Book Review

Rural Elite and Local Level Information Rural Development in Bangladesh

Author: Dr. SayedNesar Ahmed Rumy

Reviewed by SweetyShahinur Roll No. # 39 Foundation Training Course for NARS Scientists (Batch # 22) 05 February 03 June 2012

Guided by MsSaifunNahar (), BARD

Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD) Kotbari, Comilla, Bangladesh

Contents
Part Title Page

Acknowledgement
Part-1 Introduction 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Part-2

Bibliographic Information of the Book

Main Theme of the Book Contents of the Book Structural and Physical Get up of the Book Methodology and Basis of Hypothesis Importance, Significance and Relevance of the Book Introduction of the Author of the Book Introduction The Area of the study Socio-economic Position

Component of the Subject Matter 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7
2.8

Affiliations, Conceptions and views on politics Role and Performance on the development of the villages Linkage with the Government Officers Views, conceptions and conscious on different issues Conclusion Positive and Negative Aspects of the Books

Part-3

Criticism
3.1

3.2
Part-4

Laps and Gaps and Limitations of the Book

Success and Failure of the Author Describing the Subject Matter of the Book Standard of the Authors Opinions and Suggestions about the Subject Matter New Thinking in the Book Reviewers Own Opinion about the Book

Conclusion and Suggestion

4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The reviewer expresses profound indebtedness and sincere gratitude to the respected guide Ms. SaifunNahar, ..BARD for her scholastic direction, valuable suggestions and constructive criticism, encouragement and kind cooperation in accomplishing this book review. The reviewer also highly obliged and expressing gratification and sincere appreciation to the respected course instructors for their valuable suggestions, encouragement and kind cooperation. The reviewer wishes to take this opportunity to record gratefulness to all the participants of the NARS scientist (22th Batch) for their help and warmth during her entire period of work.

The reviewer

Part One Introduction

1.a. Bibliographic Information of the Book 01.Title of the book Rural Elite and Local Level Information Rural Development in Bangladesh Dr. SayedNesar Ahmed Rumy AnjonDey UjaanProkashon 3 BijoyNagor (3rd floor), Dhaka-1000 June 2005 The book contains a total of 160 pages and 9 chapters Neo Concept (Pvt.) Ltd. 7CDA C/A, Momin Road, Chittagong ISBN 984-32-2386-1 Taka-220.00 for Bangladesh and US$ : 05 for outside Bangladesh

02.Author of the book 03.Publisher & Place of Publication

04.Date of Publication 05.No. of Pages and Chapters 06.Printed by

07.Price

1.b Main theme of the book

The reviewed book is an explorationof the elite class in the rural Bangladesh and their role inthe development programs. The author has also pondered on the socio-economic status and political affiliation of the elite class. In this book it is revealed that rural elites are generally centeredon their self interest in every step of their life.Many of them try to do something for the development of the villages, but their initiatives are mainly driven by self interest to keep their position in the villages. They have limited scopes to participate in the rural development programs taken by government. Some elites try to makeliaison with the Government Officials, but the author finds that they cannot do much for the rural development.

1.c Contents, Structural and physical get up of the book

The whole text of the book is divided mainly in eight chapters and one concluding chapter. Prefaceand acknowledgement also enrich the book. After the main part, there areEpilogue, Bibliography and Introduction of author of the book, which are helpful for the readers. The book is sized 23 X 15 cm2 having 160 pages. It is printed on white print paper with clear print and hard paper binding. The price of the book is 220 Taka. The cover page is standard one having green and violetcolours,make this structurally good looking.

