Sense And Solidarity - Jholawala Economics for Everyone

by Jean Drèze

Jean Drèze has a rare and distinctive understanding of the Indian economy and its relationship with the social life of ordinary people. He has travelled widely in rural India and done fieldwork of a kind that few economists have attempted. This has enabled him to make invaluable contributions not only to public debates on economic and social policy but also to our knowledge of the actual state of the country.
Drèze’s insights on India’s “unfashionable” issues – hunger, poverty, inequality, corruption, and conflict – are all on display here and offer a unique perspective on the evolution of social policy over roughly the past two decades. Historic legislations and initiatives of the period, relating for instance to the right to food and the right to work, are all scrutinised and explained, as are the fierce debates that often accompanied them.
“Jholawala” has become a disparaging term for activists in the business media. This book affirms the learning value of collective action combined with sound economic analysis. In his detailed Introduction, Drèze persuasively argues for an approach to development economics where research and action become inseparably interconnected.
This is a book as much for economists as for every reading citizen.

Genres: Economics, India, Nonfiction, Politics, Essays

354 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

Publications
Dreze, Jean "Patterns of Literacy and their Social Context", (originally written 199?), in Veena Das (ed.), 2004, Oxford Handbook of Indian Sociology, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Dreze, Jean, 2002, "On Research and Action", Economic and Political Weekly, March 2, 37 (9). New Delhi.
Dreze, Jean and Haris Gazdar, 1997. "Uttar Pradesh: the Burden of Inertia", in Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen, (eds) Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Dreze, Jean and Amartya Sen, (eds), 1997, Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Drèze J. and Sen, A.K. 1989. Hunger and Public Action. Oxford University Press.
Drèze J. and Sen, A. (eds.). 1990. The Political Economy of Hunger. 3 volumes, Oxford University Press.
Drèze, J. 1990. Famine Prevention in India. In Drèze J. and Sen, A. (eds.) The Political Economy of Hunger. vol 2. Oxford University Press.
Stern, N. and Drèze J. 1991. Policy Reform, Shadow Prices and Market Prices. Journal of Public Economics.
Ahmad E, Drèze J, Hills J, Sen A K (eds.) 1991. Social Security in Developing Countries. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Drèze J., 1991. Public Action for Social Security: Foundations and Strategy. In Ahmad E, Drèze J, Hills J, Sen A K (eds.). Social Security in Developing Countries. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Drèze J. and H. Gazdar. 1992. Hunger and Poverty in Iraq, 1991. World Development.
Drèze J. and Sen, A.K. 1995. India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity. Oxford University Press.
Drèze J., M. Murthi and A-C. Guio. 1995. Mortality, Fertility and Gender Bias in India. Population and Development Review.
Drèze J. and P.V. Srinivasan. 1997. Widowhood and Poverty in Rural India. Journal of Development Economics.
Drèze J., M. Samson and S. Singh. 1997. The Dam and the Nation: Displacement and Resettlement in the Narmada Valley. Delhi: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-564004-7.
Dreze, Jean and Naresh Sharma, "Palanpur: Population, Society Economy", chapter 1 in Peter Lanjouw and Nicholas Stern, eds., Economic Development in Palanpur over Five Decades, 1998. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Dreze, Jean, Peter Lanjouw and Naresh Sharma, "Economic Development in Palanpur, 1957-93", chapter 2 in Peter Lanjouw and Nicholas Stern, eds., Economic Development in Palanpur over Five Decades, 1998. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Dreze, Jean and Naresh Sharam, "Tenancy", chapter 8 in Peter Lanjouw and Nicholas Stern, eds., Economic Development in Palanpur over Five Decades, 1998. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Dreze, Jean, Peter Lanjouw and Naresh Sharma, "Credit", chapter 9 in Peter Lanjouw and Nicholas Stern, eds., Economic Development in Palanpur over Five Decades, 1998. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Drèze J. and Sen, A.K. (eds.) 1997. Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Baland, J-M. Drèze J. and L. Leruth. 1999. Daily Wages and Piece Rates in Agrarian Economies. Journal of Development Economics.
A. De and J Drèze. 1999. Public Report on Basic Education in India. The PROBE report. Oxford University Press. 0195648706
Drèze J. (ed.) 1999. The Economics of Famine. International Library of Critical Writings in Economics. London: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Dreze, Jean and Naresh Sharma, 1996, "Sharecropping in a North Indian Village", Journal of Development Studies, 33(1):1-40.
Drèze J. and R. Khera. 2000. Crime, Gender and Society in India. Population and Development Review.
Bhatia B, J. Drèze & K. Kelly. 2001. War and Peace in the Gulf: Testimonies of the Gulf Peace Team. London: Spokesman Books. [published on the tenth anniversary of the Team's attempt to stop the Gulf War through non-violent occupation].
Drèze J. and G.G. Kingdon. 2001. School Participation in Rural India. Review of Development Economics 5(1), 1-24.
Drèze J. 2001. Fertility, Education and Development: Evidence from India. Population and Development Review.
Drèze J. and Sen, A

