Discussion : SHG

SHG and their relationship with Development Administration.

What are SHGs?

SHGs are small voluntary associations of people, preferably from the same socio-economic background who come together for the purpose of solving their common problems through self-help and mutual help.

Why did the need for SHG arise?

1. Earlier West imposed development models followed Rostow's theory of development which talked about linear stages of economic growth for development.

2. According to it, a country will need economic engineering (SHG is about social engineering) and proper mixture of aid, saving, investment.

3. Under this approach, large scale development projects were undertaken and many certralized schemes were launched for welfare of people. They followed top down model with one-way communication, from top to bottom.

4. People were not provided choice to select their development agenda. They were imposed schemes from above.

5. As a result these schemes/project did not receive the support of people as envisaged. Moreover this model caused more harm than good and made people worse off in developing countries in the form of
-> Poverty, growing national debt, greater disparity in the income of rich and poor.
-> Economic stagnation.
-> Marginalisation of significant section of society.
-> Political repression.


Difference in the SHG approach

More participative - People are allowed to choose the activity and make progress at their own pace.

Widespread reach - Traditional financial institutions did not have universal reach. Hence local moneylenders were the primary source of credit resulted in exploitation and high level of indebtedness. SHGs facilitated the smooth flow of credit to people. 

Innovative - SHGs devised innovative strategies to function efficiently and keeping in needs the local conditions. No centralised model was imposed from above.

This movement does not focus on just provision of credit, instead it focuses on management of savings and credit.

[I think some more points can be added here. Please add them and post them too here]


Evolution of SHG in India :

1. SHG in India were started in 1985 by MYRADA (Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency).

2. In 1992, NABARD started promoting SHGs on a large scale though SHG-Bank Linkage Program.

3. Since then, the number and reach of SHGs increased considerably.

4. In 2001, Government formed National Policy for Empowerment of Women (NPEW) aimed at economic empowerment of women by enhancing supply of credit to women through SHGs.

Objectives of SHGs :

1. Inculcate the habit of saving and financial management among rural women.

2. Build up trust and confidence between rural women and the bankers.

3. To develop group activity so that various welfare programs can be implemented in a better way with the participation of these women groups.


1. Wilson's filtering through the cultural lens : The western model also placed emphasis on providing credit to people so that they can develop. But in case of west, the institutionalised credit disbursal system (okay, read banks) had universal reach. In case of India, many areas were unbanked and add to that menace of moneylenders. Hence, a decentralised and non-institutional system emerged in form of SHGs.

2. Warren Bennis "End of Bureaurcracy" : He predicted about new social structures which were not bureaucratic in structure. SHGs follows a structure different which is flexible and does not follow rigid hierarchy as in Weber's Bureaucratic Model.

3. Elton Mayo's Human Relations Approach : SHGs are like informal group formed in a formal organisation. Members of the SHGs are involved in collective decision making, fixing their targets and helping each other. Hence as opposed to informal groups in a formal organisation, SHGs are more like informal group in informal organisation.

4. Comparative Public Administration : SHG model in India is emulated from Grameen Bank Model of Bangladesh. After seeing the success in India, many other countries emulated that model.

5. New Public Administration : Ideas of relevance, value, equity and change were sought to be adopted by administration. SHGs helped the administration in this. These were agent of change and promoted equity. Also the coming of SHGs led to paradigm shift in attitude of bureaucracy and banks as they started to consider them as partnership with SHGs made their approach more value oriented and relevant to current challenges.

6. Public Choice Theory : It was about giving choice to people. Development Model can also be considered as a service and SHGs provided a choice to people different from government led schemes and projects. "Human behaviour is dominated by self interest and individuals are utility maximizers in every situation" - Since SHG provided better opportunity to people, they embraced it.

7. Paradigm VI - Public Administration as Governance : Nicholas Henry said that “*We are moving away from government and moving towards governance”. Governance is institutionalised and networked. So linkage of SHG with government efforts led to more networking and hence better governance.

8. New Public Service (Denhardt & Denhardt) : It proposed attitudinal change in administrator characterized byinvolvement, co-governance and de-emphasis on govt role. This all is being facilitated by SHGs.

