Abstract:  Bihar is the poorest state in India, with indicators for health, education, and income worse than of many countries of sub-Saharan Africa.  With a population of one hundred million, the state’s lagging development indices have been routinely attributed as pulling down not only India’s but the world’s overall performance in combating poverty.  However, in the last decade, Bihar has seen an explosion of anti-poverty programs on issues ranging from health, nutrition, livelihoods, financial inclusion, and democratic governance. These programs have been backed by the World Bank, the Gates Foundation, MIT’s Poverty Action Lab, and other international development actors that have been welcomed and supported by the state government.  In these collaborations, older boundaries of the state, the private sector, civil society, the philanthropic sector, and academia are increasingly blurred.  What has made these programs additionally distinctive from older development initiatives is their experimental ethos.  Over the last decade, Bihar has become a massive laboratory for the production of development knowledge and policy.  This talk will examine the making of Bihar as a development laboratory.  How did Bihar become a veritable crucible for studies of behavioral sciences, management sciences, public health, and development economics?  What kinds of knowledge production do these programs privilege, and how do they shape policies and programs that seeks to combat long standing problems of poverty?

Speaker: Dr. Manjari Mahajan,  The New School University

Manjari Mahajan is an Associate Professor in the Graduate Programs in International Affairs and Co-Director of the India China Institute at The New School University.  Her work lies at the intersection of Science and Technology Studies, Development Studies, and Anthropology. Her research and teaching are on the topics of global health, philanthrocapitalism, and digital governance. Much of her empirical focus has been on India and South Africa, and more recently, on global organizations such as the Gates Foundation.  She holds a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from Cornell University, a MSc in Science and Technology Policy from SPRU, Sussex University, and a BA from Harvard University

Co-Sponsored by Global Development and Science and Technology Studies