Reviews

[Raghu Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jean Drèze is well-known to students of Indian society, who are concerned about economic inequality, social justice and ethical development. He has written extensively about social policy and development issues in India. Unlike most economists, he has emphasized the primacy of the lived experience, field research, the importance of ethical norms and a call for action in his goals for an India that will be a ‘good society’. It is because of these concerns that his writings often focus on issues related to slum dwellers, tribals, Dalits as well as the detrimental effects of patriarchy on women and society. Most essays in this volume are written in the period 2002-2017, published in the op-ed columns of ‘The Hindu’ newspaper. Some of the essays are co-authored by Reetikha Khera, Bela Bhatia, Angus Deaton and others. The title of the book includes the seemingly disparaging term ‘jholawala economics’. This is a reference to the corporate media’s derisive dismissal of the ‘left-wing activist’ whose signature image is one of carrying a bag (jhola in Hindi) and roaming the villages and slums and tribal regions to understand their problems. By calling them ‘Road Scholars’ in this book, the author shows the importance of the field experience in dealing with developmental issues in India.

The book can be seen as covering three topics. The first seven chapters and the tenth chapter are mainly concerned with development issues. They deal with hunger, poverty, mid-day meals in schools, healthcare, child development, rural employment guarantee, food security etc. One chapter is on corporate power and one on issues related to war and peace in the subcontinent which includes the Kashmir imbroglio. The focus in all these essays are on the poor and the dispossessed as one would expect from Dr. Drèze. The essays on development use publicly available government data to blow a number of pet middle-class myths. Let us look at a few of them.
One myth is that Gujarat is a highly developed state, thanks to Narendra Modi. Dr. Drèze shows that the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh take the top three spots in most Human Development Indicators for India’s states whereas Gujarat languishes far below around the average for India, which often is a good ten places behind Tamil Nadu. Another middle-class myth is that India is a nation of ‘freebies and subsidies’ for the poor and that too much welfare spending on health, food and government dole for farmers is hurting the country. The reality is that the ratio of public health spending to GDP is just 1% in India - among the lowest in the world. Only 15% of the total health expenditure in India is public expenditure, whereas in East Asia, it is 40%, in Latin America 50%, Europe 75% and UK 85%. The story is similar in Education, Child Development programmes and other social sectors. Public spending in India on health and education is just 4.4% of GDP when it is 7.7% even in sub-Saharan Africa! Other myths are that poor Indian parents are not interested in educating their children and that dependence on child labor is preventing them from sending their children to schools. The author quotes from the Public Report on Basic Education to blow these myths. The irony about all these myths is that they endure even in the midst of news items telling us that the big commercial banks have written off corporate loans totaling ₹161,018 crores in the last 5 years. This is 1.27% of GDP. This amount would allow 1.5 million kids to get degrees in top universities. Funnily, this hardly registers in the middle-class and elite consciousness. The moment farm loans are waived due to drought and govt-induced misery, all English-language newspapers produce articles on why such a thing is foolhardy and inimical to development.
The other essays deal with India’s nuclear posture, military spending and the struggles of the Kashmiri people with India’s security apparatus and central government. Most Indians wouldn’t take kindly to Dr. Drèze’s views on Kashmir because it makes bold to acknowledge the truth and shatter yet other myths of the middle-class about India as a tolerant, compassionate and inclusive country.

One of the suggestions in the book struck me as refreshing and unlike what one would find in a book on economics. Dr. Drèze encourages the reader to study Literature in order to understand society better. When I was in college, I used to wonder why I must study English and Tamil literature in the University when I am majoring in Mathematics. The wisdom of studying literature alongside science, engineering and Maths was brought to me by a school-teacher from communist Czechoslovakia in 1987. I was on a train from Munich to Brussels and she was my fellow passenger. We were talking about education and I critiqued the Indian education system for making me wastefully study so many books on literature when they didn’t count in the final examinations. She told me that I was wrong and that India’s educationists are doing the right thing. She wished that in her country they would make engineers and scientists study literature and arts as part of the curriculum. She said that it is the lack of arts education that makes engineers build dams and other structures without appreciation of the environmental and social damage they cause. Similarly, scientists without arts education develop technological solutions without appreciating the negative human consequences they could cause. Dr. Drèze is also saying the same here and suggests that economists read authors like Bibhutibhushan Banerjee, Dalit writers like Laxman Gaikwad, Shantabai Kamble, writers like Om Prakash Valmiki and Daya Pawar on caste and many others to get a more complete understanding of our society. It will make professionals and specialists better economists and social scientists and analysts.

This is an important book in today’s context in a Hindu-Nationalist ruled India. The model of political and economic development favored by the current government, led by Narendra Modi, is one of a model led by big-business, powered by manufacturing, just like what happened in China in the past forty years. If millions of peasant lives are dislocated and destabilized, it is viewed just as ‘collateral damage’ on the road to modernization. On the political side, it has grandiose ambitions of a super-power status for India by making the country a big military power to project influence in the Indian Ocean region. Consequently, Mr. Modi came to power by denouncing social welfare programs like the Rural Employment guarantee and Food security programs as waste of public money. Anti-farmer and anti-small business policies like Demonetization, punitive Goods and Services Taxes have been put in place to make the unorganized informal sector and small land-holding farmers wither away so that big businesses can dominate all sectors of the economy. The compassion, care and ethical development that Dr. Drèze talks about is the exact opposite of what we are experiencing in India today. It is a duty of all educated, concerned citizens to ponder over the issues, questions and solutions which are outlined in this book and reflect before voting in the important national elections in 2019.