9. Basic Needs Model (Robert McNamara of WB and Mahbub-ul-Haq) : It argued for 'welfare agenda for masses' rather than "growth agenda for classes". It arged for developing human capital through social engineering as opposed to financial capital through economic engg. This all is being facilitated by NGOs and SHGs.

10. Entitlement Model (Robert Chambers and Amartya Sen) : This argued for reversal of entitlement, resources and opportunities so that poor can loose less and gain more. SHGs helps in providing credit to poors thus providing entitlement, resources and opportunities to them.

Thank you for coming this far but now go back to the top and study again. You're not supposed to just glance over it.


References :

1. http://www.ifad.org/operations/projects/regions/pi/paper/3.pdf

2. http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/5387/12/12_chapter5.pdf

CLASS : Introduction : PCT

PUBLIC CHOICE APPROACH 

"Public choice approach is the economic study of non-market decesion making or the application of economics to the political process of collective decesion making "

MAIN PROPOSITIONS OR ARGUMENTS OF PUBLIC CHOICE APPROACH 

1)Human Behaviour is dominated by self interest 
Individual who seeks utility maximisation shall remain a utility maximiser under all settings.

2) the govt is a collection of individuals
"the simple view that government's collective decesion making process solves social problems selflessly and in common interest is just romanticism in politico economics theory " JAMES BUCHANAN 

3)The theory of govt failure 
The argument is that the real world govt and real world collective decesion makers may not have self interest in efficiency. On the contrary they may actually have self interest in inefficiency. 
-Vote maximising behaviour 
-Self aggrandising behaviour 
-Wealth maximising behaviour

COMPONENTS OF PCT

-Rent seeking theory by Anne Krueger, Gordon Tullock, James Buchanan 

-Capture Theory by George Stigler 

-Theory of self-seeking behaviour by Anthony Downs


CAPTURE THEORY 
Given by George Stigler 

The core proposition of this theory is that powerful interest groups can influence the enactment of laws n regulations in a self interested n self serving manner. 
For eg :
What kind of excise laws or land laws or SEZ policy, mining laws etc are made, are often a result of the capture influence. 

THEORY OF SELF SEEKING BEHAVIOUR 

This happens bcz of absence of market discipline. To elaborate Bureaucrats are not subjected to market discipline bcz they don't hv any personal stakes in the performance or non performance of public organisations.
As a result neither the success of public organisations greatly helps them nor the failure hurts them.

Downs wrote two imp books --
INSIDE BUREAUCRACY
An Economic Theory of Bureaucracy 

Rent seeking theory 

Argues that certain sections of the public or certain special interest groups have intense preferences for or against particular governmental policies or decesions and therefore they seek to earn benefits to manipulation and exploitation of politico economic envt. 

Such behaviour on the part of these individuals or groups is called Rent seeking behaviour. Infact if anything, rent seeking is a shear wastage from societal point of view bcz no addition to wealth is created and Infact the resources which ought to hv been spent on public cause, go into private pockets.

GORDON TULLOCK in his 1967 paper "The welfare costs of tariffs monopolies and thefts ". Later the term rent seeking was coined in 1974 by ANNE KRUEGER in another influential paper "Political economy of the rent seeking society "

GORDON TULLOCK 's book 
THE POLITICS OF BUREAUCRACY 
RENT SEEKING 

"much of the modern politics can only be interpreted as Rent seeking activities " James Buchanan

When a firm uses its resources to procure an unwarranted monetary gain from external elements without giving anything in return to them or the society, it is termed as rent-seeking.

Definition: When a firm uses its resources to procure an unwarranted monetary gain from external elements, be it directly or indirectly, without giving anything in return to them or the society, it is termed as rent-seeking.

Description: Instead of creating wealth, a firm seeks to obtain financial gains from others through alteration/ manipulation of the environment where economic activities take place. A popular example for rent-seeking is political lobbying by companies. These are primarily done by companies in order to make economic gains through government action.

