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Blurred Boundaries: The Discourse of Corruption, the Culture of Politics, and the Imagined

StateAuthor(s): Akhil GuptaSource: American Ethnologist, Vol. 22, No. 2 (May, 1995), pp. 375-402Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropological AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/646708

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blurredboundaries:the discourse of corruption,theculture of politics, and the imaginedstate

AKHILGUPTA-Stanford University

While doing fieldwork in a small village in North India(in 1984-85, and again in 1989) thatIhave named Alipur, Iwas struckby how frequentlythe theme of corruption cropped up in theeveryday conversations of villagers. Most of the stories the men told each other in the evening,when the day's work was done and small groups had gathered at habitual places to shoot thebreeze, had to do with corruption (bhrashtaachaar)and "thestate."' Sometimes the discussiondealt with how someone had managed to outwit an official who wanted to collect a bribe; atother times with "thegoing price"to get an electrical connection fora new tubewel Ior to obtaina loan to buy a buffalo; at still other times with which official had been transferredor who waslikely to be appointed to a certain position and who replaced, with who had willingly helpedhis caste members or relatives without taking a bribe, and so on. Sections of the penal codewere cited and discussed in great detail, the legality of certain actions to circumvent normalprocedure were hotly debated, the pronouncements of districtofficials discussed at length. Attimes it seemed as if I had stumbled in on a specialized discussion with its own esotericvocabulary, one to which, as a lay person and outsider, Iwas not privy.

What is strikingabout this situation, in retrospect,is the degree to which the state has becomeimplicated in the minute texture of everyday life. Of course north Indianvillages are not uniquein this respect. It is precisely the unexceptionability of the phenomenon that makes the paucityof analysis on it so puzzling. Does the ubiquity of the state make it invisible?Or is the relativelack of attention to the state in ethnographic work due to a methodology that privilegesface-to-face contact and spatial proximity-what one may call a "physics of presence?"In this article I attempt to do an ethnography of the state by examining the discourses ofcorruptionincontemporary India.Studyingthe stateethnographically involves both the analysisof the everyday practices of local bureaucracies and the discursive construction of the state inpublic culture. Such an approach raisesfundamental substantiveand methodological questions.Substantively, it allows the state to be disaggregated by focusing on different bureaucracieswithout prejudgingtheirunityorcoherence. Italso enables one to problematize the relationshipbetween the translocality of "the state"and the necessarily localized offices, institutions, and

In this article I attempt to do an ethnography of the state by examining thediscourses of corruption in contemporary India. I focus on the practices of lowerlevels of the bureaucracy in a small northIndian town as well as on representationsof the state in the mass media. Research on translocal institutionssuch as "thestate"enables us to reflect on the limitationsof participant-observationas a technique offieldwork. Theanalysis leads me to question Eurocentricdistinctions between stateand civil society and offers a critique of the conceptualization of "the state" as amonolithic and unitary entity. [the state, public culture, fieldwork, discourse,corruption, India]

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American Ethnologist22(2):375-402. Copyright? 1995, American AnthropologicalAssociation.


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practices inwhich it is instantiated.Methodologically, itraises concerns about how one appliesethnographic methods when the aim is to understandthe workings of a translocal institutionthat is made visible in localized practices. What is the epistemological status of the object ofanalysis? What is the appropriate mode of gathering data, and what is the relevant scale ofanalysis?2Anethnography of the state in a postcolonial context must also come to terms with the legacyof Western scholarship on the state. In this article I argue that the conventional distinctionbetween state and civil society, on which such a large portion of the scholarship on the state isbased, needs to be reexamined. Is it the "imperialismof categories"(Nandy 1990:69) that al lowsthe particularcultural configuration of "state/civil society" arising from the specific historicalexperience of Europe o be naturalizedand applied universally?Insteadof takingthis distinctionas a point of departure, Iuse the analysis of the discourse of corruptionto question its utility inthe Indian context. The discourse of corruption turns out to be a key arena through which thestate, citizens, and other organizations and aggregations come to be imagined. Instead oftreating corruption as a dysfunctional aspect of state organizations, I see it as a mechanismthrough which "thestate" itself is discursively constituted.3Inaddition to description and analysis, this article also has a programmaticaim: to marksomenew trails along which futureanthropological research on the state might profitably proceed.The goal is to map out some of the most importantconnections in a very largepicture, therebyprovidinga set of propositionsthat can be developed, challenged, and refutedby othersworkingon this topic. Inso doing, this article seeks to add to a fast-growing body of creative work thatis pointing the way to a richeranalysis of "the state"(some examples are Abrams1988; Anagnost1994, in press, n.d.; Ashforth1990; Brow 1988; Cohn 1987a, 1987b; Handelman 1978, 1981;Herzfeld 1992a; Kasaba 1994; Mitchell 1989, 1991; Nugent 1994; Taussig 1992; Urla 1993;Yang 1989).I should point out that much more needs to be done to lay the empirical basis forethnographies of the state. Very little rich ethnographic evidence documents what lower-levelofficials actual y do in the name of the state.4 Research on the state, with its focus on large-scalestructures,epochal events, majorpolicies, and "important"people (Evanset al. 1985; Skocpol1979), has failed to illuminate the quotidian practices (Bourdieu 1977) of bureaucrats that tellus about the effects of the state on the everyday lives of ruralpeople. Surprisingly ittle researchhas been conducted in the small towns (inthe Indiancase, atthe level of the subdistrict[tehsil])where a largenumber of stateofficials, constituting the broad base of the bureaucraticpyramid,live and work-the village-level workers, land record keepers, elementary school teachers,agriculturalextension agents, the staff of the civil hospital, and others. This is the site where themajorityof people in a ruraland agriculturalcountry such as India come into contact with "thestate,"and this is where many of their images of the state are forged.

Although research into the practices of local state officials is necessary, it is not by itselfsufficient to comprehend how the state comes to be constructed and represented. Thisnecessitates some reflection on the limitations inherent in data collected in "the field." Thediscourse of corruption,forexample, is mediated by local bureaucratsbut cannot be understoodentirely by stayingwithin the geographically bounded arena of a subdistrict ownship. Althoughin this article I stress the role of public culture and transnational phenomena, Ido not want tosuggest that the face-to-face methods of traditionalethnography are irrelevant. ButIdo want toquestion the assumption regardingthe naturalsuperiority-the assertion of authenticity-im-plicit in the knowledge claims generated by the fact of "being there" (what one may call the"ontological imperative").Such claims to truthgain their force precisely by clinging to boundednotions of "society"and "culture."Once cultures, societies, and nations are no longer seen tomap unproblematically onto different spaces (Appadurai 1986; Gupta and Ferguson 1992;Hannerz 1986), one has to rethink he relationshipbetween bodily presence and the generation

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Since the ethnography f the statedeveloped in this article focuses on the discourseofcorruption,nd sincecorruptionends tselfratherasilyto barelyconcealedstereotypes ftheThirdWorld,12t mightbe worthwhile o say somethingabout how I proceedto developaperspective n thestate hat sexplicitlyanti-orientalist.When notionsofcorrupt underdevel-oped"countriesarecombined with a developmentalist erspective, n which "state-societyrelations"ntheThirdWorldare seen as reflecting priorpositioninthedevelopmentof the"advanced" ndustrialnations, he temptationo compare"them"o "ourown past"provesirresistible o many Western scholars.13nstead,one needs to ask how one can use thecomparative tudyof ThirdWorldpoliticalormationso confront he "naturalness"fconceptsthat havearisen rom he historical xperienceand cultural ontextof the West.Focusingonthe discursiveconstruction f states and social groupsallows one to see that the legacyofWestern cholarship n the statehas been to universalize particularultural onstruction f"state-society elations"n which specific notions of "statehood" nd "civil society"areconjoined.'4 nstead f building n thesenotions, hisarticleasksifone can demonstrateheirprovincialismnthe faceof incommensurableulturalandhistorical ontexts.'5Ibeginwith a seriesof vignetteshatgive a sense of the local levelfunctioning f "thestate"and the relationshiphatrural eoplehaveto state nstitutions. verydaynteractions ithstatebureaucraciesreto my wayofthinkinghe mostimportantngredientnconstructions f "thestate" orgedby villagersand stateofficials.Ithen look at the broader ield of representationsof "the state" n publicculture.Finally, attempt o demonstratehow local level encounterswiththe state come togetherwithrepresentationsn the mass media. This is followedbytheconclusion,whichsystematicallyrawsout the largerheoretical ssuesraised nthe article.encountering "the state" at the local level

For he majority f Indian itizens, he most immediate ontextforencounteringhe state sprovidedbytheirrelationships ithgovernment ureaucraciest the local level.Inaddition obeing promulgated y the massmedia,representationsf the stateare effectedthrough hepublic practicesof different overnmentnstitutions ndagents.InMandi, he administrativecenterclosestto Alipur,he officesof the variousgovernment ureaucracieshemselves ervedas siteswhere mportantnformationbout he statewasexchangedandopinionsaboutpol ciesor officials orged.Typicaly, largenumbers f peopleclusterednsmallgroupsonthegroundsof the localcourts, he districtmagistrate'sffice,thehospital,or thepolicestation,animatedlydiscussing nddebatinghe latestnews. Itwasinplacessuch asthese,wherevillagersnteractedwith each other andwithresidents f the nearby owns,as much as in the massmedia,thatcorruptionwas discussedand debated.Therefore,ooking loselyatthesesettings llowsusto obtaina senseof thetexture f relationsbetweenstateofficialsand clients at the local level. Inthis sectionIdrawon threecases thattogetherpresenta rangeof relationships etween state officialsand ruralpeoples.Thefirstconcernsa pairof stateofficials,occupying lowly but important ungsin the bureaucratichierarchy,who successfullyexploit the inexperienceof two ruralmen. The second caseconcernsa lower-casteman'spartiallyuccessfulactions o protecthimself rom he threats fa powerfulheadman'6who has alliesinthe bureaucracy y appealing o a higherofficial.Thethirdexampledrawson a seriesof actionsconductedbythe powerfulBharatiyaKisanUnion(literally,ndianPeasantUnion),a grassrootsarmers'movement hatoftenstrikeserrorntheheartsof local state officials. Becausethey give a concrete shape and formto whatwouldotherwisebe an abstraction"the tate"),heseeveryday ncountersprovideone ofthe criticalcomponents hroughwhichthe statecomes to be constructed.Small butprosperous,Mandi17 ousesthe lowest ends of the enormousstateand federalbureaucracy.'8Mostof the importantfficialsof thedistrict,ncludinghosewhoseofficesare