The First Chapter deals with introduction of the issue, review of literature, justificationof the study, objectives of the study, methodology, sampling and data collection techniques, definition & measurement of variables, and limitation of the study. The book is also enriched with 35 tables and 1 map of various aspects. Second chapter deals with study areas, population, occupation, housing, cropping pattern and communication system of the corresponding area. Third chapter deals with Socio-economic position of the elite according to education, households, income, property, occupation, family size,service and business. This chapter also deals with the different criteria to be considered as an elite. Fourth chapter deals with affiliations concept and views on politics Fifth chapter deals withhow the elites play their role in various types of development. Sixth chapter deals with Seven chapter deals with Eight chapter deals with 1.d Basis of Hypothesis and Methodology followed by the author As it is a research work, fivehypothesiswere formulated and tested, whose result is described in this book. However, it has formulated some research question and analysis has been done accordingly. The research questions were:

1.4 Importance, significance and relevance of the book

Part-2 Components of Subject Matter

REVIEW OF CHAPTER-1
Introduction: The author has illustrated the geographical position of Bangladesh and statistical information with a brief description of land resources. A total picture of the rural Bangladesh is illustrated in brief. The rural development is the vital factor to build an economic and political system in Bangladesh. So it is high time to study the activity of rural elites in the rural development of the Bangladesh. The elites are the large farm owners who control the rural society.From these rural elites chairmen and members of the union porishadare elected.Rural elites are also the modernizing agent of development of rural area. They want to do something for rural development but can not do much without the help of Government officers.They offer their voluntary service to the community, which is not very popular.In order to keep their leadership intact they maintain a good relationship with the government officer. According to the author, most of the elites are against the family planning programs. Not only that, in some cases they act in anti family planning roles. There are different occupational groups in the village such as farmer, businessmen, fishermen, potter etc. Generally big landowners and richpeople are able to keep their influence and leadership in the village areas as well as successful in maintaining relationship with the government officers. Sometimes some elites talk too much about the rural activities to flourish them as leaders. But actually they do nothing. When the government officers try to get response about various types of governmental programs from the villagers, they did not find proper response from them. Review of Literature The review of literature deals with search into different matters and issues relating to activitiesof the rural elites and local level information about rural development in Bangladesh and abroad. The discussion is based on different studies related to status, leadership pattern of elite, their effects on decision making, problem and prospect of rural development and other related fields. In literature review approximately 21 sources of reports and books were given which were related to the rural development and activity of the elites in different sectors. Justification of the Study: The central governmentwants to develop the rural area. Villagers do not have direct connection with the government. So the roles of elites in village development is important.

To examine elite activity and simultaneously socio-economic status and political affiliation this study was undertaken. Objectives: Socio-economic condition, political affiliation and activity of the elite were studied. They also identified the connection between elite and government. Finally the impact of their activity in rural development were examined. Hypothesis Socio-economicstatus of the elite is mainly dependent on the landed property. They have no direct contact with political parties. They support Government program and have no significant contact with the Government party. It is also assumed that the elites are involved in the settlement of the village disputes and they are not against the family planning program. Methodology The author used case study method in union porishad. Various types of methods were used by researchers.The study area was Amla which is union parishad in MirpurUpazila of Kustia District. This district/union was chosen due to historical background, communication and other factor. In this study the elected member, chairman,farmers, gram sharkerprodhan, ex member, ex-chairman, women member, some school teacher, businessmen,educated people having landing properties and physicianwere included.

REVIEW OF CHAPTER-2
The area of the study
The authors have illustrated the historical background and geographical position of Kustia District with a brief description. Amla union contains 14 villages. In this chapter information of the population, house hold, percent of literacy occupation, cropping pattern, communication system and institution system in each village were described in details. Anjangachi was the largest village with 1594 acres area and 2113 population, while BilAmal was the smallest village with 271 acres land and 246 population.

