Economist reveals stunning election truths of Bengal
The Times of India, December 24, 2013
Despite their dissatisfaction with the Trinamool
Congress regime, the same set of people who had once
voted for the Left Front, found Trinamool more
preferable, said noted economist Pranab Bardhan in
Kolkata on Monday. And Singur and Nandigram had a
limited effect on the mandate, he feels.
Bardhan, a professor of economics at University of
California, Berkeley, conducted a survey in Bengal in
two phases to understand the behaviour of the voters.
The first survey was conducted in 2004-05 and the second
in end-2011, a few months after Trinamool's historic
win.
"We found that voters were dissatisfied with Trinamool,
too, but not as much as they were with the Left. The
only area where Left scored over Trinamool was in
competence and judgment," Bardhan said.
The survey, which will be made public soon, found that
the same set of voters who voted for the Left switched
in 2011.
More surprisingly, Bardhan found that the land
acquisition agitations at Singur and Nandigram had a
limited role in the 2011 mandate. "It is often thought
that the Left lost because of Singur and Nandigram. But
that was not true. These issues did not have much effect
on people beyond 100km," said Bardhan. "What mattered
was people's perception of local leaders."
Bardhan, who is Kolkata to deliver 30th anniversary
lecture of CUTS International, felt that the state's
successful episode of decentralization started when the
Left went for land reforms. "Distribution of subsidized
agricultural inputs in the form of mini kits were also
examples of decentralization. And that happened during
late '70s and early '90s," the noted economist said.
Bardhan believes political parties perform better in
terms of governance only when there is a close contest.
Local governments get less active when they have a
landslide victory, he said. He cautioned Trinamool
against repeating the Left mistake of favouritism, which
he termed 'clientelism'. "Such acts have plagued long
term projects in the Left Front and Trinamool regimes,
he remarked.
"Regular auditing is rare in Bengal. Even a panchayat
pradhan does not have any idea how much fund is
allocated to which project. There is no formula and
absence of any formula means allocations are whimsical,"
Bardhan said
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