This might be done by a company to get subsidy from the government for the product which it produces or increasing tariff rates by the government for its services, etc. Such a practice neither leads to creation of new wealth, nor does it benefit the society.

Class : Introduction: Impact of Globalization on Pub Ad

IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 

1) Pre-requisites of international competetion 
-Cost control
- Productivity consciousness 
- Technological upgradation 
-adoption of international best practices 

The points you have Invluded above could be added.

2)Impact of information technology 
-Information dissemination 
-Transparency 
-More accessible administration 
-Speed of service delivery 
-Two way interface of administration 

3) Global administrative theories and models 
Business Process Re-engineering HAMMER AND CHAMPY
Re-inventing Govt OSBORNE AND GAEBLER
Networked Governance DENHARDT N DENHARDT 
Activating State WERNER JANN

CHALLENGES CAUSED BY GLOBALIZATION 

1)The Challenge of context sensitivity
To guard against the possibility of 'global monoculture'. 
-Forcible imposition
-Blind import

"even the global village is culturally plural rather than homogeneous"
CHRISTOPHER HOOD

In other words the challenge of administration is how to think globally yet act locally.

2) Challenge of cultural globalization 
Globalization has brought a focus on specialised tasks which earlier were not seen as the core part of pub adm. 
-Global security and war against terrorism 
-Environment and sustainable development 
-Issue of gender sensitivity

3) Challenge of global accountability 
Tendency of 'global eliticism'

"globalization can promote development but can create poverty. Global justice and accountability is a major issue because there exists a possibility of global governance without global government "
JOSEPH STIGLITZ

Discussion : British Philosophy (Work in Progress....)

British Philosophy of Public Administration

1. Fusion of Politics and Administration.

2. Adoption of the merit system.

3. Nonpartisan Civil Service.

4. Pragmatism between Science and Ethics (Values maybe).

5. Communication : Embracing both formal and informal communication.

Some points to brainstorm

1. What were the guiding factors which shaped British Philosophy of Public Administration?

2. What are the differences between British and American Philosophy?

3. Which elements of British Philosophy are present in Indian Administration?

4. Is the British Philosophy capable of facing the challenges posed by climate change and globalisation? [LOL, just kidding]

@ main pioneer in British philosophy :
1. wallas
2.haldane
3.beveridge
4.sheldon 
5. urvic
6.stamp
7.Beatrice Webb
8.harold j laski

graham wallas: first model of creative process:

the creative process:
1.conscious vs. unconscious wanders
2.voluntary vs. involuntary thinking
3.deliberate vs. serendipitous chains of ideas

--in 1926 wallas, defined this process in 4 stages
prepartion--incubation--illumination--verification

1--investigate the problem from all direction
--fully conscious stage
--brainstrom, researc, planning
--relevant state of mind

2.-->unconscious stage
-- here "combination play" works [einstein]
--two or more idea combined effectively
--result in creative thinking
-->"negative fact" 
-during incubation , no conscious deliberation of problem
-->"positive fact"
--series of unconscious, involuntary mental events.
3. illumination
--"sudden illumination"
--flash of insight cannot be controlled by conscious itself
--connection b/w the seemingly unconnected are true secret of genius
4.verification
--conscious and deliberate effort
--testing the validity of idea
--reducing idea to exact form

Discussion : Self Regulation (based on 13th Report of ARC)

Summary of SRO

Advantages of SRO

1. Efficient regulation since the new organisation will be less bureaucratic.

2. The organisation will be manned by experts from the industry so they have more knowledge of how to regulate the industry.

3. The revenue generated by their functioning (for example issuing certificate for films) will be used for the welfare of industry only.

4. Will increase the overall confidence of investors but cutting red tape and lead to enhanced FDI and private investment.

5. It will build a culture of trust and will eventually lead to a right step in development of civic political culture in India from the current mix of subject-participant culture.

Challenges of SRO

1. Self regulation (SR) concept is not very prevalent world over perhaps because of the inherent conflict of interest. Issues will always remain of alleged bias because often times a substantial source of revenue is 

membership fees. 