This book makes important arguments and contributions to many ongoing debates on the key development issues India faces. But we live in an environment of governance where all the power is concentrated in the Prime Minister’s office and his loyal institutions like the Niti Aayog. The PM himself seems to believe that he doesn’t need to listen to others in making key decisions which affect hundreds of millions of people, as was evidenced by his actions on Demonetization and Tax reforms. The challenges faced by India internally and externally are manyfold. It is foolhardy to believe that a couple of leaders sitting in Delhi surrounded by a lot of sycophantic advisers and fearful ministers and bureaucrats could solve them.

[Arun Pandiyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book can be summarized by asking a simple question. Why states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala are better than other states in socio-economic development indices? Jean Drèze gives us a simple, yet effective answer. It is due to their social policies which are inclusive, universal, rational and welfare oriented. While, the states that lag behind in development follow the policy of exclusion, targeting and unscientific approach.

The book is divided into various chapters under which essays on poverty, mid day meals, education, child development, employment guarantee, healthcare and food security were discussed extensively with data as well from Jean Drèze' personnel experience travelling through the length and breadth of India with his jhol (sling bag) and gathering information among poor households.

There is a stark contrast between the development economics put forth by Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee to that of the development economics preached by the Belgian born economist Jean Drèze. Abhijit Banerjee in his book 'Poor Economics', relied heavily on the statistical outcome for his randomized control trials which he performed among the poor, to assert that a meager initial investment or a hand-out as as an economic policy can bring about changes in poverty. Jean Drèze, on the other hand relies on his own experience as a form of evidence to make us understand that the world of public action and policy making is different from that of academic research.

If there is one person in India who cares about the Public Distribution System (PDS) more than that of any Indian policy maker, it should be Jean Drèze who makes no mistake in declaring that the universalized, non targeted and consumer friendly PDS in Tamil Nadu is sole reason for it's impeccable position in variety of development indicators compared to other states. He argues the same in case of mid day meal scheme in which the state of TN invests heavily. The immunization rates in Tamil Nadu are higher than that of national average. So is the monthly allowance for widows and pension for old people in TN.

In the age of misinformation that an household earning 8 lakh is considered to be economically weaker section (EWS), the essays on poverty from this book takes us back to the recommendations of Tendulkar's commitee and Rangarajan committee, that a base income of Rs. 32 per day was considered to be Below Poverty Line (BPL) and around 450 million Indian subsist with that daily wage. While the elites vehemently oppose guaranteed income schemes like MNREGA citing frivolous allegations, Jean Drèze takes us through the fault line in the system, mainly corruption, which was rectified in many states by introducing a simple muster roll system. To the opponents of MNREGA, he explains how the rural employment can bring about change in social equity, women empowerment, asset development and environmental conservation.

Like economist Raghuram Rajan, Jean Drèze is a no non-sense man who calls spade a spade. He ends his book by stating that 'if Gujarat's development is considered to be a model, then the development of Kerala and Tamil Nadu should be considered as 'super-model'.

To summarize, the mainstream economic theory makes a constant reference to a term "rational self interest" as the prime motivation of economic agents. But, Jean Drèze stresses on the other motive, namely 'sympathy and commitment'. The non selfish motive of public-spiritedess coupled with economic policy can bring about significant changes in the development of society. And, Jean Dreze cites Kerala and Tamil Nadu to prove his theory often, many a times and always.

[Aabha Sharma]

“Sure, some rich people work hard – but so do koilawalas, construction workers, and domestic helpers. Other bases of privilege have little to do with personal merit: our aptitudes, health, inheritance, social connections, and other assets derive from contingencies (such as the accident of birth) over which we have no control. Even our education reflects inherited circumstances, and our parents’ and teachers’ efforts, far more than our own. All this is without going into the fact that wealth and power often build on corruption, exploitation, and crime“

-Jean Dreze

This book is depressing. No actually, India is depressing. Actually, don’t we come at the bottom of those world happiness indexes. It’s no wonder. One rupee a to feed a child a meal and we can’t even do that. Malnutrition and abject poverty coexisting with golf courses and petty snobberies, it makes me want to throw up.

