Public Administration Mains 2019 : Solved Paper-1 (Question: 6)
Public Administration Mains 2019 : Solved Paper Question Paper-1 (Question-6)
SECTION-B
Q6(a) “Development dynamics is marked by a dilemma : the concept of development has a built-in participatory orientation but the practice of development has been inherently exclusionary.” Discuss. 20 Marks
ANSWER: Participatory development (PD) seeks to engage local populations in development projects. Participatory development has taken a variety of forms since it emerged in the 1970s, when it was introduced as an important part of the "basic needs approach" to development.Most manifestations of public participation in development seek "to give the poor a part in initiatives designed for their benefit" in the hopes that development projects will be more sustainable and successful if local populations are engaged in the development process. It is often presented as an alternative to mainstream "top-down" development. There is some question about the proper definition of PD as it varies depending on the perspective applied. Two perspectives that can define PD are the "Social Movement Perspective" and the "Institutional Perspective". Participatory development employed in particular initiatives often involves the process of content creation. For example, UNESCO's Finding a Voice Project employs ICT for development initiatives. Local content creation and distribution contributes to the formation of local information networks. This is a bottom-up approach that involves extensive discussions, conversations, and decision-making with the target community.Community group members create content according to their capacities and interests. This process facilitates engagement with information and communication technology (ICT) with the goal of strengthening individual and social development. This participatory content creation is an important tool for poverty reduction strategies and creating a digitally inclusive knowledge society.
The late 1990s saw the introduction of some new terms and
concepts in the discourse around inequality, poverty, fairness and justice. One
of these concepts was that of “social exclusion”. This term is now virtually
ubiquitous, and therefore, it is useful to recall that this is of relatively
recent origin. It is also important to remember that the concept of social
exclusion originated in the North, or the present-day developed countries, even
though it is now a standard part of the development lexicon of the South, or the
developing countries.Given the northern roots of social exclusion, there was an
understandable scepticism about whether this concept would be used to assess
“southern realities in terms of the extent to which they converge, or diverge,
from some ‘standard’ northern model , or whether it would add something useful
and novel to our understanding of deprivation.
Prior to the emergence of this concept, social policies were discussed in terms
poverty, inequality, distribution: concepts which were well-defined,
well-understood, axiomatic, and rigorously researched. The analytical rigour of
these concepts is reflected in their durability and the lack of ambiguity.