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in Mandi, preferto live in another, bigger town that serves as the districtheadquarters. Part ofthe reason is that rental accommodation is hard to come by in Mandi (as I discovered to myfrustration);qually important,it enables them to stay incloser touch with theirsuperiorofficers.Sharmajiwas a patwari, an official who keeps the land records of approximately five to six

villages, or about five thousand plots, lying on the outskirtsof Mandi. The patwari is responsiblefor registeringland records, for physically measuring land areas to enter them in the records,and for evaluating the quality of land. The patwarialso keeps a record of deaths in a family inthe event of a dispute among the heirs about property,or the need to divide it up at some point.There are a number of officials above the patwariwhose main-if not sole-duty is to deal withland records. On average, the total comes to about two officials for each village. Astonishingas this kind of bureaucraticsprawl might appear, itmust not be forgottenthat land is the principalmeans of production in this setting.Sharmajilived in a small, inconspicuous house deep in the old partof town. Although Iwasconfused at first, I eventually identified which turns in the narrow, winding lanes would leadme there. The lower partof the house consisted of two rooms and a small enclosed courtyard.One of those rooms had a large door that opened onto the street. This room functioned as

Sharmaji's"office."That is where he was usuallyto be found, surroundedby clients, sycophants,and colleagues. Two men in particularwere almost always by his side. One of them, Verma,himself a patwariof Sharmaji'snatal village (andthereforea colleague) was clearly in an inferiorposition. He functioned as Sharmaji'salterego, filling in his ledgers for him, sometimes actingas a front and sometimes as a mediator incomplex negotiations over how much money it wouldtake to "get a job done," and generally behaving as a confidant and consultant who helpedSharmaji dentifythe best strategyfor circumventing the administrativeand legal constraints onthe transferof land titles. The other person worked as a full-time Man Fridaywho did variousodd jobs and chores for Sharmaji's"official"tasks as well as for his household.Two of the side walls of the office were lined with benches; facing the entrance toward theinner partof the room was a raised platform, barely big enough for three people. Itwas herethat Sharmajisat and held court,19and itwas here that he keptthe land registersfor the villagesthat he administered. All those who had business to conduct came to this "office." At any giventime there were usually two or three different groups, interested in different transactions,assembled in the tiny room. Sharmaji conversed with all of them at the same time, oftenswitching from one addressee to another in the middle of a single sentence. Everyone presentjoined inthe discussion of matterspertainingto others.Sharmajioften punctuated his statementsby turningto the others and rhetorically asking, "Have I said anything wrong?" or, "Is what Ihave said true or not?"Most of the transactionsconducted in this "office"were relatively straightforward: dding ordeleting a name on a landtitle; dividing up a plot among brothers;settling a fightover disputedfarmland. Since plots were separated from each other by small embankments made by farmersthemselves and not by fences or other physical barriers,one established a claim to a piece ofland by plowing it. Farmerswith predatory intentions slowly startedplowing just a few inchesbeyond their boundaryeach season so that in a shortwhile they could effectively capture a fewfeet of their neighbors' territory. Ifa neighbor wanted to fight back and reclaim his land, hewent to the patwari who settled the dispute by physically measuring the area with a tapemeasure. Of course, these things "cost money," but in most cases the "rates"were well-knownand fixed.

But however open the process of giving bribes and however public the transaction, there wasnevertheless a performative aspect that had to be mastered. I will illustrate this with a storyofa botched bribe. One day, when Ireached Sharmaji'shouse in the middle of the afternoon, twoyoung men whose village fell in the jurisdiction of Verma were attempting to add a name tothe title of their plot. They were sitting on the near left on one of the side benches. Both were



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probablyntheir ateteens. Theirrubber lippersandunkempthairclearlymarked hem to bevillagers, n impression einforced y clothes thathadobviouslynot been stitchedby a tailorwho normally atered othe "smart"et oftown-dwelling oungmen.Theyappearedllateaseand somewhatnervousnSharmaji'soom,animpressionheytriedhard o dispel byadoptinganoverconfidentone intheirconversation.Although neverdid findoutwhy theywanted o add a nametothe landrecords, was toldthat t was inconniectionwith theireffortso obtain ertilizer n a loan forwhichthe landwasto serve as collateral.WhenIarrived n thescene, negotiationseemed to have brokendownalready:he men haddecided thattheywere notgoingto relyon Verma'shelp ingetting hepaperworkhroughhevariousbranches fthebureaucracyutwould insteaddo itthemselves.Sharmajind the otherspresent someof whom were farmers nxious o gettheirown workdone)firstconvincedthe youngmen thattheywouldnever be able to do it themselves.Thiswasaccomplishedby aggressivelyellingthemto go ahead and first ry o getthe jobdone ontheirown andthat,ifall else failed,they couldalwayscome back to Sharmaji. Ifyou don't

succeed, I will alwaysbe willingto helpyou,"he said.Thereupon ne of the farmerspresenttold the young men thatSharmajiwas a verywell-connectedperson.Withoutappearingobrag,Sharmaji imselfsaid that when big farmers nd importanteadersneeded to get theirworkdone, it was to himthattheycame.Perhapsbecausethey had been previouslyunawareof his reputation,he nervousclientsseemedto lose all theirbravado.Theysoon started egging orhelp, saying"Tau father'slderbrother],you know what'sbest, why shouldwe go runningaroundwhen you are here?"SharmajihenrequestedVerma o "help"heyoungmen."Help hemgettheirworkdone,"hekept urging, o which Vermawould reply,"Inever refused o helpthem."The two patwaristhen went into an adjoiningroom,wherethey hada shortwhisperedconference.Sharmajireappearedand announced loudlythat they would have to "payfor it." The young menimmediatelywanted to know how much would be required,o which Sharmaji esponded,"Youshould ask him [Verma]hat."Shortly hereafter,Vermamade a perfectly imed reen-trance.Theyoungmen repeated he question o him.He said, "Giveas muchas you like."Whentheyaskedthe questionagain,he said,"It s not forme to say. Givewhateveramountyouwantto give."The two clients then whispered o each other.Finally,one of them brokethe impassebyreachingnto his shirtpocketandcarefully akingout a few folded bills. He handedRs. 10 toVerma.20harmaji espondedby burstingnto raucous aughter nd Vermasmiled.Sharmajitoldhim,"Youwereright," aughing ll the while. Verma aid to theyoungmen,"I'llbe happyto do yourwork even for Rs. 10, but firstyou'llneed the signatureof the headmanof yourvillage,that's he law."Sharmajiold them thattheydidn'tknowanythingaboutthe law,thatit tookmore hanRs.14 justfor the cost of theapplicationbecauseinorder o adda name toa plot,the applicationwould have to be backdatedby a few months.Atthe mentionof theheadman, he young men became dismayed.They explainedthat relationswere not goodbetweenthem andthe headmanand thattheywere inoppositecamps. I sensed thatVermahadknown his all along.Sharmajihentold theyoungmen that heyshouldhave first oundout "what t cost" o "geta nameadded o theregister"hesedays."Goandfindout the cost of putting ournameinthelandregister,"etoldthem,"and hengiveVerma xactlyhalfof that."He immediatelyurnedto one of the farmerspresentand askedhim how much he hadpaidten yearsago.The mansaid it had been something ike Rs. 150. Then bothSharmaji nd Vermagot up abruptly ndleft or lunch.Theyoungmenturned o the otherpeopleandasked hemiftheyknewwhattheappropriatesumwas.All of themgave figures angingromRs. 130-150 butsaidthat heir nformation asdatedbecause hat is howmuch it had costten or moreyearsago.Theyoungmentried o put



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a goodface on thebunglednegotiationbysuggestinghat it would not be a big loss iftheydidnot succeed in theirefforts.Ifthey did notget the loan,theywouldcontinueto farmas theyusuallydid-that is,without ertilizer.No one could tell them whatthe currentigurewas. EvenManFriday,who was stillsittingthere,refusedo answer, aying t wasnot orhim o intervene, ndthat twas allupto Sharmajiand Verma.The "practice" f bribegivingwas not, as the young men learned,simplyaneconomic transactionbut a culturalpracticethat requireda greatdegree of performativecompetence.Whenvillagers omplainedabout hecorruptionf stateofficials, herefore,heywere not justvoicingtheir exclusionfromgovernment ervices because these were costly,althoughhatwas no smallfactor.More mportantly,heywereexpressingrustrationecausethey lacked hecultural apitalrequiredo negotiatedeftly orthoseservices.21Theentireepisodewas skilfullymanagedby SharmajindVerma.Althoughheycameawayempty-handedrom hisparticularoundof negotiations,heyknew hat heyoungmen wouldeventuallybe backand wouldthen have to payeven morethanthegoingrate o getthesamejob done. Sharmaji ppeared n turnsas the benefactorand the supplicantpleadingwith hiscolleagueon behalfof the clients.Vermamanaged o appear o be willing o do the work.Theactofgiving hebribebecameentirelya gestureofgoodwi Ion thepartofthe customers atherthana consciousmechanismo grease hewheels.Interestingly, greatdeal of importancewasattachedo notnaminga sum.Inthiscase, stateofficialsgotthe betterof a coupleof inexperienced lients.Pettyofficials,however,do notalwayshave theirway. In the implementationf developmentprograms,orexample, ocalofficialsoftenhaveto seek out beneficiariesnorder omeettargetsetby higherauthorities.The beneficiariesof these programs an thenemploythe authority f the upperlevels of the bureaucracyo exertsome pressure n local officials.