[Nida]

A captivating read for anyone interested in development notes of an economy and even for those not having a spark for development issues. The book, authored by Jean Dreze provide a deep analysis of the present situation of Indian social sector and policymaking. The author starts his argument by caricaturing the plight of everyday moving koilawalas as he spots them at an avenue leading into Kanke road from the corner around his office at Ranchi University; carrying mounting loads of coal that they dig from underneath the earth and sell in the market to meet the most immediate two meals for survival. How the author tags the difference in the condition of these koilawalas and his own self is remarkable. He calls it mere 'chance' that places the koilwalas in this predicament and him at his. Right in the introductory speech, he makes it clear that the only thing that differentiates the privileged from the koilawalas is 'chance'. Had the koilawala had the equivalent 'chance', they could have been geologists, artists, engineers or hockey champions. Placing the subject through this eye, Dreze moves to issues of Health, education, Food, Maternity benefits etc. The author presents at various junctures, an exhaustive investigation of almost all of the major social programmes initiated by the GOI, going into analysing the situation state by state. The overwhelming stature of states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Himachal Pradesh comes into being every time a particular social indicator is looked at. Also, other states which had no mention of good social prowess, in recent times, have started registering in the process as the analysis puts through. The states are Jharkhand, Odisha, Chandigarh etc. NREGA, ICDS, Mid Day Meals, NFSA find special consideration in the text as is evident from the analysis that these programmes not only bring economic dominion but also pull up employment and women empowerment. In all, the author comes to each aspect of Indian social policy in detail with reasoning and logic supported by empirical findings and data too. The last chapter throws open recent avenues of discussion like the Universal Basic Income, Bullet Train and Gujrat Model Fallacy. The end word connects the development to be a collective effort brought about by public spiritedness.

[Venky · Rating 4 out of 5]

But for a couple of Chapters on Kashmir where Dreze's views are tainted by biased nuances, illusory notions and misdirected vindications, "Sense and Solidarity...." ("The Book") is an indispensable read for every one who is interested in the economic, social and cultural progress of India. A development economist with impeccable credentials, Jean Dreze has been involved in both aiding policy making as well as conducting hard core research spanning various spheres of the economy ranging from Public Distribution Systems ("PDS") to the provision of mid-day meal schemes. The Book is a collection of pieces penned by the author over a period of years covering topical issues that both enhance as well as imperil the prospects of India as a progressive economy.

Dreze also underpins in no lesser detail, the need for and the positive results that are the outcome of an action based research. Instead of conducting cloistered theoretical research (with a singular eye on confirming to various norms laid down with rigidity by a plethora of Universities), Dreze encourages economists to broaden their research perspective by undertaking field surveys and practical investigations/analysis. A change at the grassroots level has both the potency and the reach to percolate upwards thereby being more inclusive.

Dreze's meticulous research is reflected in the various Chapters that adorn the book. Writing with a genuine passion and candid intent, Dreze demonstrates how small and incremental efforts undertaken towards improving the quality of life go a long way in ushering in a prosperity and peace. A classic example is that of the mid-day meal scheme. Conceptualised in a few States as a pilot programme, the mid-day meal scheme is now a universal measure across the country that fosters not only adequate nutrition, but also improves class attendance and generating employment. Similarly streamlining the PDS distribution set up ensures that the poor and needy get their staples on time and in quantities that are adequate.

But Dreze reserves his scathing views for the bullet train project which is proposed to be implemented in collaboration with Japan. Priced at a colossal cost of Rs.60,000 crores per train, Dreze in a witty but serious fashion lays bare the travails that are currently plaguing the Indian Railways. When a common man finds it a Herculean task to even find himself a berth in an unreserved compartment, where is there a need to embark on a ultra sophisticated project of this nature?

All in all Sense and Solidarity is a book that makes one introspect and even take positive action.

[Conrad Barwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for those interested in development economics and public policy in India. As one of the drivers behind the NREGA, Dreze's account of how the act came into being, the political debates around it and the resistance from neo-liberal bureacrats and politicians makes vivid reading. Anybody who peruses the mainstream private print media in India will be familiar with the pro-corporate bias and Dreze does an excellent job in skewering their arguements against social and employment guarantee programmes that so often crop up on their pages.

The weakest part is the section on Kashmir with some questionable claims about how Jagmohan was partly responsible for the exodus of Kashmiri Brahmins from the Valley; this ignores the anti-Hindu tinge to the separatist movement that coloured actions even in the late 80s and early 90s before Pakistani-sponsored jihadis become the mainstay of the insurgency. A look at Rahul Pandita's account of the period from the viewpoint of a Kashmiri Brahmin family that had to flee the Valley during this period in his seminal autobiography "Our Moon has Blood Clots" would have prevented Dreze from committing some of his misconceptions to paper here.

[Prabhat Gusain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jean Dreze, in my humble opinion, is an exceptional developmental economist to not have won the Nobel Prize.

This book is a unique compilation of his writings on Govt. of India’s public welfare policies over the last 15 years. Fascinatingly, some of India’s most impactful economic welfare schemes like NREGA and Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) have been devised by Prof Jean himself.

You can sense the empathy and rigor with which Jean has developed his 'evidence-based' policy approach towards large-scale programs addressing the multifarious miseries of the Indian populace. I have a huge amount of respect for Prof Jean’s work and I think this book is a must-read for any passionate policy reader.

[Kumar Ayush · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to keep the book down after every other chapter. It made me hyperactive wondering about the state of my nation and calculating all the actions that I can take to contribute towards a better future. However, I still cannot fathom agreement towards several opinions, but I view this as a good thing.

Everyone should read this.

