India’s Ruling Elites, Mineral Resources and Jharkhand

From: The Economic and Political Weekly

Why are politicians and bureaucrats in Jharkhand uninterested in spending central development funds even when the state is so backward? And why are they not apprehensive about what this would do to their electoral fortunes? The Madhu Koda case supplies the answers. The ruling elite relies on a share of the rents or super profits from issuing licences for the state’s massive mineral resources. And the vote-gathering system is largely based on kinship and community ties, rather than on interest groups demanding various benefits.

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FULL TEXT at:

Resource Curse and Jharkhand

by Dev Nathan, and Harishwar Dayal in: The Economic and Political Weekly, 44 No. 51 December 19 - December 25, 2009 (PDF)