Editorial

Abstract

The 1st editorial for the Journal of Development Policy and Practice opened with the statement 'Development is experienced by individuals, communities and nations as physical, mental and social well-being within hospitable environments' (John & Khan, 2016). In this 4th issue, we begin with an article that addresses a core mechanism of encouraging development and change within democratic frameworks: that of elections, and the reasons why policies that encourage development, and the perception and experience of well-being tend to get voted affirmatively (Chakraborty & Mukherjee, 2017). Separately, and with the caveat that free and fair elections are a significant but not sole indicator of democracy, the question we pose is whether development definitions and processes are skewed in favour of those with means, both physical and political, thereby setting individuals and communities less privileged on a flat or downward development trajectory. The question is raised for reasons that are either referenced to or hinted at within the subsequent articles in this issue that analyse development schemes targeting child nutrition (Dehury & Samal, 2017), education (Rath & Wadhwa, 2017) and health (Chatterjee & Dehury, 2017) in India, and because of the loud thinking taking place in public fora in India about the utility and feasibility of coalescing federal (general) and state level elections into a single event. Political leadership for development, and consequent administrative actions experienced at individual and community levels, needs electoral space for responses. Such locally relevant leadership and programmatic responses to secure development outcomes need to be recognised and rewarded and can get overshadowed, when juxtaposed against larger national issues such as territorial integrity and prestige. This can lead to a reduction and conflation of electoral choices in favour of the national rather than the local, thereby accentuating the influence of those with means, while leaving others less enabled on flat or regressive development trajectories. A consequence of marginalisation in the enjoyment of well-being, and perhaps less political say, is migration of the relatively more skilled or able bodied among them, and the remittance home by these migrants to support the needs and aspirations of kin left behind (Mahapatro, 2017). This issue of the journal also comes out when the World Health Assembly has, in an unprecedented manner at its 70th annual gathering, elected a new director general. This has been the first time that all member states had an equal vote in the election. Similar stirrings for openness and democratic process were experienced