Severalhouses have been constructednAlipurunder wogovernment rograms,he IndiraAwaasYojanaandthe NirbalVargAwaasYojana literally,he IndiraHousingProgramndtheWeakerSectionsHousingProgram, espectively).Bothprograms re intended o benefitpoorpeoplewho do not have a brick pucca)house.The IndiraAwaasYojanawas meant or andlessharijansuntouchables),whereas he NirbalVargAwaasYojanawas forall thosewho ownedless than one acreof land,lackeda brickhouse,and had an income below a specified imit.22Iwas toldthatone of the "beneficiaries" asSripal,o Ispoketo himoutsidehis new house.Sripalwas a thin,small-bonedman, not more than25 yearsold, who lived in a clusteroflow-caste(jatav)homesin the village.WhenIsaw the brickone-roomdwellingconstructednext to his mother'shouse, I could not help remarkinghatit lookedquite solid. ButSripalimmediately ismissed hat notion.Sripalwas selectedfor hisprogram ythevillageheadman,SherSingh.When his namewasapproved,hevillagedevelopmentworker 3tookhimto thetown,hadhisphotographaken,andthenopenedan account n hisnamein a bank.For hepaperworkewaschargedRs.200.After hat he was givena slip (parchi)hatentitledhimto pick up predetermined uantities fbuildingmaterial rom a storedesignatedby the village developmentworker.The moneyrequiredo get the materialransportedo the construction ite came out of his own pocket.Thevillagedevelopmentworkeraskedhim opayanadditionalRs.500 togetthebricks.Sripalpleadedthat he did not have any money."TakeRs.1,000 if you want from the cost of thematerial from heportionof the housegrantreserved orpurchasingmaterials], ut don't askme to pay you anything."Sripal laimed hat hiswasexactlywhat hevillagedevelopmentworkerhaddone,providinghimwith materialworthonly Rs.6,000 outofthe Rs.7,000 allocated o him.24Once againhehad to forkout the transportationxpense to have the bricksdelivered rom a kilnnearthevillage. Sripal laimedthat the bricksgivento himwere inferior ellow bricks peelayeenth)thathadbeen improperly aked.He alsodiscovered hatthe costof laborwas supposed o be



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reimbursedo him.Althoughhe had built he househimselfbecausehewas anexpertmason,he never received he Rs.300 allocated or laborcosts inthe program.As ifthiswere notenough,Sripaldidnotreceiveanymaterial ora door anda window,soit was impossibleo live inthe new house. No officialhadcome to inspect heworkto see iftherewas anythingmissing.Sripalcomplainedthat those whose job it was to inspectthebuildings ustsat in their officesand approved he constructionbecausetheywere the oneswho hadtheauthorityocreate heofficialrecord "They re he oneswho havepenandpaper[kaagaz-kalamnheekaypaashai]").Sripalhimself s illiterate.Frustratedbouthisdoorlesshouse,he lodgedcomplaints t the Blockofficeandat the bankthatlent him the moneyfor construction.Meanwhile,SherSingh,who hadbeen employingSripalas a daily laborer n hisfarm,becameangryatSripal orrefusingo come to workoneday. Sripal xplained hathe could notpossiblyhavegonebecausehis relativeshadcome overthatdayand that o leavethemwouldhave beenconstruedas inhospitable.nanycase,Sripalsaid,he couldnot do any heavyworkbecause he hadbrokenhisarmsometimeago.When SherSingh oundout thatSripalhadcomplainedabouthimandthevillagedevelop-mentworkerat the Blockoffice,he threatened o beathimup so badlythathe would neverenterthevillage again.Fearingheworst,Sripal ledfrom hevillageand wentto livewith hisin-laws.Despite he threato hislife,Sripalwas not daunted nhiseffortsoseekjustice.Whenhe sawthat hiscomplaints licitedno response,he approached lawyer o draft letter o theDistrictMagistrate,hehighestadministrativeuthoritynthe area.Thisstrategy aidoffinthata policecontingentwas sentto the villageto investigate.WhenIaskedSripal o tell me whatthe lettersaid, he produceda copy of it for me. "Whatcan I tell you?"he asked. "Read tyourself."The letterallegedthatthe villagedevelopmentworkerhad failed to supplythenecessarymaterial ndthatbecausethe headmanhad threatenedo beathimuphe hadbeenforced o flee thevillage.After he policevisit,SherSinghmadepeace withSripal.He even hiredSripalo constructa home foranotherpersonunder he same program. naddition,SherSinghstoppedaskingSripalo come to laboron hisfarm.But hevillagedevelopmentworker hreatened ripalwithimprisonmentnlesshe paidbackRs.3,000 toward he cost of completinghehouse.25 Oneof myrelativess a jailwarden thanedaadr,"e reportedlyoldSripal."Ifyoudon'tpayup,I'llhaveyou putaway in jail."Sitting n frontof the emptyspacethatwas to be the doorto hishouse,Sripalold methathe was resignedo goingto jail."What ifferencedoes it make?" easked."Livingikethisisasgood as beingdead."Even houghhe was ultimately nsuccessfuln hisappealsforjustice,Sripal's ase demon-strates hateven members f the subaltern lasseshave a practicalknowledgeof the multiplelevelsof stateauthority. acedwith thedepredationsf the headmanandvillagedevelopmentworker,Sripalhadappealed o the authority f a person hreerungshigher nthebureaucratichierarchy.Because hecentralandstategovernmentsretheoreticallyommittedo protectingscheduledcastepeoplesuchas Sripal,hiscomplaintregardinghe threat o his life was takenquiteseriously.Sending he policeto the villagewas a clearwarning o SherSingh hatif hedared o harmSripalphysically,he wouldriskretaliationrom he repressive rmof the state.Before eavingthisepisodewith Sripal,I want to addressexplicitlywhat it tells us abouttransnationalinkages.Clearly,one cannotexpectto find visible ransnational imensions oevery grassroots ncounter; hatwould requirea kind of immediatedeterminationhat isempiricallyuntrueand analyticallyndefensible.Forexample, IMFconditionalitiesdo notdirectly xplain hisparticularpisodein thehouse-building rogram.ButbyforcingheIndiangovernment o curtaildomesticexpenditure,he conditionalities o havebudgetarymplica-tions forsuch programs.These influencewhich programs re funded,how they are imple-mentedand atwhatlevels,who istargeted, nd forhow manyyearssuchprogramsontinue.Similarly,fone wantsto understandwhy developmentprograms uchas buildinghousesfor



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the poorexistinthe firstplaceandwhy theyare initiated ndmanagedbythestate,one mustplace them inthe contextof a regimeof "development"hatcame intobeingin the postwarinternational rderof decolonizednation-statesEscobar 984, 1988; Ferguson 990).Whathappensat the grassroots s thuscomplexlymediated,sometimesthroughmultiplerelays,sometimesmoredirectly,by such linkages.26Sripal's xperienceof pittingone organization f the stateagainstothersand of employingthe multiple ayersof stateorganizationso hisadvantageno doubtshapedhisconstruction fthe state.Atthe sametime,heappeared efeated nthe endbytheprocedures f abureaucracywhoseruleshe couldnotcomprehend. ripalwasamong hosebeneficiaries f"development"assistancewhoregrettedveracceptinghelp.Hebecamedeeplyalienatedbytheveryprogramsthat the stateemployedto legitimatets rule. The implementationf developmentprogramstherefore ormsa key arenawhererepresentationsf the state areconstitutedandwhere itslegitimacys contested.One can also find contrastingnstanceswhere local officialsareon the receivingend ofvillagers'disaffectionwithstate nstitutions. omeexamplesareprovidedbyseveralactionsofthe BharatiyaKisanUnion(BKU).One of the mostfrequent omplaintsof farmerss that heyhave to pay bribesto officialsof the Hydel Departmento replaceburned-outransformers.Each uch transformerypically erves iveto tentubewells.Ayoungfarmer elateda commonincidentto me. Thetransformerupplying lectricity o his tubewell and those of 11 of hisneighborsblew out. So they contributedRs. 150 each (approximately10 atexchangeratesprevailinghen)and took the moneyto the assistant ngineerof the HydelDepartment. heytoldhimthat heircropsweredying or a lackof waterand that heywere indeeptrouble.Hereportedlyaid,"What anIdo?Wedon'thavethereplacementquipment tthepresentime."Sothey gavehimthe Rs.1,800theyhadpooledandrequestedhat hetransformere replacedas soon as possible.He took the moneyandpromised hemthatthe jobwould be done inafewdays,as soon as theequipmentwas in.Beingan"honest"man(thats,one true o hisword),he had the transformernstalled hreedayslater.Whenthe same situation ecurredhortlyhereafter,heyoungmanwent to the KisanUnionpeopleandrequestedhattheyhelphimgeta newtransformer.o about50 of them climbedontractors,wentstraightothe executiveengineer'shouseandcampedon his lawn acommonform of civil disobediencein India s to gherao [encircleand preventmovementofl a highofficial).Theyrefused o move untila new transformer ad been installed nthe village.Theexecutiveengineerpromisedhem hathe"would end menatonce."Sure nough, he linemencame the followingdayandreplaced t.

Not all such incidents ndedamicably.Thequickresponseof theseofficialswasdue to thefact that the KisanUnion hadalreadyestablished tselfas a powerful orce in thatparticulararea,as will be evident froma few examples.Inone incident,a crowdwalked off with sixtransformersrom an electricity tation n broaddaylight Aaj1989f).Thefarmersno longerfeared hepoliceandrevenueofficials, noccasion"arresting"heofficials,ying hem otrees,and makingthem do "sit-ups."Theyrefused to pay electricitydues (up to 60 percentofagriculturalectordues remainunpaid n a nearbydistrict) nd forced"corrupt"fficials oreturnmoneyallegedlytakenas bribes.Ialso heardabout an incident n an adjacentvillagewhere employees of the electricityboardwere caught stealingsome copperwire fromatransformeryiratevillagerswhoproceeded o beat hemupand"jail"hem ina villagehouse.Itshould be clearfromall the incidentsdescribed above that lower-levelofficialsplay acrucialrole incitizens'encounterswith"the tate."Obviously,no singular haracterizationfthe natureand contentof the interaction f villagersandbureaucratss possible.Incontrast oSharmajiand Verma,who manipulate heir gullible clients, stand the officialswho aremanhandledby the peasantactivistsof the BKU.Similarly, ustas localofficialsemploytheirfamiliarity ithbureaucraticrocedureso carryoutorobstruct transaction y maneuvering