[Shahnawaz Haque · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compilation of essays captured over the years by the author is a good study for anyone who wants to understand the society and government system. The various articles covered in the book does a critical analysis of many government schemes and have been explained in a subtle fashion. Interestingly the author has mentioned this line on a chapter on bullet trains in India “The bullet train syndrome perpetuates an elitist approach to the Indian Railways, which consists of creating a pleasant fast track for a privileged minority at the cost of slumdog treatment for the rest.” had been rightly put up.
Overall it's a fast read and content will gradually lost over time but continue to remind readers about the state of Indian systems in the said time.

[Surabhi Yadav · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Sense and Solidarity': take a moment to reflect on the title - Do we have the solidarity (in our thoughts, in our actions, in our sentiments) for the ones that we fail to include in progress? Do we have a sense of their problems, how the system fails them, and a way of connecting with them without challenging their dignity? The book might help you address these two questions.

A must-read for anyone who takes a keen interest in the policies for social change in India. This book is an important read for the ones who strongly support the 'industrialization'/'urbanisation' as a way of development. The essays would be an eye-opener explaining India's need to have a development agenda based on social welfare (it already does and it needs to get better at it!).

Jean Dreze is an academic who uses both for the anecdotes and analysis to understand the reality of India's social issues particularly of those who are marginalized from the mainstream development. The author is one of uncommon examples of development economists who don't reduce people and their problems into numbers. In all his academic career, he has actively engaged with the communities he wrote and writes about. This set of essays provide an overview of how policies have failed India's various pertinent issues in the social sector and also, offers ways to make amends. Unlike P.Sainath's 'Everybody Loves a Good Drought' which was heart-wrenching to read, this book also covers the positive outcomes of the successful policy implementations (mid-day meals, PDS etc).

He also advocates strongly for action-based research - an intersection of practice and research - for ensuring both the scientific inquiry without losing the touch with the chaotic reality of the ground. He makes a strong case for this approach leading to sustainable and effective actions in the social sector.

All in all, a good account to give an overview of macro-level policies issues while valuing the smallest anecdotes in the context of development in India.

[Iqra Tasmiae]

Anand Krishnan-
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Scroll.in review (by Supriya Sharma)- https://scroll.in/article/854152/is-i...

"Is India’s social spending too high? The idea would be amusing if it were not so harmful.

In ‘Sense and Solidarity’, Jean Drèze maps how India has fared over the last two decades in tackling hunger and ill-health.

Early in this collection of essays, you will encounter the story of Kusumatand village in Jharkhand, where a landless community called Bhuiyans made meagre wages working as seasonal labourers in neighbouring Bihar. All they could afford to eat was broken rice with the flowers of the mahua tree, or a wild spinach called chakora.

In the summer of 2002, three people in the village died of starvation. To investigate the deaths, a team of activists travelled to Kusumatand, which lies in Manatu block in Palamau district. Jean Drèze, the Belgian-born economist who became an Indian citizen that year, was one of them. “The mahua season was now coming to an end and many people were eating lumps of chakora,” he wrote, with Bela Bhatia, another team member. “Of twenty-one sample households, twenty said they frequently skipped meals for want of anything to eat.”

Most of the families did not have ration cards to buy subsidised foodgrains under the public distribution system. The village had “no approach road, no school, no electricity, no health facility, nothing”.

This dismal picture – “a humanitarian emergency”, as Drèze rightly called it – was not unique to Jharkhand. It was seen in most of northern and eastern India in the early 2000s, as he vividly and movingly sketches in the essays.

By the end of the decade, however, several states had begun to show improvements. In Manatu block itself, as Drèze records in the notes to the essay on Kusumatand, a survey in 2014 showed the public distribution system was functioning better.

Hard-won victories
Much of this became possible because of the painstaking work done by Right to Food and Right to Information activists. Drèze was actively part of these movements – in fact, as he briefly recounts, a conversation he had with activist Kavita Srivastava and lawyers Colin Gonsalves and Yug Chaudhry in 2001 sparked the public interest litigation in the Supreme Court which came to be known as the Right to Food case.

The case ran for 16 years, becoming a powerful tool for activists to hold governments, both at the Centre and in the states, accountable for the provision of food in schools, anganwadis and ration shops. It also laid the ground for the passage of enabling legislations, including the Right to Information Act and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in 2005, and the National Food Security Act in 2013.

This collection of Drèze’s essays, originally published in the opinion pages of news publications between 2000 and 2017, offers a remarkable view of these tumultuous years. Drèze has arranged the essays thematically and chronologically to serve as “a sort of retrospective on the course of social policy in India”. Not just younger readers but even those familiar with the ground covered in the book will find it useful – occasionally startlingly – to be reminded of the distance India has travelled.

In 2001, for instance, many state governments were scuttling schools meals by arguing they could not afford them. Today, school meals are a staple, and the debate has shifted to whether eggs should be included. Even anganwadis, or government crèches, were once precarious, and now have the backing of law.

Halfway through the book, however, Drèze observes: “In a democratic system, progress towards our goals and visions generally proceeds in steps (and not always forward).”

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, which passed the progressive laws drafted by activists, quietly whittled them down through administrative fiats. In its second term, looking for technological fixes, it launched the Unique Identification project, called Aadhaar, in the belief that assigning 12-digit identification numbers to the poor would plug leakages in social spending.