REVIEW OF CHAPTER-3
SOCIO-ECONOMIC POSITION
Quality of the leadership depends on the socio-economic condition of the elites. Economic condition and social status are independent. Economic position is a way to increase influence in the society. Land is an important factor for village leadership. The farmer who has more land property can contribute in the village agriculture market. Thus elites can increase their social position as well as their landed property. The social position of the elite is described by author based on the following factors: i) Education, ii) Property, iii) Family size, iv) Occupation, v) Income, vi) Household, vii) Service and business

Most of the elites according to the authorbelonged to 35- 40 years age group. However, elites around the age of 50 are found more vocal. Villagers are mostly dependent on them for daily problems. These elites are also more conscious about the social and economic condition of the country.Below 40 years elites can frequently communicate with government officer. Above 60 years elites are occasionally involved in social occasions. Education: Most of the rural eliteshad education level betweensecondary school to SSC.5.22% illiterate elites were not able to communicate with government officers. So the educated elites get importance from villagers due to their communication power with government officer. One important thing is that elites who are graduates can influence the village.Because they help the villagers to write different documents that would be submitted in the government office.Having literate wives is also important factor in social position. If wives of elitesare educated they are placed asmodern in the village society. 30% wivesof the

study groupwere illiterate, while 70% wiveswere literate but most of their education level was up toprimary level, i.e. education condition of the women in the studied villagewas poor. But children of the elites got more facilitiescompared to other. Household: The elites who have large family size have enough money; could communicate with the government officers. But many elites could not present the village problem properly. Income: Income is an important factor to know the economic position and social status of the elite. Most of the elitessell their crops and the surplus money is used to exploit the poor. During the fertilizer crisis the elites buy fertilizer at high rates. So thepoor farmers can not get/buy fertilizer in proper time, which hampers their harvest. The elites who do not have much money cannot influence the society much. Income also gives a power in decision making. The elites, who donate money in different sectors in the village, are most welcome by the villager stomake decision. Most of the elites income range id within 20,000-70,000. The elite who are wealthiest are not so interestedin social works, as they are confined to their wealth. Their per capita yearly income (5,809.64) is higher than the national and district per capita income. So elites condition and social status is better. They spend their surplus money in most cases for their own use, specially in cultivation. Property:Rural influence of the elite can be measured by the value of property. Local influence will be more if some one has more property. Most of the elites value of property was Tk3-4 lac. Occupation: Occupation is important to know the prestige and position of the elites. 63.48%of the studied elites are farmers, who play the vital role in the village attribution. Some elites were businessmen and among them some were active in politics. 16.52% elites were service holders,who help the villagers in the official works. 6.09% elites are doctors who have also influence in the village. The rest of the elites are women who are the members or former members of the Union Porishad. Family Size: Most of the elites have joint family. Few elites stay in single families but in any social occasion and cases they present that place as a join family. Service and Business:The service holder elites cannot take equal part as farmers in village affairs. But in the offices they help the villagers. 15.65% elites studied are service holders including 9.30% school teachers. Villagers give importance to theschool teachers as elite.1.74% elitesof the sample do clerical job. They help as well as exploit the villagers. Few service holders are peon and medical assistant.

Criteria to be consideredelite:According to the author the criteria to be considered elite is to have big land property, high earnings from agriculture, involvement in social work, education,family background, political affiliation etc.

REVIEW OF CHAPTER-4
AFFILIATIONS, CONCEPTIONS AND VIEWS ON POLITICS
Ideal Party Most of the elites are not active members of the political parties. They also do not want to be involved in the politics. While the study was done, New Janadal party, floated by then military ruler Ershad, was popular village elites. But the elitesdid not know anything about the program of this party. They supported this party as a government party.11.39% elitesconsidered BNP as ideal party, specially thosewho became part of the gram sorkar during BNP rule. 6.09% elites were supportersof the Awami league. 23.47% elites supported the Jamayet, only for religious cause. Most of the freedom fighters support the JatiyaSamajtandrikDal. When it was divided the supporters also divided into 2 groups. 1.74% elites supported the Muslim league. 20% elites said nothing about their political support. However, they were active members of the different political parties. National Election During the national election elites play an important role. During that time massive campaign were done by the party. The elites support the party giving condition. And by this way elites made different development by the party. Some elites thought the ruling party had better chance to win the election than other parties. So they cast their votes for ruling party. And they will cast the vote for ruling party in future also. Exception occurred in case of active member of other party. There is also some exception. 6.96% elites change their part. Because they want to support government at all times. Neither party nor the ideality is main factor. 73.91% Elite cast their vote for BNP during presidential election because the leadership of the Zia charmed the elite and after death of Zia made sympathy for his party. 6 elites express their opinion about Awami league. But they were not able to cast their vote due to different problem. Due to strong base of the JSD, 13.04% elite supported JSD. Elite and general voters were motivated by Gram Sorkar. Though there are lots of JSD supporters, BNP got more votes due to Gram Sorkeraffiliation. There are also some elites who cast their votesfor other than ruling party by choosing personality of the leader or due to active member of other political party. Form of Government 25.22% elite have no clear cut knowledge about the form of government. 39.13% elites thought that socio-economic development and political stability is possible during the