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betweendifferentevels of the administrativeierarchy,o too do subalternpeople such asSripaldemonstrate practical ompetence nusing hehierarchical atureof stateinstitutionsto theirown ends. Atthe local level itbecomesdifficult o experience hestateas anonticallycoherententity:what one confronts nstead s much more discrete and fragmentary-landrecords fficials,villagedevelopmentworkers,heElectricity oard,headmen, he police,andthe BlockDevelopmentOffice.Yet(andit is this seeminglycontradictoryact that we mustalways keep in mind)it is preciselythrough he practicesof such local institutions hat atranslocalnstitutionuch as thestatecomesto be imagined.The local-levelencounterswith the statedescribed n this sectionhelpus discernanothersignificant oint.Officials uch as Sharmaji,who may verywell constitutea majority f stateemployeesoccupyingpositionsat the bottomof thebureaucraticyramid, osean interestingchallenge o Westernnotionsof the boundary etween"state" nd"society"n someobviousways.TheWesternhistorical xperiencehasbeen builton states hatput people in locationsdistinct romtheirhomes-in offices,cantonments, ndcourts-to mark heir"rationalized"activityas office holders n a bureaucraticpparatus.People such as Sharmajiollapsethisdistinctionnotonly betweentheirroles as publicservants ndas private itizens at the site oftheiractivity,butalso intheirstylesofoperation.27lmostallothersimilarly lacedofficials ndifferentbranchesof the stateoperate n an analogousmanner.One has a betterchance offindingthem at the roadsidetea stalls and in theirhomes than in their offices. Whereasmodernizationheoristswould invariably nterprethis as further vidence of the failureofefficient nstitutionso take root in a ThirdWorldcontext,one might ustas easilyturnthequestionaroundandinquire nto the theoretical dequacy(andjudgmental haracter) f theconcepts throughwhich such actions aredescribed.Inotherwords,ifofficials ikeSharmajiand the village developmentworkerare seen as thoroughlyblurringhe boundariesbetween"state" nd"civilsociety," t isperhapsbecausethosecategoriesaredescriptivelynadequateto the livedrealitieshat heypurporto represent.Finally,tmaybe useful o drawout the implicationsf theethnographicmaterial resentedinthissection for what ittells us aboutcorruptionnd the implementationf policy.First,hepeople describedhere-Sharmaji, the village developmentworker,the ElectricityBoardofficials-are not unusualor exceptional n the manner n whichthey conduct their officialduties, ntheirwillingnessotakebribes,orexample,or intheirconduct owarddifferentlassesof villagers.Second, despite the fact that lower-levelofficials'earningsfrom bribesaresubstantial,t is importanto locate them in a larger"system" f corruptionn which theirsuperior fficersarefirmly mplicated. nfact,Sharmaji'sossesdependon his considerableabilityto maneuver land records for their own transactions,which are severalorders ofmagnitude arger han his. His is a "volumebusiness,"heirsa "highmargin" ne. He helpsthemsatisfyheir lientsand,intheprocess,buysprotection ndinsuranceorhisownactivities.This atter spectcalls forelaboration. t softenclaimed hatevenwell-designed overnmentprogramsail in theirimplementation,nd that the best of plansfounderdue to widespreadcorruptiont the lower evels of thebureaucracy.f his is intended oexplainwhy governmentprograms ail, it is patently naccurate as well as being class-biased).For it is clear thatlower-level fficialsareonlyone link na chainofcorruptpractices hatextends o theapexofstateorganizationsnd reaches arbeyond hem oelectoralpolitics Wade1982, 1984, 1985).Politicians aise fundsthroughseniorbureaucratsor electoralpurposes, enior bureaucratssqueezethismoneyfrom heirsubordinates s well as directly romprojectshat heyoversee,andsubordinatesollowsuit.Thedifference s thatwhereashigher-leveltateofficials aise argesums rom herelativelyewpeoplewho can afford opayittothem, ower-level fficials ollectit insmallfiguresand on a dailybasis froma very largenumberof people. It s for thisreasonthatcorruptions so muchmorevisibleatthe lower levels.



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The"system" f corruptions of coursenotjusta brutecollectionof practiceswhose mostwidespreadexecutionoccurs at the local level. It is also a discursive ield thatenablesthephenomenon o be labeled,discussed,practiced,decried,anddenounced.Thenext sectionisdevoted to the analysisof the discourseof corruption, nd especiallyto its historically ndregionally ituatedcharacter.the discourse of corruption in public culture

Analyzinghe discourseof corruption rawsattention o the powerfulculturalpracticesbywhich the state is symbolicallyrepresentedo its employeesand to citizens of the nation.28Representationsfthestateareconstituted, ontested,andtransformednpublicculture.Publicculture s a zone of cultural ebateconductedhroughhe massmedia,othermechanicalmodesof reproduction, nd the visiblepracticesof institutionsuch as the state (Appadurai990;AppaduraindBreckenridge988;Gilroy1987;Gurevitch t al. 1982;Halletal. 1980;Waiteset al. 1982).It s"the ite andstake"Hall1982)ofstrugglesorculturalmeaning.For hisreasonthe analysisof reportsn local andnationalnewspapersells us a greatdealabout he mannerinwhich "thestate" omes to be imagined.29Theimportance f the mediawasbroughthome to mewhen, barely wo monthsafterRajivGandhiwas electedprimeministern late1984, a higher-caste illageelder whoseson was abusinessmanwith close connections to the Congress I)told me, "Rajivhas failed."I wassurprisedo hearhimsay this andaskedwhy he thoughtso. He replied, "Rajiv romisedoeradicatecorruptionn hiscampaignbut has ithappened?He hasn'tdone anything bout it."AlthoughRajivGandhihadnot visited he area aroundAlipurduringhiscampaign,his manwaskeenlyawareof allof hiscampaignpromises.Likemanyothers nAlipur,he listenednightlyto the BBCWorld Servicenews broadcastn Hindias well as to the government-controllednationalradio(Akaashvaanl). e was well-informed n internationalventsand would oftenask me detailedquestionsregardingontemporaryventsinthe UnitedStatesor Iran.Althoughradioandtelevisionobviouslyplaya significant ole as massmedia,newspapersareperhaps he mostimportantmechanismnpublicculture orthecirculation f discoursesoncorruption.30n hestudyoftranslocal henomena uchas"the tate," ewspapersontributeto the rawmaterial ecessaryor"thick"escription.This houldbecome evidentbycomparingnewspaperreports-conceptualizedas cultural exts and sociohistoricaldocuments-to oralinterviews. incenewspaper eports re nvariablyiledbylocallyresident orrespondents,heyconstitute,as do oral interviews, certain ormof situatedknowledge.Obviously,perceivingthem as havinga privileged elationo thetruth f sociallife is naive; heyhavemuch o offerus, however,when seen as a majordiscursiveormthroughwhichdailylifeis narrativizedndcollectivities magined.Ofcourse, he narrativesresentedn newspapers resifted hroughset of institutionalilters,buttheirrepresentationsre not,forthatreasonalone, moredeeplycompromised.Treatedwithbenignneglectbystudents f contemporaryife,theymysteriouslymetamorphizento nvaluable fielddata" ncetheyhaveyellowedaroundheedgesand allenapart t thecreases.3 Andyetitis notentirely learbywhatalchemy imeturns he"secondary"data of the anthropologistntothe "primary"ataof thehistorian.Apart romtheoreticalreasons hatmaybe adduced to support he analysisof newspaperreports,he importance f allvernacular ewspapers,whetherregionalornationaldailies, iesinthe fact thatthey carry pecialsectionsdevoted to localnews.32Thesearedistributednlyin the regionto which the news applies.Thus,if one picksup the same newspapern twodifferent ities in UttarPradesh, omeof the pagesinsidewill haveentirelydifferentontents.News about a particularrea,therefore, an only be obtainedby subscribingo newspaperswithin hatarea.Inthisrestrictedense,newspaper eports bouta particularreacanonlybeobtainedwithin"the ield."33

blurredboundaries 385


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The methodof studyinghe stateadvanced n thisarticlerelates he discourseof corruptioninthe vernacular ndEnglish-languageress ostatementsmadeby villagers nd stateofficials.We will see that localdiscoursesandpractices oncerning orruptionwere intimatelyinkedwiththe reportageoundin vernacular nd nationalnewspapers.Thispointwill be demon-stratedbyfirst ookingat a few examplesfrom he national,English-languageressand thenmostlyatvernacular ewspapers.34Corruptionsan issuedominated wo of the threenational lections heldin the 1980s. In tssummary f thedecade,thefortnightly ews magazineIndiaTodayheadlined he section on"The 80s: Politics"n the followingmanner:"Thepoliticsof communalism, orruption ndseparatismdominatesan eventful decade"(Chawla1990:18).35RajivGandhi'selection inNovember 1984 was fought largelyon the slogans of the eradicationof corruptionandpreservinghe nation's ntegrityn the face of separatisthreats romSikhs.Preciselybecausehe was initiallydubbed"Mr.Clean," he subjectof corruptionatercameto haunthimas hisadministrationame undera cloud forallegedlyacceptingkickbacksromBofors,a Swedishsmall-armsmanufacturer.nfact,Boforsbecamethecenterpieceoftheopposition's uccessfuleffort o overthrowhisregime.Inthe electionsof 1989, inwhicha non-Congress overnmentcame to power oronlythe second timein43 yearsof electoralpolitics,anotherMr.Clean,V.P. Singh,emergedas the leader. He had earlierbeen unceremoniously ootedout of RajivGandhi's abinetbecause,asdefenseminister, e had started n investigationntothe"BoforsAffair." heeffectof Boforswaselectorally xplosivepreciselybecauseit became a symbolofcorruption t all levels of the state. Forexample,the conductoron the notoriouslynefficientUttarPradeshStateRoadwaysbus justifiednot returninghangeto me by saying, "IfRajivGandhi an take 64 crore nbribes,what isthe harm nmy taking64 paisaon a ticket?"36The discourseof corruption,however,went farbeyond justsetting he terms of electoralcompetition etweenpoliticalparties. tnotonlyhelped o define"thepolitical" utalsoservedto constitute"thepublic"hatwas perceived o be reactingo corruption. incethiswasdonelargelyhrough he massmedia,we mustpaycarefulattentiono newspapers s cultural extsthatgiveus importantluestothepolitical ulture ftheperiod. naseriesof majorpreelectionsurveys, hewidelyreadmetropolitanEnglish aily,the Timesof India,attemptedo analyzethe political mpactof Boforsand set out to establishhow the electorateviewed corruption.One of its articlesbeginsby quotinga villagerwho remarked,"Ifone [politicalparty, .e.,Congress]s a poisonous nake, he other[opposition arty]s acobra" Times f India1989:1).The articlewent on to say:"Whetherhe Congresss in poweror the oppositionmakes nodifferenceo the commonmanandwomanwho hasto contend withproliferatingorruptionwhich affectsevery sphereof life ... Boforsdoesn'tbrushagainst heir ives.Thepay-off oraration ardor a jobdoes"(1989:1).Thearticle urther laborated he relationship etween the "ordinaryitizen"and the statewith referenceo the role of formalpoliticsandpoliticians:

InU.P.,themajorityeltthat[increasingorruption]temmed rom hegrowingcorruptionn politicalcircles.M.P.Verma,a backward lass leader romGondapointedout thatpoliticiansodayaredrivenbya one-pointprogramme-tocapturepowerat all costs.Andthevastsumsexpendedon electionsareobtainedby unfairmeans. "Withoutcorruptionhere is no politics,"said AminchandAjmera,abusinessmanromBhopal. Times f India1989:1The hemeofcorruption asprominentn an articleon a centralgovernmentchemeto helpthepoorin IndiaToday,whichpointedout howthe resourcesbeingallocatedby thecentralgovernmentwerebeingmisusedby the stategovernmentnMadhyaPradesh 1989).37 n his

example, formal politics was not reduced to competition among political parties and thebureaucratic apparatus (where payoffs for jobs are given) was not confused with the regime(where the benefits of Boforspresumably went). Instead,the discourse of corruption became a



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meansby whicha fairlycomplex pictureof the statewas symbolically onstructed n publicculture.Inaddition,I examinedthe local editionsof six Hindinewspaperswith differentpoliticalorientationsmost commonly read in the Mandi area: Aaj, DainikJaagran,Amar Ujaala,Hindustan, RashtriyaSahaara, and Jansatta. There were significant differences between theEnglish-languagemagazinesand newspapersmentionedabove, with theirurban,educated,"middle-class"eadership,ndthe vernacular ress.The reasonlayin the structuralocationof the nationalEnglish-languageailieswithin he "core" egions-the urban entersofcapital,high politics,administration,nd education.The vernacularnewspapersmaintained richersense of the multilayered atureof the state because theirreportagewas necessarilyocusedon eventsin differentocalities,whichcorrespondedo lower evelsof the statehierarchy. heycould not, however,simultaneouslygnoreevents at the higherlevels of state(region)andnation.Bycontrast,metropolitanewspapersocusedalmostexclusivelyon large-scalevents,with localbureaucracieseaturing hieflyinthe lettersof complaintwrittenby citizens aboutcityservices.Thevernacularress herefore articularlylearlydelineatedhemultilayeredndpluricentric atureof "thestate."The Hindinewspaperswithlimitedregional irculations, eadmostlybythe residents f themanysmalltowns and largevillagesdotting he countryside,n factwere,as opposedto the"national" Hindi dailies such as the Navbharat Times, much less prone to reifythe state as amonolithicorganizationwith a singlechain of command.Theymadea practiceof explicitlynaming specificdepartmentsf the statebureaucracy.The vernacular ressalso seemedtopursue toriesofcorruptionwithgreater eal than itsmetropolitan ounterpart.38Forexample, the daily Aaj had headlines such as the following: "Police BusyWarming OwnPockets" (1989a),39 "Plunder in T. B. Hospital" (1989e), and "FarmersHarassed by LandConsolidationOfficial"1989d).Innone of these reportswas the state(sarkaa) nvokedas aunitary ntity.In all of them,specificdepartments ere named,andveryoftenspecificpeopleas well. Theyalso documented n greatdetailexactlywhat thesecorruptpracticeswere. Forexample, he articleon the tuberculosis ospital tated xactlyhow muchmoneywas"charged"for each step(Rs.5 for a test,Rs. 10 forthedoctor,Rs. 5 forthecompounder, nd so on) inatreatmenthatwassupposedobeprovidedreeofcharge.Thearticleon the landconsolidationofficernamedhim and statedhow muchmoneyhe demanded nbribes romspecificfarmers(also named).Similarly,he news storyon the police reported hata specific precinctwasextortingmoneyfromvehicleownersby threateningo issueboguscitations.

Two featuresof these reportswere particularlytriking.First, tateofficialshigher up thehierarchywereoftendepictedascompletelyunresponsiveocomplaints ndeven ascomplicitwith the corruptpractices."Despite everalcomplaintsby citizens to the head of the region,nothinghas been done,"was a familiar efrainn the reports.For nstance,one shortreportstated hat he dealerwho had he contract o distributeubsidized ations fsugarand kerosenewasselling hemon the blackmarketwithpoliticalprotection nd hefullknowledge fregionalsupervisorsAaj1989b).Similarly, notherstory,"To Get TelephoneTo Work,FeedThemSweets"(Aaj 1989c), reported hat corruptemployees of the telephone department oldcustomers hatthey could go aheadandcomplainas much as theywanted, but,unless thetelephoneworkers ottheir avorite weetmeats,40hecustomers'elephoneswould not work.Thesecondnoteworthyeaturen regionalnewspaperaccountswas theiremphasison, andconstruction f, thepublic.A common discursivepracticewas to talkof "thepublic" janata)thatwas beingopenly exploitedbythe police,or "thecitizens" naagarik) ho were harassedby blackmarketeering,r "thepeople"(log)whose clear accusationagainst he hospitalwasgivenvoice in the paper,or "simple armers"bholaay-bhaalaay isaan)who were ruthlesslyexploited by the landconsolidationofficer.Inall cases, the functionof the pressappeared o



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be thatofcreating spaceinwhichthegrievances f themassescould be airedandthecommongood (janhit)pursued.Thepresswas of coursedoing muchmorethansimplyairingpreexisting rievances.Thestateconstructedherewas one thatconsistedof widelydisparatenstitutionswith littleor nocoordination mongthem,of multiple evelsof authority, one of which wereaccountable oordinarypeople,andemployees(secure n the knowledge hattheycould not be fired)whotreated itizenswithcontempt.Atthesametime, hesereports lsocreated ubjects41 howererepresented s being exploited,powerless,andoutraged. foregroundhe newspapers'unc-tions in order to drawattention o the rhetorical trategydeployed by the mass media togalvanize ntoactioncitizenswhoexpectstate nstitutionso be accountable o them.AlthoughI have sharplydifferentiatedhe English-languagend vernacularpress in theirrepresentationsf "thestate"andthe construction f subjects,one mustkeeptwo caveatsinmindat alltimes.First,fone looks atnewspapersromdifferent egionsof UttarPradesh, ndpublished notherlanguages forexample,Urdu),wide variations re to be found within hevernacular ress.42econd,the massmedia s nottheonly importantource orthecirculationof representationsf "the tate"npublicculture.Policeandadministrationfficialsrepeatedlyvoice their rustrationt theirinabilityo counter"wild tories" nd "rumors"hatcontestandcontradictheofficialversionofevents.Policeofficialsnanadjoining istrict requoted ntheTimes f Indiaassaying,"They o aboutspreadingumours ndwe can'tfight hemeffectively.Theserumours elp gather rowds.And heagitated rowd henturnsonthepolice,provokinga clash" Mitra ndAhmed1989:12).The"bush elegraph"sic] spreadsrumorsquicklyandconvincinglyMitra 989).43Unlikeother echnologiesofcommunicationuch asnewspapers,radio,andtelevision,rumor annot be controlledby simplyclampingdown on the source ofproduction Coombe 1993). Rumor hereforebecomes an especially effective vehicle tochallengeofficialaccounts,especiallywhenagenciesof thestatetransgressocal standards fbehavior.

By definition, corruption is a violation of norms and standards of conduct.44 The other faceof a discourse of corruption,herefore, s a discourseof accountability.45 erzfeldputstheemphasis ntherightplacewhen he says hat"accountabilitys a sociallyproduced, ulturallysaturatedmalgam f ideasaboutperson,presence,andpolity... [whose]meaningsculturallyspecific... [andwhose] management f personalor collectiveidentity annot break ree ofsocialexperience" 1992a:47).Expectationsf "right" ehavior, tandards f accountability,and normsof conduct forstateofficials, n otherwords,come fromsocial groupsas well asfrom"thestate."46ometimes hese standards nd normsconverge;moreoften,they do not.Thus, herearealwaysdivergent ndconflicting ssessments fwhethera particularourseofaction is "corrupt."ubjects'deployment f discoursesof corruptionrenecessarilymediatedby their structuralocation(thispointis developedfurtherbelow).Butstate officialsarealsomultiplypositionedwithin different egimesof power: n consequence, they simultaneouslyemploy,and aresubject o, quitevaryingdiscoursesof accountability.The manner n whichthese officialsnegotiatehe tensions nherent ntheir ocation ntheirdailypracticesbothhelpsto createcertainrepresentationsf the stateandpowerfully hapesassessmentsof it, therebyaffectingtslegitimacy. nfact,strugglesorlegitimacy an be interpretedntermsof the effortto construct he stateand "thepublic" ymbolicallyn a particularmanner.Moreover,fone were to document hetransformationsnthe discourseof corruptionromcolonialtimes to the present aprojectbeyond hescope of thisarticle), t would be clearthatthe postcolonial tatehas itselfgeneratednew discoursesof accountability.Actions oleratedor considered egitimateundercolonial rulemaybe classifiedas "corrupt"ytherule-makingapparatusesof the independentnation-statebecause an electoral democracy is deemedaccountable o "thepeople."The sense ofpervasive orruptionna country uch as Indiamightthenitselfbe a consequenceof thechanges nthe discourseof accountability romulgated y



