The 'Anti-Politics Machine' in India: Depoliticisation through local institution building for participatory watershed development in India

Chhotray, Vasudha (2007) The 'Anti-Politics Machine' in India: Depoliticisation through local institution building for participatory watershed development in India. Journal of Development Studies, 43 (6). pp. 1037-1056. ISSN 0022-0388

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Abstract

This article investigates the rationale and implications of creating non-elected community-based bodies for India's national watershed development programme in 1994. A discourse of depoliticisation is in use to justify the creation of ‘apolitical’ watershed committees in contrast to ‘political’ panchayats, ostensibly unsuitable for participatory development for their embodiment of political contestation and vested interests. The discourse masks conflicts between key actors in India's development process and is highly malleable, acquiring pertinent meanings in specific contexts. Case-study evidence from two project villages in a south Indian district shows that the attempt to depoliticise this programme of panchayat politics fails, but sets up the ground for depoliticisation of another sort, by distancing watershed project spaces from pro-poor progressive politics.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Water Security Research Centre Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Global Environmental Justice Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > The State, Governance and Conflict
Depositing User:	Vishal Gautam
Date Deposited:	01 Aug 2007
Last Modified:	16 May 2023 00:44
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/16296
DOI:	10.1080/00220380701466526

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