presidential from. 33.04% elite thought that parliamentary system ensures peoples right and democracy. 2.61% elite support the military system. Liberation War During the liberation war Kustia was under sector 8. In the village, 9.11% elites were freedom fighters. 80% elites supported liberation but did not join in the liberation. Rest of the elites were against the independent, who still thought that the broken Pakistan will become reunited.

Involvement in Politics: Direct involvement in politics is not popular. But majority of elite support the ruling party. This is also indication that they want to be associated with the government party. 13.04% elite have not changed their party who are mainly young. Local people consider them that they are capable to do many things.

REVIEW OF CHAPTER-5
ROLE AND PERFORMANCE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VILLAGE

Actually every elite wants to see the development of the village. It is helpful to the Government if elite co-operation is present in the development project. Still, there is not such development as desiredby villagers and elites. Development means the improvement of standard of living of rural people. Not only road but also rural development means school, market, agriculture facilities, medical service, and social service. Elites initiate the development and government officers encourage that development. Leaders play an active role in any type of development. Elite maintains the relation between the government officers and the villagers. Still there is gap between the villagers and the government officers. Elites who are the members of union parishad can do development but others have limited scope. Decision makers of the development were organized by the member and chairman of the union parishad. 82.61%, 4.34%, 5.22% and 2.61% elites give 2h, 2-4h, 4-6h and 6-8h time for village development.2nd category have good contact with the member and chairman. 3rd category elite could not give /spare more time for their family. 4th category elite are considerable as conscious and vocal about the problem of village. Most of the elites are mainly farmers and they take different agricultural loans from banks.78 (67.83%) elites of the sample took loan. Sometimes the loans taken are used for other purposes than for farming. Food for work is one of the development program where the elites can play a role. This program is used for road construction, re-excavation of unused pond, market & other infrastructure development. Reliefs are given to the affected people during natural calamities like flood, drought, tornado, cyclone etc. Most of the elites were found not involved in these development works. Table 5.3 describes how many elite were involved in development project. 74.78% elites were not involved in any development project. Most of the elites were involved in the village development at self initiation.

Agriculture:

59(63.48%) elites of the sample were involved in agriculture development programs. During fertilizer crisis, winter season water crisis and also in case of economical crisis, elites solved the problems by themselves or with the help of govt. officers. Road: During the crisis time 74(64.35%) elite took part in the development of the village roads and bamboo bridge, directly and indirectly. Indirect participation as a leader elite build the road on voluntary basis. They not only initiate young generation but also supply different element (Jhuri, bamboo) for road building. In case of direct participation elite do the development work on voluntary basis. Sometime elite say the village problem to the government officer and invite to visit the village. After that government take project and finally village development is occurred. Rural Health: 37(32.17%) elite work for rural health development. There are two way, firstly elite are active during diseases, epidermis, and physical calamities. During this time they take the patient to the hospital and also supply different material. Secondly some young elite try to develop their village by improving family planning programme. Disputes: Family dispute, youth dispute and land dispute are solved by 74(64.35%) elite. These types of work were done by three ways such as a) village arbitration, b) presentation the problem in the union parishad to solve the village dispute and c) present the problem n judicial court in the district and upazila head quarter. If 1st way is failed then 2nd way is taken and so on. 3rd way is mainly take in case of murder case, land disputeetc. Education: Different time government take different programme to spread the education. But there is improvement in our percentage of literacy. In the village the school and its materials condition are so poor. 57(49.57%) elite are trying to spread education by two ways 1) Motivation and 2) materials help Motivation: in this case the elite try to motivate the poor villager into education. They also try to improve the mass education to make the villager responsive citizen. But most of the time they did not take any facilities from the government. Material supply: Though government supply the material which is not sufficient. The elite try to supplying the school material to spread the education in the village. But there is also some elite who are not interested or like to spread the education. Co-operative:

25(21.74%) elite are member of the different co-operative. Most of the co-operative are agriculture related. There are also some fish co-operative in which government also donate. This types of elite also invite other to become member of these co-operative to improve the economic condition. Lack of conscious elite were not able to expressed the village problem systematically. 5,11, 43, 40 and 16 elite said 1, 2, 3, 4 and of the village problem respectively. Due to lee education and conscious the elite said low number of problem. The related problems are communication, tube well for safe drinking water, health and family planning. ButNo one mention the great population problem. Actually all of the elite want the solution of the different problem. Table 5.6 expressed the number of elite who can maintain the contact with different level of officers for solving the problems.12% elite say nothing to the any types of government officers due to unhelp from them. As awhole elite can be divided into three groups. Firstly elite who are member or chairman do development individually or by running the government project. They get advantage in decision making. Secondly the elite who were the member and former member and chairman can easily join in the different government project and make village development. This types of elites are not decision maker but can influence. Thirdly the elite who were not involved in different government committee do the village development by own interest. But there scope is limited.

REVIEW OF CHAPTER-6
LINKAGE OF THE GOVERNMENT OFFICE

REVIEW OF CHAPTER-7
VIEWS, CONCEPTION AND CONSCIOUSNESS

REVIEW OF CHAPTER-8
CONCLUSION

Limitations :

Critical Remarks on the Book Positive review Negative review

Elite who are primary school teacher are available in the school time-why. This term is not explained in the second chapter. If the writer tries to know then it would be possible to solve their problem and elite would be able to contribute to increase the education level in the village. In case of high rate of fertilizer the govt should give enough supply of fertilizer in cropping time this should come in recommendation. Similar recommendation irrigation system

Syntax of each chapter is not well decorated. Cover design and printing of this book is not attractive. Articles not very well-connected no clear directions at the end. A recommendable book for students of higher studies, teacher, academicians, economists, development, professionals, Local level government helpful to gain the knowledge of elite in rural development in Bangladesh economy. The language used in this book is very simple and easy to understand; however in some cases sentences are not well organized. In the text the author used a lot of data during interpret the tables, which made easy the text. It was better if the author selected some more area from the country, where intensity of population, education was very high. The book is a result of extended study on the rural elite and local level informal rural development in BD. The observation started from the root of the villagers life style irrespective of poor and rich. There is a good pen picture rural elite in the village life, which is very much essential for a positive change in local level informal rural development. Using of local words with its glossary made the book easier and palatable. It has been shown that there is a good participation from villagers side to collect various information for data. The book gives us the hope of our local level informal rural development through elite. I think the book is wonderful about the rural elite and local level informal rural development in BD. But it may be supplemented with suggestion about the process of rural development. I also like to mention a point that they might select different study cases of different area were selected. Otherwise this is excellent.

1. The author tried his best to highlight the present situation, scope and problems of export marketing of vegetables in Bangladesh. 2. Although the author used various statistical tools to analyze the data, in most cases, data collected from primary sources were not statistically analyzed. Therefore it is difficult to compare the data collected from different study area. 3. The findings of the study were the outcome and observations of some specific areas of Bangladesh and hence these were not reflected to confirm the results of other studies done by different researchers in different areas and in different context.

Conclusion