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postcolonialnationalists.naddition, ignificant hangesduring he postcolonialperiodhavearisen rom hepressures f electoralpolitics asevidencedbytheBofors ontroversy)ndfrompeasant mobilization.In the Mandiregion,the Kisan Union has been very successful inorganizing easantsagainst hestatebyfocusingon the issueofcorruption mong ower evelsof the bureaucracy.Althoughhere are variationsn the discourseof corruptionwithinregionsand during hepostcolonial ra,the end of colonialismconstitutes significantransition.One of the reasonsforthis is that nationalist s opposedto colonial regimes eek the kindof popular egitimacythatwillenablethem to act inthe name of "thepeople."Theythusplacenew responsibilitieson stateemployeesand vest new rights n subjectswho are then constituted s citizens. Thepostcolonial tateconsciouslysets out to createsubjectpositionsunknownduringhe colonialera:"citizenship"oes notjustmark nclusivenessna territorial omainbutindicatesa set ofrightsheoreticallynvested nsubjectswho inhabit he nation.47 neofthe crucial ngredientsof discourses fcitizenshipnapopulistdemocracy uchasIndiahas been thatstateemployeesare consideredaccountable o "thepeople"of the country.Thediscourseof corruption,bymarkinghose actions hatconstitutean infringementf suchrights,hus actsto representherights f citizens o themselves.48The role of the KisanUnionfurther ighlights ignificant egionalvariationsnthe discourseof corruption.WesternUttarPradesh,he regionwhere Mandi s located,has been the centerofverysuccessful grarianmobilizationsedbytheclassofwell-to-dopeasants.Thismovementwas first edbyChaudharyCharanSingh,a formerprimeministerwho consistentlymountedan attackonthe "urban ias"of statepolicies.It s nowbeengivena newdirectionbythe KisanUnion edbyMahendar inghTikait.49helandowningastes nthisregionhavebecomefairlyprosperousstheyhave been the chief beneficiaries f thegreenrevolution.But hisnewfoundwealth hasyet to be translated ntobureaucratic owerand cultural apital.Inotherwords,giventhecentralrolethatstate institutions layin ruralife,thesegroupsseek to stabilize heconditionsor hereproductionftheirdominance.Because heyperceive he state o beactingagainst heir nterests,hey deploythe discourseof corruptiono undermine he credibility fthe stateandto attack he manner nwhichgovernment rganizationsperate.50The discourseof corruptions central o ourunderstandingf the relationship etween thestateand socialgroupspreciselybecauseitplaysthisdual roleofenablingpeopleto constructthe state ymbolicallynd o define hemselvesascitizens.Fort isthroughuchrepresentations,andthroughhe public practicesof variousgovernment gencies,thatthe state comes to bemarkedanddelineated romotherorganizations nd institutionsn social life.The state itself

and whatever s construed o standapart romit-community, polity, society, civil society(Kligman 990),political ociety-are allculturallyonstructednspecific deological ields.Itis hence imperativehat we constantlycontextualizethe constructionof the state withinparticular istorical nd cultural onjunctures. haveemployed hediscourseof corruption sa means o demonstrate owthe statecomesto be imaginednone such historical nd culturalcontext.The discourseof corruption erefunctionsas a diagnosticof thestate.the imagined state

Banwari, scheduledcasteresident f Ashanwadhamlet,25 kms. romJaipuraid,"Ihaven't een thevidhansabhaor the LokSabha.51 heonly partof thegovernment see is the policestation ourkms.frommyhouse.And hat scorrupt. hepolicedemandbribes nddon'tregister omplaints f scheduledcastepeoplelikeme."[Timesof India1989:7]So far, this article has dealt with the practices of local levels of the bureaucracy and thediscourses of corruption in public culture, respectively. Together, they enable a certainconstruction of the state that meshes the imagined translocal institution with its localized



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embodiments.Thegovernment,n otherwords,is beingconstructedhereinthe imaginationandeverydaypracticesof ordinary eople.Ofcourse,thisisexactlywhat"corporateulture"and nationalism o: they makepossibleandthen naturalize he construction f such nonlo-calizable institutions. t then becomes very importanto understandhe mechanisms,ormodalities,hatmake tpossible o imagine he state.What stheprocesswherebyhe "reality"of translocal ntitiescomes to be experienced?Toanswer hisquestion,one mustgrasp he pivotalrole of publicculture,whichrepresentsone of the mostimportantmodalities or the discursive onstruction f "the tate."Obviously,noteveryone magineshestate nquitethe samemanner.Sofar,verylittleresearchhasbeendone on the relationshipetweendiverselyocatedgroupsof peopleandtheiremployment fthe differentmediaof representationndof varyingresourcesof cultural apital n imagining"the tate."Forexample,RamSinghand his sonsarerelatively rosperousmenfromone ofthelowestcastes(jatav)nAlipur.Theyhadrecentlyacquireda televisionset as partof thedowryreceived nthemarriagef one ofthe sons. RamSingholdme, ina confessionbornof a mixtureof prideandembarrassment,hatsince thetelevisionhad arrived heir armworkhad sufferedbecause,insteadof irrigatinghecrop,theywouldall sitdown andwatchtelevision. Bothhepumpsetsused for irrigationndthe televisionset weredependenton erraticandoccasionalsuppliesofelectricity.) elevisionwasa constantpointofreferencenRamSingh'sonversation.IinterviewedRamSingh nthecontextof the impending lections(theelections ookplaceinDecember1989;theconversation ates from ateJuly).He said:

The public is singing the praises of Rajiv [Gandhi].52He is paying really close attention to the needs ofpoor people [Bahut gaur kar raha hain]. Rajiv has been traveling extensively in the ruralareas andpersonally findingout the problemsfaced bythe poor. For his reason, Iwill definitelysupport he Congress(I).We consider the government which supports us small people as if it were our mother and father [Usiko ham maa-baap key samaan maantey hain]. If it weren't for the Congress, no one would pay anyattention to the smaller castes [choteejaat]. Not even god looks afterus, only the Congress.At this point, his son intervened:

The Congress is for all the poor, not just for the lower castes. It is exerting itself to the utmost, tryingtodraw people into [government]jobs [Bahut or laga rahen hain, naukrimein khichai kar rahen hain].RamSinghreturnedo thediscussion:

Although the government has many good schemes, the officials in the middle eat it all [beech mey sabkhaajaate hain]. The government is making full efforts to help the poor, but the officials don't allow anyof the schemes to reach the poor."Doesn't the governmentknows that officials are corrupt?" asked. "Whydoesn't it doanything?" amSinghreplied:

Itdoes know a little bit but not everything.The reason is that the voice of the poor doesn't reach peopleat the top [Garibon ki awaaz vahaan takpahuchti nahin]. If,forexample, the government sets aside fourlakhs for a scheme, only one lakh will actually reach us-the restwill be taken out in the middle.53RamSingh'spositionheredisplays omecontinuitywith anolder,hierarchical isionof thestate.54Typically,n suchviews,the rulerappearsas benevolentand charitablewhereasthelocal official is seen as corrupt.While this may verywell be the case, I thinkthat one canadequately xplainRamSingh'soutlookbyexamining ontemporary ractices atherhan hesedimentation f beliefs.55One should ook atpracticesof the statethatreinforce his outlook.When a complaintof corruptions lodgedagainsta localofficial, he investigations alwaysconductedbyan officialof a higherrank.Higherofficialsarethusseen asprovidingedressalsforgrievancesandpunishingocal officials orcorruptbehavior.RamSingh's ase reminds sthatall constructions f thestatehave o be situatedwithrespectto the locationof the speaker.RamSingh'sparticular osition helps us understandwhy heimagineshestateashe does. He is anolder,scheduled-castemanwhose householdnow owns



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one of the five televisionsets in the village,a keysymbolof upwardmobility.Severalof hissons are educated,and two of them have obtainedrelativelygood government obs as aconsequence.56The scheduledcastes of this areaingeneral,and thejatavs nparticular, avehistorically upporteduccessiveCongressregimes.The irsthingthatmpresses ne aboutRamSingh'snterpretationf "the tate"s howclearlyheunderstandstscomposition s anentitywithmultiple ayersanddiverse ocalesand centers.Althoughhe word forregimeandstate is the same in Hindi(sarkaar),57amSinghmaintainsa distinctionbetweenthe regimeand the bureaucracy.He sees the regime'sgood intentionstoward he lowercastesbeingfrustratedyvenalstateofficials.Clearly,RamSinghhas a sensethatthereareseveral ayersof "government"bove the one thathe hasalwaysdealt with(thevery op personified ythen-PrimeMinisterRajivGandhi), ndthat he differentevelscanexertopposingpullson policy (specifically, hose thataffect a scheduled-castepersonlike him).Interestingly, amSinghreproduces n apologetics or the failureof policy(theformulationsall right, t isthe implementorshatareto blame)pervasivelyound n India's"middle lasses,"deliveredby politiciansbelongingto the regimein power, and reproducedn the workofacademics,higherbureaucrats,ndsympathetic fficialsof internationalgencies.The second striking act about Ram Singh'stestimonyis that apartfrom his nuanceddescriptionof the state as a disaggregated nd multilayerednstitution, is analysiscloselyparallelsa discourseon the state that is disseminatedby the mass media and is thereforetranslocal.RamSingh's xampledemonstratesheimportancefpublicculturenthediscursiveconstruction f the state:he talksknowledgeably bout "thepublic's"perception f Rajivandof Rajiv'stinerary.Hisson'sperception f theCongress s being"for ll thepoor" learlyalsoowes a greatdeal to mass-mediatedources.My suspicionthat the close associationwith RajivGandhiandthe explanationabout thecorruptmiddle evelsofthe statewas influencedbythe impactof televisiongainedforcewhenone of his sons explained:58

We are illiteratepeople whose knowledge would be confined to the village. This way [i.e., by watchingtelevision], we learn a littlebit about the outside world, about the differentpartsof India,about how otherpeople live, we get a little more worldly [Kuchduniyaadaariseekh laayten hain].59In hebuildupotheelections, hegovernment-controlledelevisionnetwork,Doordarshan,spentmostof the nightlynewscast ollowingRajivGandhion hiscampaign ours.Obviously,it was notjust hecountryhatwas being imaginedon television hroughherepresentationfits differentpartsbut also the national state throughthe image of "its" leader. Popular

understandingsf the state herefore reconstitutedna discursive ieldwherethe mass mediaplaya criticalrole. RamSingh'swords reveal the important art hat nationalmediaplay in"local"discourseson the state.Clearly, t is notpossible o deduce RamSingh'sunderstandingof "the state"entirely rom his personalinteractionswith the bureaucracy; onversely,it isapparenthathe is notmerelyparrotinghereports e obtains rom elevisionandnewspapers.60Rather,what we see from this example is the articulationbetween (necessarily ractured)hegemonicdiscoursesand the inevitably ituatedand interestednterpretationsf subalternsubjects.RamSingh's veryday xperiences eadhimto believe that heremustbegovernmentofficialsand agencies(whosepresence,motives,and actions arerepresentedo himthroughthe massmedia) nterestedn helping people like him.Only thatcouldexplainwhy his sonshave succeeded in obtaininghighly prized government obs despitetheirneglect by localschoolteachers nd their ll-treatmenty local officials.Yet when he talksabout "thepublic,"andwithafirst-personamiliarityboutRajv'sefforts n behalfof thepoor,he isclearlydrawingon a mass-mediated nowledgeof what thatupper-levelof government omprises,who theagents responsible or its actions are, and what kinds of policies and programs hey arepromoting.61



