Arfan, Sourav, Madhurya, Aniruddha, Bhasker, Konkumoni, Jimmy, Bhaswati, Sujan, Harish, Pranti, Tapash (N), Rajashree, Mohan, Muktajur, Mrinal Daa, Halim, Uddipana, Barsha, Rose, Bidisha, Pallavi, Jayashree, Sunu, Momi, Chandana, Upen Aata, Kailash Aata, Jiten Aata, Florian Kreitmair, Chayanika, Shanghamitra, Prarthana, Shubhalikha and Anil. I sincerely offer my special gratitude to all of them. iv TH-2476_126141015 Content Page No. Declaration i Certificate ii Acknowledgement iii Abstract viii List of Tables x List of Figures xii List of Maps xiii List of Appendix xiv Abbreviations xv Chapter 1: Introduction 1-21 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Research questions and objectives of the study 2 1.3 Rationale of the study and case selection 3 1.4 Argument of the study 4 1.5 Understanding key concepts 6 1.5.1 Beneficiary Participation 6 1.5.2 Local Self-governing Institutions (LSGIs) 7 1.5.3 Social accountability mechanisms 8 1.6 Methodology and research design 8 1.6.1 Maintaining ethical standards 11 1.6.2 Documentary evidence and data analysis 11 1.6.3 Note on fieldwork 12 1.6.4 Sampling techniques and data collection techniques 14 1.7 Profile of the study areas and the respondents: Barpeta district 15 1.7.1 Demographic features of the district of Barpeta 16 1.7.2 Religion-wise population distribution of Barpeta district 17 v TH-2476_126141015 1.7.3 Workers and Non-workers in the district of Barpeta 17 1.7.4 Category of workers (Main and Marginal) in the district of Barpeta 18 1.7.5 Brief profile of the selected villages 19 1.8 Chapter layout of the thesis 20 Chapter 2: Theorizing participation and social accountability 22-55 mechanisms in local self-governing institutions 2.1. Introduction 22 2.2. Introducing the government-funded rural development schemes 23 2.2.1 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, 2005 23 2.2.2 Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) 24 2.3 Conceptualizing participation and participatory governance 25 2.4 Patronage politics and its effects on beneficiary participation in local self- 29 governing institutions 2.5 Social conditions, cultural norms and the effects on beneficiary 41 participation in local self-governing institutions 2.5.1 Social conditions and participation 41 2.5.2 Socio-cultural norms and participation 45 2.6 Assumptions of the study 52 2.7 Summary of the chapter 52 Chapter 3: Historical background of beneficiary participation and local 56-86 self-governing institutions with special reference to Assam 3.1. Introduction 56 3.2. Origin of local self-governing institutions in India 56 3.2.1 Traces of village institutions in the pre-colonial and colonial period 56 3.2.2 Local self-governing institutions in post-colonial India 59 3.2.2 a. Community development and various reforms (1947-1990) 59 3.2.2 b. 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India (1990 to 2000s) 62 3.3 History of Local Self-governing Institutions in Assam 64 3.4. Beneficiary participation in local self-governing institutions in India: 66 vi TH-2476_126141015 Drawing lessons from other states in India 3.4.1. Social accountability mechanisms identified by UNDP, CAG and NIRD 66 3.4.2 Social accountability mechanisms applied in India 69 3.4.2 (a) Experiences of social audit in Rajasthan 72 3.4.2 (b). Experiences of social audit in Andhra Pradesh 75 3.4.2 (c). Experiences of social audit in Assam 77 3.5. Summary of the chapter 84 Chapter 4: Understanding social accountability and beneficiary 87-132 participation: Local self-governing institutions in rural areas of Barpeta district, Assam 4.1 Introduction 87 4.2 Social conditions of Assam and Barpeta district 88 4.3 Assessing beneficiary participation in social accountability mechanisms in 98 local self-governing institutions in the district of Barpeta 4.4 Patronage politics and beneficiary participation in social accountability 102 mechanisms in local self-governing institutions: Results and discussion on fieldwork data collected from Barpeta district 4.5 Social conditions and cultural norms: Effect on beneficiary participation 120 in social accountability mechanisms in local self-governing institutions in Barpeta 4.6 Summary of the chapter 129 Chapter 5: Summary and conclusion 133-148 5.1. Introduction 133 5.2. Summary of the chapters 134 5.3 Implications of the study 145 5.4 Limitations