ABSTRACT

This chapter is based on a long-term quantitative and qualitative study of 21 villages of Birbhum district. It seeks to explain why formal and informal cooperation are generally absent in these villages; and it compares conditions in the early post-Independence period under Congress party rule with the first decade under the Left Front government.

A total of eight possible explanations for the absence of cooperation during the Congress period are considered. Four explanations are rejected because they lack empirical support or analytical plausibility. These include: intrinsic lack of viability; intrinsic free-rider problems; poverty; and Hindu culture.

Four other explanations are at least partially supported by the data. These include: stratification (caste and class barriers to cooperation); administrative failures; uneven development; and “amoral familism” (a culture of maximum distrust). These four factors were mutually reinforcing causes of low cooperation in the Congress period.

Changes under the Left Front regime are then considered. Contrary to expectations, these changes failed to promote cooperation in the villages, at least during the first decade of Left Front rule. Some changes even reduced the previous low rate of cooperation. As a result, basic problems of production remained unsolved, at least until the late 1980s.