A reversal
“The idea that social spending in India is too high would be amusing if it were not so harmful,” writes Drèze, pointing out that India spends just 4.4% of its gross domestic product on health and education, compared to 7% in sub-Saharan Africa and 6.3% in the least-developed countries of the world.

Still, in 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party, fighting elections under the leadership of Narendra Modi, went about claiming that India needed growth, not handouts, to lift people out of poverty and hunger.

After it came to power, the Modi government began to dismantle the gains of the previous decade by starving the rural employment guarantee programme of funds, and transferring the onus to the states to keep other important social programmes running. And just when the public distribution system had begun to record significant gains, it made Aadhaar mandatory for buying subsidised foodgrains, among other social welfare benefits.

Now every time they go to the ration shop to buy foodgrains, India’s poor have to prove their identity by getting their fingerprints scanned on an electronic device. Never mind that the hard manual work they do often wears out their fingerprints. Or that the country has patchy internet connectivity. Sometimes, the problem is even more basic – the poor have not been able to get their Aadhaar numbers linked to their ration cards.

The results are tragic. As I finish reading Drèze’s book, reports come of a 11-year-old child dying of starvation in Simdega, Jharkhand, after her family was denied subsidised foodgrains for six months because their ration card had not been linked to Aadhaar. The alert has been sounded out by the state’s Right to Food campaign, of which Drèze, who now lives in Ranchi, is a member.

Does social activism make research less credible? Do economists have anything to gain from jholawalas? “Objectivity requires intellectual honesty not an abdication of convictions,” Drèze writes in the introduction to the book. “Statistical analysis, important as it is, is often overrated in economics, while other means of learning, including experience are undervalued.”

This is good food for thought for journalists as well."
-Supriya Sharma, scroll.in

[Fred Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, going against the grain of other reviewers here. This book was recommended to me by a colleague in Bangalore but mostly this is recycled opinion pieces and many not particularly recent (India and the world have changes a lot since 2002). The introduction was good and I actually found myself agreeing with some of the activist economics stances. I would like to have seen deeper dives into some of the issues esp. ones like Aadhaar. I would like to hear more about all the sides in that instance, because that is one case where the media view is one sided I think.

[Savil Srivastava · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good solid collection of op-eds over the last 20 years, covering a lot of on the ground experience that Jean Dreze has had with social policy initiatives in health, nutrition, education, etc. in the Indian heartland.

[Agyani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Any economist who conforms to Dreze's idea is sober and sensible. Anyone who doesn't, your guess is as good as mine. Mr. Dreze should stick to development economics, which is his core competency. His musings on other topics were shallow. Nevertheless, I appreciate his groundwork.

[Praveen Kishore · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must for every Indian!

[Shahina · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You’ll love him”, my friend threw in as a parting remark after suggesting I read this book. On that day in addition to the usual, light catching up a few sobering subjects reared their heads —social development, poverty, and starvation deaths in the 21st century. And in that context Jean Drèze and “Jholawala economics”. It was nothing short of gushing. I learnt that he is a legend among students of development economics and such, an activist, and that although from Belgium, he is probably more Indian than some of us and a strong voice for the underprivileged.

“Jholawala economics” stuck. Guess this was a big enough clue that he has a way with words. Another acerbic one towards the end of the book while he dissects Universal Basic Income - premature articulation. Don’t judge me for getting caught up with how wittily he writes or for admiring that underlying sharp humour capable of making you cringe at the way things are.
What I am trying to say is if it weren’t this engrossing or beautifully written it would have been more like a plodding through of about 300 odd pages filled with statistics, surveys, social schemes, acts, and in-depth analysis. This is a very human book, relatable and very essential.

The bigger thread through the narrative is hope, optimism. In the last essay he puts forward a concept called public-spiritedness. One of the examples he takes is punctuality. He points out that one can either be punctual by ethical reasoning (you don’t want to inconvenience another) or it can be just a cultivated habit of thought. By proving that “public-spiritedness does not always required self-sacrifice or deep ethical thinking” he argues that it has a future in improving our social life and social institutions.

It’s hard to put the book out of your mind once you begin reading it. Although the reality of poverty, drought and hunger, children’s midday meals, and PDS (rationing of grains) take a while to digest he takes you through years of data and shows you the slow but steady progress that has happened and the economic benefits from these programs. By busting myths and defeatist outlooks he highlights the enormous potential of social schemes. Everything is explained in a way that everyone can understand. “No phd required”, the author’s own words, although in another context.

Here’s one picked out randomly from the long list of endearing statistics that are there in the book – things that we may usually not give a thought to in our everyday lives.

“The proportion of schools with at least two pacca (brick) rooms went up from 26 to 84% between 1996 and 2006”

“Equally enlightening are people’s testimonies. No sensitive person can fail to be moved by the words they have used to describe how NREGA employment helps them to live with dignity, feed their children, and send them to school.”

On the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the submissiveness of the underprivileged -
“Indeed, it is a remarkable fact that ten years after NREGA came into force, not a single worker has gone to court to claim his or her rights under the act.”

