The Hindu Business Line : `Chicken and egg problem'

The article "Chicken and egg problem" (Business Line, July 21) takes an objective look at the problems pertaining to the pro-poor millennium development. The following points require further analysis towards effective implementation of the millennium goal.

First, the "chicken and egg" mystery: Is the "rampant corruption" referred to in the article "because of" or "in spite of" too much AID leading to poor governance?

Second, governance, particularly at lower levels, needs improvement. Here, grass-roots level democracy offers a greater potential in empowering the poor so that they demand the effective utilisation of government resources. Particularly, the self -help group model has succeeded well in helping women has in rural India ensure positive trends in the use of government resources.

The by-product of social engineering through SHGs is a mutually beneficial, collective decision-making and action mechanism through a federated unit of participants, correcting the inefficient local governance and trying to reduce corruption.

The prescription for reaching the millennium development goal, therefore, lies in the adoption of participatory development with more encouragement on "the poor to lab" experiments rather than "lab to poor' trials.

V. Rengarajan

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`Chicken and egg problem'