2. If SRO is not empowered enough to enforce its penal actions then it is virtually ineffective. One way Self regulation can work is if non compliance by penalized orgn. results in exclusion from the sector/business. But India has a long way to go before adopting this governance measure.

3. Sometimes the area in which SRO is operating may overlap with other sectors so co-ordination with other regulators become essential. SRO cannot have that much coordination with state regulators. For example, Micro Finance Institutions may be self regulated but they may also gave operations in capital markets and insurance sector. So, the SRO overseeing MFI may not cooperate as much with SEBI, IRDA as desired.

Examples of SRO

India : NBA for news, SRO for Microfinance (Please add name)

US : MPAA (Films)

Conclusion

We will need to have the transition to SR in a smooth and endogenous manner. It has to be bottom up an indigenous development and not imposed from above or imported from outside. In short the transition has to be sustainable.

How can self regulation be made effective?

• Authority: Legislative or delegated regulatory authority to create and enforce its own policies and rules, subject to formal government oversight.

• Governance: Strong governance mechanisms, including focus on independent boards (that, among other things, counterbalance the influence of “regulatory capture”), transparency, and adherence to a defined process for obtaining public input on rule-making initiatives.

• Conflict management: Effective and consistent management of inherent conflicts of interest, including transparent mechanisms for their resolution.

• Supervision: Defined and transparent processes and procedures for overseeing and regulating the activities of its members, including the establishment of clear standards of conduct and correlated and consistent application of consequences for violations.

• Enforcement: Adequately funded enforcement program that works to help regulation, in conjunction with governmental authorities, while keeping up with market activities and trends, and that applies the law and its own process in a consistent manner while providing due process protections to those subject to its investigations.

• Regulatory database: Maintenance of a current database of information about regulated persons that is accessible to public and that includes all relevant customer complaints, disciplinary history, and legal and regulatory actions taken against such persons.

• Innovation: Development of policies and rulemakings that draws on the specialized expertise of those within the self-regulatory organization and allows for the ability to regulate “ahead of the curve” while encouraging and supporting fair, efficient, and orderly markets.

• Dispute resolution: A customer dispute resolution process that employs consistent use of fair and transparent policies and procedures that balance efficiency with investor protections while also protecting the civil rights of the accused.

PS : The SRO concept is most popularly used in the capital market. But the points mentioned above can be applied across the board.

Discussion : Case Studies for Public Administration

Comparative Public Administration - Smart cities in collaboration with different countries for energy, sewage, water, IT

New Public Administration [Relevance, Value, Equity, Change, Client Focus] - Replacing Planning Commission with NITI Ayog to make it more :
Relevant : Realizing the changing scenario due to LPG
Change Oriented : Instead of old planning methodology, bring new ideas.
Client Focussed : Designing schemes with focus on ground realities which are different for different states.

Management Information Systems (MIS) for regular and real time online monitoring of progress in respect of skill development and enhancing livelihood opportunities for urban poor under Deeendayal Antyodaya
Yojana (DAY). 

MIS enables stakeholders like Training Providers, Certification Agencies, Banks, Resource Orgnisations etc., to feed required information directly which can be accessed by urban local bodies, states and Ministry of HUPA for monitoring and other purposes.

The above example can be applied in new techniques of administration, Policy monitoring and evaluation, citizen and administration, better coordination techniques and last but not the least to make administration efficient and effective as a whole. 

A study by IIPA pointed out that Women Panchayat's are more likely to focus on soft issues like education, health, sanitation, behaviour change etc. While Men Panchayat's go for infrastructure related developments.

This brings out the fact that in an organisation there is always gender around (a statement of Gouldner on this topic was asked last year in mains). Thus organisations need to be designed while keeping gender in perspective. 

We can also relate it with Feminist perspective of development administration and also to how we might need different motivators in a scenario in which women participation is increasing drastically in all organisations.

Once we know what drives women/men we can use our human resources efficiently.

Discussion : Interesting One liners for Public Administration

'Conflict is inevitable but combat is optional' — Max Lucade

'As permanent as a government job' - Arundhati Roy