It gets you to think deeper about things that are long overdue like how empowering women makes a tonne of difference, the debilitating affect of the caste system and where it has left large sections of the society. How social policies have the power to ensure basic dignity of life.

I’m reminded of another conversation that happened in a homestay in Mysore and the suggestion that there's a need for the middle-class to grow a conscience.

Is it just empathy that is needed? This is India. You can’t escape the day-to-day struggle or the poverty however much you isolate yourself from it and try and move in circles that keep you away from that reality. There's a nasty social habit of treating certain people differently from adopting a different tone while talking to them to grudging their existence around preferred neighbourhoods and haunts in the city. Perhaps it’s time we give public-spiritedness a chance and see if we can inculcate new habits towards a humanity that is no longer “selective”.

P.S: I can't get over how the Biscuit Manufacturers of India, a lobby which is chaired by some key person from Parle, tried to push Parle G as a replacement for the cooked midday meal for children provided in schools! When that was thankfully rejected they didn't stop there, soon they were back with a proposal for it to be included as nutrition for the under 6 year old children! This is under the section of corporate technocracy. That image of a cute, innocent, nostaligic Parle G was shattered to pieces right then and there. Goes to prove that nothing is sacred other than human to human kindness. This is just one square inch of the stories and incidents and examples presented - almost the whole of India is covered in these essays on the growth of social policies in India between 2001 and 2017.

Now that the book is over it's sort of an overwhelming feeling and an emptiness of sorts - now deal with these facts I guess!

[Bikash Kanungo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a collection of thought provoking essays and articles from Jean Dreze, a Belgian-born Indian economist and social activist. The essays dwell on developmental economics and social justice subjects related to education, healthcare, food security, and politics. The writings exudes the intimate understanding about the social and economic trials of the poor, a hard earned acumen that he has gained through his travels, fieldwork and extensive stays in rural India. Dreze, by means of his personal example, erases the artificially drawn lines between academics and activism. The essays exhibit the sensitivity of an activist, and the clinical observation and astute analysis of an academic.

Among the most compelling arguments that Dreze makes is the case for public debate and public action, and hence the term "Solidarity" in the title. In doing so, Dreze underlines the efficacy and paramountcy of solidarity for social good, an oft-repeated yet willfully neglected aspect of state policy. The other refreshing aspect of Dreze's work is its demystification of the technocratic worldview that most from the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), including myself, have so uncritically possessed. To elaborate, the technocratic worldview, imparted to us through conventional education, has often deluded us into reducing a social issue into a technological challenge. That is, the technocratic vision tricks us into locating the society within technology, rather the other way round. Dreze, in his characteristic non-polemic style, warns us against this over-emphasis on technocracy and the neglect of social ethics. Dreze also tempers the usual predisposed condescension that comes with "accredited" knowledge and expertise. He does not view knowledge and wisdom to be a prisoner of accredited degrees. And in doing so, he urges the reader to provide the largest possible canvas for public debate, so as to accommodate the vast knowledge and lived experiences of the common masses.

[Rick Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

1. So, What is this work about?

Quite an interesting work by Jean Dreze, a developmental economist.

The work is a collection of Essays on, Development Economics

2. So, What parts were interesting?

His Essay on Kashmir was interesting, giving picture of Kashmir Life.

Kashmiris say, “Yahan roti, kapada aur makaan sab ke paas hai”

In my mind, I picture, Kashmir as exotic place

Excerpts,

According to the railway minister, for instance,

“it is the wish and dream of every Indian that India runs a bullet train as early as possible”.

Really?

To be frank, the average Indian is more likely to dream about a train that runs on time

3. What parts were more interesting?

He says,

To sum up, the “Gujarat model” story, recently embellished for the elections, is misleading in at least three ways.

First, it exaggerates Gujarat’s development achievements.

Second, it fails to recognize that many of these achievements have little to do with Narendra Modi.

Third, it casually attributes these achievements to private enterprise and economic growth.

All this is without going into murkier aspects of Gujarat’s experience, such as environmental destruction or state repression.

If Gujarat is a model, then the real toppers, like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, must be super-models.


Also, I felt happy, iSpirit was included in it.

iSpirit is a non-profit, board for India's SaaS market.

4. So, What I found missing?

While data is all available, these could be represented [quantified]

I am thinking,

1. Monte Carlo simulation
2. Comparing in real-world

If you are looking for data, I suggest An Uncertain Glory by Jean Dreze

In this way, this could be more rigorous & more people could be persuaded.

Deus Vult,
Gottfried

[Rohith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jean Dreze's 'Sense and Solidarity' is a lovely summary of India's social policy over the last couple of decades in the form of a collection of articles that he has written over time with short introductions. As someone who has followed the alphabet soup of schemes and their budgets over the last several years, I found the book to be a very useful reference. It was particularly interesting to read the tidbits on the Biscuit Manufacturers Association's lobbying to replace mid-day meals in schools with glucose biscuits supplied by Parle, and many other instances of the pink papers and their corporate sponsors' attempts to dismiss social policy in India as hand-outs.