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There sobviouslynoArchimedeanoint romwhichtovisualize"the tate," nlynumeroussituatedknowledges Haraway 988). Bureaucrats,orexample,imagine t through tatistics(Hacking1982), officialreports, ndtours,whereascitizens do so throughnewspaper tories,dealingswithparticularovernmentgencies, hepronouncementsf politicians, nd so forth.Constructions f the stateclearlyvaryaccording o the manner n whichdifferent ctorsarepositioned.Itisthereforemportanto situatea certainsymbolicconstruction f thestatewithrespecto theparticularontext nwhich it isrealized.The mportancef themassmedia houldnotblind us to thedifferences hatexistinthe waythatdiversely ituatedpeople imagine hestate.62Fornstance,RamSingh'spositionas arelativelywell-to-do ower-caste erson,whosefamilyhas benefited fromrules regarding mploymentquotas for scheduledcastes, explains hissupport or the higherechelons of government.At the same time, his interactionwith localofficialshastaughthim hat hey, ike hepowerfulmeninthevillages,have ittleor nosympathyfor lower-castepeople like him.Therefore,he has a keen sense of the differencesamongdifferent evelsof the state. On the otherhand,if he seemsto sharewiththe middle-classaparticulariew of thefailure fgovernment rograms,t is theresult f theconvergence fwhathe has learned romhiseveryday ncounterswiththe "state"withwhat he hasdiscerned,ashis son indicates, romthe massmedia.Congressrhetoricaboutbeingthe partyof the poorobviouslyresonateswithRamSingh's xperience;hat swhyhe callstheCongress overnmenthisguardiansmaa-baap) ndblames heofficials nthemiddle or notfollowing hroughwithgovernment rograms.RamSingh's iewof thestate husisshapedbothbyhisownencounterswith local officials and by the translocal maginingof the state madepossibleby viewingtelevision.

conclusionInthis articleI have focused on discoursesof corruptionn publiccultureand villagers'everyday ncounterswithlocalgovernmentnstitutionsnordero work oward nethnographyof the stateincontemporaryndia.Sucha studyraisesa largenumberofcomplexconceptualandmethodological roblems, f whichIhaveattemptedoexplore hosethatIconsider entralto anyunderstandingf state nstitutions ndpractices.The irstproblemhas odo with hereificationnherent nunitary escriptionsf "the tate."63When one analyzes he mannernwhichvillagers ndofficialsencounter hestate, tbecomesclear that it must be conceptualizedn termsfar moredecentralizedanddisaggregatedhanhas been the case so far.Rather hantakethe notionof "thestate"as a pointof departure,weshould leave open the analyticalquestionas to the conditions underwhich the state doesoperate as a cohesive and unitarywhole.64All the ethnographicdata presentedin thisarticle-the cases of Sharmaji, ripal,RamSingh,andthe KisanUnion,and the reportsromthe vernacularpress-point to a recognitionof multiple agencies, organizations, evels,agendas,and centers hatresists traightforwardnalytical losure.The second majorproblemaddressedin this articleconcerns the translocality f stateinstitutions. havearguedhatany analysis f thestaterequires s toconceptualizeaspacethatis constitutedby the intersection f local, regional,national,and transnational henomena.Accordingly,havestressed heroleofpublicculturenthe discursive onstruction f the state.Bringingheanalysisofpubliccu ture ogetherwiththestudyof theeverydaypractices f lowerlevelsof thebureaucracy elpsusunderstand ow the reality ftranslocal ntitiescomes to befeltby villagersandofficials.The third mportantrgument dvanced nthisarticle,also tied to thesignificance f publicculturefor an analysisof the state,has to do with the discursiveconstruction f the state.Foregroundinghequestionofrepresentationllows us to see the modalitiesbywhichthe state



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comesto be imagined.Thediscourseof corruptionndaccountabilityogetherconstitute nemechanism hroughwhich the Indianstate came to be discursivelyconstructed n publicculture.Itmust be keptin mind that the discourseof corruption ariesa greatdeal fromonecountry o another,dependentas it is on particularhistorical rajectories nd the specificgrammars f publicculture.Taking he international ontext of nation-states nto account,however,bringstheir substantial imilarities nto sharprelief.65 n orderthat a state maylegitimatelyepresent nation n the internationalystemof nation-states,t has to conformatleastminimallyo the requirementsf a modernnation-state. he tensionbetweenlegitimacyin the interstateystemandautonomyandsovereigntys intensifyingornation-stateswiththecontinuedmovement owardan increasinglyransnational ublic sphere.The acceleratingcirculationof culturalproducts-televisionand radioprograms,news, films, videos, audiorecordings,books,fashions-has been predicatedon giganticshifts n multinationalapital.Whenthis is tied to the reduction f tradebarriers,heworldwidedebt crisis(especiallyvisiblein LatinAmerica,Africa,and EasternEurope), ffshoreproduction,and the restructuringfmarkets exemplifiedby the EuropeanUnion),a patternof extensivecrisscrossing merges(Appadurai990). Thesecomplex culturaland ideologicalinterconnections evealthatdis-coursesof corruptionandhence of accountability)re from heverybeginningarticulatedna fieldformedbythe intersection f manydifferentransnationalorces. Inshort, o understandhowdiscoursesof corruption ymbolically onstruct"the tate,"we must nspectphenomenawhose boundariesdo not coincide with those of the nation-state.At the sametime, however,thesediscoursesdo notoperatehomogeneously cross he world.Rather,heyarticulatewithdistinctivehistoricalrajectorieso formunique hybridizationsnd creolizations n differentsettings GuptaandFerguson 992).The fourthsignificantpoint, which attends to the historicaland culturalspecificityofconstructions f the state, has to do with vigilancetowardthe imperialism f the Westernconceptualapparatus.Rather hanbeginwiththe notionsof state and civil societythatwereforgedon the anvil of European istory, focuson the modalities hatenable the state(and,simultaneously,hatwhichis notthestate) o be discursivelyonstructed.Looking teverydaypractices, ncludingpracticesof representation,ndthe representationsf (state)practice npublicculturehelpsus arriveat a historicallypecificand ideologicallyconstructedunder-standingof "thestate."Such an analysissimultaneouslyonsiders hose othergroupings ndinstitutionshatare imagined n the processesof contestation,negotiation, nd collaborationwith "thestate."There s no reasonto assume hatthereis,or shouldbe, a unitary ntity hatstandsapart rom,and inopposition o, "thestate,"one that s mutually xclusive andjointlyexhaustiveof the social space. WhatI havetriedto emphasizeinthis article is thatthe verysameprocesses hatenableone to constructhestatealsohelpone to imagineheseother ocialgroupings-citizens,communitiesChatterjee990),socialgroups Bourdieu 985), coalitions,classes, nterest roups, ivilsociety, polity,ethnicgroups, ubnational roups,politicalparties,tradeunions,andfarmers rganizations.For he purposesof my argument, ssemblinghesegroups nto someoverarchingelationwas unnecessary. therefore id notemploythe notionof "civil ociety,"whichusually illssucha need,inthisanalysisof thediscoursesofcorruptionin India.Furthermore,t is not a concept indigenously nvokedin the variousprocessesofimagining dentityhatIhavedescribedhere.66Thefinalquestion hat his articleaddresses oncernspoliticalactionandactivism, oncernsthatshouldbe includedin the fieldof appliedanthropology. nthe context of the state,thecollaboration/resistanceichotomyis unhelpfuln thinkingof strategiesorpoliticalstruggle.The reason s thatsuch a grossbifurcation oes not allow one to takeadvantage f the fact hatthe state saformationhat,as StuartHal puts t,"condenses"ontradictionsHall1981 1986a,1986b). It also hides fromview the fact thatthere is no positionstrictlyoutside or insidethestatebecausewhat isbeingcontested stheterrain f the ideological ield.Anystruggle gainst



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currently egemonicconfigurationsfpowerand domination nvolvesa culturaltruggle,whatGramscihas called the "war f position."What s at stake s nothingess thana transformationinthe manner nwhichthe statecomesto be constructed. t sa strugglehatproblematizeshehistoricaldivide between hose who choose to do politicalwork"within"he stateand thosewho work"outside"t,because he cultural onstruction fthestate npublicculturecan resultfrom,andaffect,both inequalmeasure.Bypointingout thatadvocatesofappliedworkandthose who favoractivist nterventionmaysometimesunintentionallyhare a commonprojectof reifying"thestate"andthen locatingthemselveswithrespect o thattotality theone inside,the otheroutside),I neither ntend oequatedifferentmodesof engagementnorto belittle he oftenpolitically ophisticated nder-standingshatpractitionersring o theiractivities.All Iwish to emphasize s thatone'stheoryof "the tate"doesgreatlymatter nformulatingtrategiesorpoliticalaction.Justas Gramsci'snotionof hegemony edhimto believe that 1917 mayhave been the lastEuropean xampleofvanguardismwhathe called the "warof maneuver"),o my analysisof "the tate" eadsto theconclusionthatwe canattempto exploit hecontradictory rocesses hatgo intoconstituting"it."Thesecontradictions otonlyaddresshedivergentpullsexertedbythemultipleagencies,departments, rganizations,evels,andagendasof "thestate"but also the contested errain fpublic representation.fit is precisely n these practicesof historicalnarrativend statisticalabstraction,n equalparts hinfiction and brute act,that the phenomenonof statefetishismemerges,we mustrememberhow unstableandfragile his self-representations and how itcouldalwaysbe otherwise.Forexample,Ihave shownhow thediscourseof corruption elpsconstruct"the tate"; etatthe sametime it canpotentially mpower itizensby markinghoseactivities hat nfringe n theirrights.Onewayto thinkaboutstrategies f politicalaction,aboutsuch dichotomiesas applied/ac-tivist, nside/outside,olicyanalysis/classtruggle, nddevelopmentalism/revolution,stodrawan initialdistinctionbetweenentitlement nd empowerment.67he"machinery"f develop-ment,with its elaborateyet repetitive ogic,focuseson thegoal of delivering ntitlements.AsJimFerguson1990)hasargued, tdoes so infactonlyto removealldiscussion fempowermentfrom he discursive orizon hencethe titleof hisbook,TheAnti-PoliticsMachine).Yet hetwoare not mutuallyexclusive. And it is here that seizing on the fissuresand ruptures,hecontradictionsnthepolicies,programs,nstitutions,nddiscourses f"the tate" llowspeopleto createpossibilitiesorpoliticalactionand activism.68see critical eflection n the discourseof developmentas a pointofdepartureorpoliticalaction,not as a momentof arrival.Evenaswe beginto see that we need, as ArturoEscobar1992) hasfelicitouslyputit, alternativesodevelopment, nd notdevelopment lternatives, e must earnnot oscoffat aplebeianpoliticsof opportunism,trategieshatare aliveto theconjunctural ossibilities f themoment.Keynesserved o remind conomistsandutopianshat"inthelongrunwe arealldead."69hepoor,Imightadd,liveonlyhalfas long.notes

