Role of Social Capital

in Haryana
A report on a workshop on how social capital could aid rural
development in Haryana.
MAHI PAL

he concept of social capital (SC),

which came into being a decade
ago, has been receiving the attention of researchers, practitioners and policy
formulators on the extent to which it facilitates effective democracy and development. It has been argued in the literature
that there is a positive relationship between SC and the productivity of financial
and physical capital. These days, networking, public-private partnership, collaboration, linkages and collective action
have been used frequently to show the
relevance of SC in promotion of development and democracy. Seeing the significance of SC in accelerating the pace of
development, the Tenth Plan document of
the Planning Commission, in its chapter,
Poverty Alleviation in Rural IndiaStrategy and Programmes stated: The
promotion of a movement which enhances
social capital and forges linkages with
other formal and informal stakeholders
engaged in developmental activities would
be a major thrust during the plan.
There are umpteen agencies, associations
and actors which have been active at the
macro, meso and micro levels to achieve
their stipulated objectives. The associations, networking, trust and social cohesion are important for effectively
channelising the energies of these agencies and actors to build the nation in various
dimensions. In this context , there is a need
to deliberate on various dimensions and
applications of the SC amongst different
stakeholders in order to arrive at concrete
prescriptive measures so that the same may
be put before the policy-makers to embed
them into various developmental
programmes for their effective delivery.
Against this background, the Haryana
Institute of Rural Development organised
a one-day workshop on role of SC in rural

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development in Haryana with the objectives, inter alia, to deliberate on the concepts and implications of SC in rural
development for poverty alleviation and
rural development through social intermediation. And to discuss the methodology of measuring SC and to arrive at a
concrete plan of action for enhancing the
stock of SC and activating the existing
dormant SC in rural Haryana. The participants in the workshop included inter alia
academicians, NGOs and bureaucrats.

Consensus
On the issue of the definition of SC,
there was a general consensus that the
concept of the SC is itself evolving. Different scholars have defined it differently.
Robert Putnam, who may be said to be the
father of the concept of SC, defines it as
features of social organisation such as
networks, norms and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for
mutual benefits. There is a need to widen
the definition of SC. The main argument
for SC is that it facilitates cooperation and
coordination for mutual benefit of the
members of an association. However, some
of the scholars argued for commitment and
redistribution of resources which also
facilitate cooperation and coordination,
which in turn, facilitate development.
The participants referred to SC as human
capital, social relations and redistribution
of resources. A detailed discussion was held
on the measurement of social capital. It was
a general observation that it is very difficult
to measure SC as it varies from village to
village and hence some common parameters have to be evolved for measurement.
It was emphasised that since SC is more
cognitive than structural, it becomes more
difficult to measure. However, there was a
general consensus that in addition to formal groups, informal groups/associations

may also be considered as components for

measuring social capital. Some of the participants even went to the extent of saying
that each and every human being is a SC
and in this sense SC is both the means as
well an end in itself. It was also pointed
out by the participants, particularly the
academicians, that SC is a neglected field
among academics. Hence, conceptual and
practical research is required to be done
in this field particularly in the northern states
of India so that the concept is properly put
into practice.

Depletion of Social Capital

Some of the scholars suggested the need
to prepare a working paper on SC in
Haryana because SC in the villages has
been depleting day by day. Some of the
participants were also of the opinion that
SC has been depleted in the villages with
the intervention of the state by introducing
various schemes for rural development
particularly after the mid-1970s. The caring
and sharing by village communities themselves has been to a great extent diminished because of the target-oriented approach of rural development. It was also
pointed out that the panchayati raj institutions have also depleted the existing stock
of SC in the villages because these institutions have broken the social cohesion of
the village community.
Elections to the panchayats were contributing factors for this trend. It was
expected that these institutions will promote rural development through peoples
participation. But it has not happened to
the desired extent. However, in those
villages where sarpanches were chosen
without election, more developmental
activities have been done and the main
reason for this was the stock of SC which
facilitated the process of choosing the
sarpanch without losing cohesion among
different castes and communities of the
villages. In this context, it may be said that
although associations/committees which are
part of SC have been formed throughout
the length and breadth of Haryana, but
due to non-functioning or networking of
these bodies, they are not facilitating
cooperation, which resulted in ineffectiveness of the various stakeholders
at various levels.
Finally, the discussion was focused on
how to increase the stock of SC and as how
to activate the latent SC in rural Haryana.
Here, the role of Agency is very important
in forming and activating the dormant

Economic and Political Weekly

February 26, 2005

SC. In Haryana, various institutions and

associations like the gram sabha (village
assembly), mahila mandals, youth clubs,
kisan clubs and parent-teacher associations
and health committees have been in existence but they are not active. But in places
where an NGO or an individual, acted as
an Agency, these associations not only
became vibrant, but also networked with
each other and performed their work effectively. In other words, through Agency
the latent SC was activated. Interestingly,
the created SC has strengthened panchayati
raj institutions by inducting peoples
participation, transparency and accountability in their functioning.

Dormant Social Capital

Finally, the discussion centred around
on how to activate the existing SC which
is lying dormant in the form of the gram
sabhas, SHGs, mahila mandals, youth
mandals, parent-teachers associations and
kisan clubs. It was observed that according
to the local needs, various agencies like
officials, NGOs, traditional leaders, social

Economic and Political Weekly

workers, social reformers and panchayats

may act as Agency to activate SC for
coordination and cooperation by networking with various associations. More emphasis may be given to micro financing as
SC in the form of SHGs could facilitate
cooperation and coordination among different stakeholders.
In the end, the consensus was that there
is a need to develop the concept of SC
particularly in Haryana. On the operational
part, there is a need to develop a training
programme on the theme of participatory
training on application of SC in rural
Haryana. The focus of the programme could
be on institutions and their networking at
the micro, meso and macro levels, the role
of PRIs, cooperative societies, DRDAs,
management of common properties such
as common lands, schools, dispensaries,
ponds, etc. The participants in such a
training programme may include among
others, functionaries of the voluntary
organisations, community based organisations, officials of department of rural
development and panchayats and elected
representatives of the PRIs -29

February 26, 2005

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