If there is anything that is disappointing about the book, it is the inclusion of the articles on nuclear deterrence and Kashmir at the cost of subjects like agriculture, environment or sanitation. As interesting as they were, they really stick out of the overall theme. However, I enjoyed the quirky references to Rapoport and Kropotkin which is what makes Jean Dreze, Jean Dreze. Also, as an honorary jholawala economist (not quite a practitioner, hence 'honorary'), I have immense respect for how Prof Dreze has settled in India and made it his home. He has probably done more than anyone else in recent history in understanding the length and breadth of this complex subcontinent and its people. His adamant refusal to stride the power corridors in Delhi and instead, spend his time with people's movements and in remote rural locations across the country is truly one of a kind and especially uncommon for our species of economists. *Hat tip*

[Manvika Athwani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of essays/op-eds unpacking social development in India, the pillars on which it stands as well as the forces chipping away at them.

It begins with an argument for action based research to inform policy, while highlighting the pitfalls of evidence based policy making, which can be painfully blind to real life experience. This perspective is particularly important as a viable alternative (if not complementary) to the dominant narrative of evidence based policymaking.

Jean Drèze makes accessible the language of economics (poverty lines, game theory, summary indices to name a few) to understand the nature of social welfare in India. The essays cover a broad range of topics from child nutrition and public health to employment support. For the uninitiated reader, these are useful starting points. For the initiated, these essays offer important findings and accounts to enhance their understanding of the realities of socio-economic policy, but by design, may not offer an in-depth analysis of some points (fortunately the book comes with a bunch of references)

Insightful economics aside, referencing Gujarat's consistent middle of the board ranking in development indicators in the essay "The Gujarat Muddle", Jean Drèze also writes "Mind you, the “G spot” (ninth out of twenty) may be auspicious." I think that's reason enough to try this book out.

[Kaushik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book quite full of hope, contrary to what most people on this forum seem to suggest. Sure, Drèze speaks passionately on the things that DONT work in our public infrastructure, but he also speaks at great length about how programs like the mid-day meal programme, NREGA, the drastic improvements in the PDS have far reaching benefits.

Drèze reserves his bias for things he holds dear, and rightly so, but he provides insights into the lives of people who remain invisible to most of us, who we are all more than happy to forget. This is evident in "bullet train syndrome" that he explains - a tendency in Indian public policy to prioritise projects that provide enhanced facilities to the small percentage of priveleged as opposed to decent facilities for all (think about the state of the education and health system in India).

The book is a collection of short essays, which makes it easy to pick it up anytime and read. Would recommend to all.

[Hamsini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jean Dreze is a rare development economist, instead of working on stata all day to determine indices he actually goes out and meets people and learns of their issues and then looks at them through a micro-economic lens. The book is a collection of his writings for The Hindu (and a few other publications) over the years. It includes articles from the 1990s all the way to recent issues like demonitisation and aadhar. Even folks who claim to have a 'capitalist' economic-view would be able to empathise and understand issuesfrom not necessarily a socialist view-point but from a people-centric view point. While his earlier book with sen, 'an uncertain glory' works way better as an itnroduction to social policy in india, this too is a good read to understand issues confronting a majority of our country-men.

[Nivan Bagchi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is an anthology of Jean Dreze's articles over the years. Considering his central role in policy making in the country, this book is certainly a must read.

The article on PDS, especially how chhattisgarh which was referred as a "BIMARU", was able to turn things around and the influence of corporate lobby like the "Biscuit Club" on public policy was the highlight for me.

However other articles like the ones on Kashmir, which probably also is, not his forte, are rather delusional. For instance he talks of how religion had no role to play in the displacement of Kashmiri Pandits seemed a bit too far fetched.

[Anand · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Big Dose of Rational Optimism

Jean seems to always embody quintessential traits of wisdom. He's articulate, logical, action-oriented and doesn't shy away from voicing his opinion. In addition to being his usual wise self, this book underlines two other inspiring traits of his - ceaseless devotion to serving the underprivileged and relentless optimism.

This book not only helped me be better informed, but also alleviated the ever-increasing sense of hopelessness.

[Vaidya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good set of essays covering the game of India's social sector.
Healthcare, Child care and nutrition, NREGA, Food Security Act. And then a set of essays about assorted topics like Nuclear Armament and the Civil Nuclear Deal. Finishing with a bunch of miscellaneous essays.

All these essays are from articles written over a period of 15-20 years. So give a good idea of how things have evolved over time, or not.

[Prateek · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are not many economics writers with the empathy and compassion that matches Dreze. The book is a collection of articles that he wrote across 2 decades, and are arranged perfectly to give a perspective of changes in public policy, politics, capitalism, nationalism and apathy in India.

[Harsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives grassroot picture of the social realities and contradictions that India faces. The book also highlights solutions and case studies which can act as positive solutions for the problems we(India) face in education, healthcare, hunger etc

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to be as empathetic, meticulous, selfless, and thorough as Jean Dreze is with his thoughts and fieldwork. Thank you for all you've done.

[Ananya · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for those interested in knowing how India does, and can, govern itself. Despite hair-splitting analysis, it is still very positive about the Indian development trajectory & future.

[Manvendra Shekhawat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sensible!