Acknowledgments.amgratefuloPurnimaMankekar,amesFerguson,DavidNugent,DonMoore,LataMani, Jane Collier, John Peters, Elizabeth Perry,Atul Kohli, and three anonymous reviewers for detailedcomments. This article was originally presented at a workshop on State-SocietyRelationsat the Universityof Texas at Austin, February8-11, 1990. It has benefited from the critical comments of participantsof theSSRC/ACLSointCommittee on the Near & Middle East's"Vocabulariesof the State"workshop in Hanover,NH, March 24-25, 1990. I am also grateful for the input received from seminar participantsat the MITCenter for InternationalStudies and the Anthropology Colloquium at the University of California, Irvine.Many interestingquestions were raised at presentationsat StanfordUniversity,October 12, 1992, ColumbiaUniversity, February8, 1993, and the University of Pennsylvania, February22, 1993, some of which willhave to await the development of a much longer manuscript. I am gratefulto the Fritz Endowment of theSchool of InternationalStudies, University of Washington, and to Fulbright-Hays or supportingfieldworkin the summer of 1989 and the 1991-92 academic year, respectively.



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1. Insteadof adopting the cumbersome technique of putting "the state" in quotation marksthroughoutthe text, I will henceforth omit quotation marksexcept at points where I want to draw attention explicitlyto the reified natureof the object denoted by that term.2. Similarquestions were raised earlierby Nader (1972:306-307).3. Such an analysis has important implications for political action, as it suggests that the struggle forhegemony is built into the construction of the state. It rejects the reification of the state inherent both invanguardistmovements that seek to overthrow "it"and reformistmovements that seek to work within "it."4. Herzfeld remarks:"Thusanthropology, with its propensity to focus on the exotic and the remarkable,has largely ignored the practices of bureaucracy.... Yet this silence is, as Handelman has observed, aremarkableomission" (1992a:45). Handelman's work (1978, 1981) develops a call made by scholars suchas Nader (1972) to "study up," and attempts to do for bureaucracies what ethnographers such as Rohlen(1974, 1983) have done for other institutions such as banks and schools.5. It should be obvious that Iam makinga distinction between an empiricist epistemology and empiricalmethods. Iam definitely not saying thatempirical research needs to be abandoned.6. The largerproject has a significantoral historical and archival dimension as well as a wider samplingof the various media. See also Achille Mbembe's (1992) wonderful article for its suggestive use of newspaperreports.7. See the articles by Mitchell (1989) and Taussig(1992) on this matter.8. Handler's work (1985) very nicely demonstrates how these struggles work out in the case of objectsthatthe regional government of Quebec wants to designate as the region's patrimoine.9. The scandal, which came to be known as the Bofors Affair,allegedly involved a kickback in a gunordered by the Indiangovernment from a Swedish manufacturer.What gave the scandal such prominenceis that it was widely believed that the kickback went to highly placed members of the government and theCongress party, perhapseven the prime minister.Naturally,the rulingpartydid not pursue the investigationwith great enthusiasm, and no concrete proof was ever uncovered.10. The phrase is LataMani's (1989).11. Michael Woost's (1993) fine essay also addresses similarquestions.12. The term "ThirdWorld"encapsulates and homogenizes what are in fact diverse and heterogenousrealities (Mohanty 1988). It implies further hat "First" nd "Third"worlds exist as separate and separablespaces (Ahmad 1987). I will thus capitalize it to highlight its problematic status. In a similar manner, "theWest" is obviously not a homogenous and unified entity. I use it to refer to the effects of hegemonicrepresentationsof the West rather han itssubjugatedtraditions. Itherefore use the term simply to refer,notto a geographical space, but to a particularhistorical conjuncture of place, power, and knowledge.13. A phenomenon that Johannes Fabian(1983) calls "allochronism."14. Thispoint has been made by ParthaChatterjee 1990) in response to CharlesTaylor(1990); his recentbook (1993) restates it and develops the argumentfurther.15. Iam grateful o Dipesh Chakrabartyor firstbringingthis to my attention. See the excellent concludingchapter of his monograph of the working class in Bengal (1989), in which he tackles this question head on.16. The headman is an official elected by all the registered voters of a village. Political parties rarelyparticipatein village elections in the sense that candidates do not representnational or regional partieswhencontesting these elections. Headmen are neither considered part of the administration nor the grassrootsembodiment of political parties, although they may play important roles in representing the village tobureaucratic and partyinstitutions.17. Like all the other names in this article, this too is a pseudonym. In addition, owing to the sensitivenature of this material, the identities and occupations of all the people mentioned here have been alteredbeyond recognition.18. Since the word "federal" is rarely used in India, I will refer to it by its Indian equivalent, that is,"central."19. Iuse the term "hold court" because Sharmaji'smode of operation is reminiscent of an Indiandarbaar,a royal court.20. At the exchange rate prevailing at the time of the incident in 1989, $1 = Rs. 18, the client in effecthanded Verma the equivalent of 56 cents. That figure is misleading, however, since it does not indicatepurchasing power. Tenrupees would be enough to buy a hearty nonvegetarian lunch ata roadside restaurantfor one person or one kilogramof high quality mangoes, but not enough for a pairof rubberslippers.21. IfindJudithButler's(1990) concept of gender as performance very useful in thinkingabout this issue,particularly as it emphasizes that the agents involved are not following a cultural script governed byrule-following behavior. Iam gratefulto Don Moore for emphasizing this point to me.22. This level was defined as Rs. 6,400 (approximately$215) per year for the 1992-93 fiscal year.23. The village development worker is a functionaryof the regional government who is responsible forthe implementation of "development programs" n a small circle of villages, the number in the circle varyingfrom three to a dozen depending on their populations. Like other government officials, the villagedevelopment worker is subject to frequenttransfers,at least once every three years.24. Sripalclaimed to know the exact amountby consu ting "people who can read and write."Theofficialsat the Block office told me, however, that a sum of Rs. 8,000 was allocated for such projects.25. I later learned that Rs. 3,000 of the total cost is given as a loan that has to be paid back in 20installments stretchingacross ten years.



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26. To have explored the implications of the full chain of mediations for each ethnographic examplewould have taken the article farafield in too many differentdirections and made it lose its focus. This is atask that Ipropose to undertake in a full-length monograph. Here, Iwanted to stress that we not forgetthatthe detailed analysis of everyday life is overdetermined by transnationalinfluences.27. Iwould like to thankJoel Migdal for pointing this out to me.28. The symbolic representation of the state is as yet largely unexplored territory,with a few notableexceptions. BernardCohn, for instance, has demonstrated how the ImperialAssemblage of 1877 enabledthe British colonial state to represent its authorityover India at the same time as it made "manifest andcompelling the [colonial] sociology of India" (1987b:658). See also Nicholas Dirks's study of a small,independent state in precolonial and colonial South India(1987).29. Ihave deliberately avoided use of the term "public sphere" in this article. As Habermas(1989[1962])makes clear, the "public sphere" is the space where civil society emerges with the rise of bourgeois socialformations. It s there thatcritical, rationaldebate among bourgeois subjects could take place about a varietyof topics, including the state, and it is there that checks on state power emerge throughthe force of literatepublic opinion (Peters 1993, in press). Since the argument that follows raises doubts about the wholesaleimportof these categories to the particularcontext being analyzed, this notion of the "public sphere" is notparticularlyhelpful. I should hasten to add that I am by no means implying that "the West" is unique inpossessing a space for public debate and discussion. The notion of the public sphere, however, denotes aparticular historical and cultural formation shaped by feudalism, kingly rule, the rise of capitalism, theimportance of urbancenters, and the dominant role of the church as an institution that is not replicated inthe same form elsewhere in the world.30. For hose unfamiliarwith the Indiancontext, it might be useful to point out thatthe reason why Iamconcentratingon newspapers is thatwhereas radio andtelevision arestrictlycontrolled by the government,the press is relativelyautonomous and frequentlycritical of "thestate."The only other importantsource ofnews in ruralareas, transnationalradio, remains limited in its coverage of India in that it remains focusedon major stories and hence lacks the detail and specificity of newspaper accounts.31. This is not to imply that anthropologistshave not incorporated newspapers into their analysis in thepast (see for example Benedict 1946). Herzfeld explains the marginal role of newspapers very clearly:"Journalisms treated as not authentically ethnographic, since it is both externallyderived and rhetoricallyfactual.... Inconsequence, the intrusionof media language intovillage discourse has largelybeen ignored"(1992b:94). Herzfeld makes a strong case for close scrutiny to newspapers even when the unit of analysisis "the village";others such as Benedict Anderson (1983) and Achille Mbembe (1992) have stressed thetheoretical importance of newspapers in the construction of the nation and for the analysis of "the state,"respectively.32. This analysis of newspapers looks at connections between local and transnational discourses ofcorruptionbut not at the links between transnationalcapital and local newspapers. Forexample, althoughnone of the locally distributed newspapers (English-languageor vernacular)are even partiallyowned bytransnationalcorporations, many of them depend on multinational wire service bureaus for internationalnews. A detailed study would also have to account for the complex relationship between domestic andinternationalcapital accumulation. Further, he connection between the ownership and content of news-papers is an incredibly difficult one to establish and is quite beyond the scope of this article and thecompetence of the author. Iwish to thank an anonymous reviewer for raisingthese stimulating questions.33. Herzfeld has issued a warning that we would do well to heed: "We cannot usefully make anyhard-and-fastdistinctions between ruraland urban, illiterateand learned (orat least journalistic), local andnational. These terms-urbanity, literacy,the national interest,and theirantonyms-appear in the villagers'discourse, and they are partof that discours

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