[Reader-list] I-fellow Post 2

[Rakshat Hooja]

My apologies for the delay in making the monthly post. In fact  this is 
just a small update post to outline the  progress made on my study of  
Resident Welfare  Associations and urban stakeholder activism.

I have finally set up a blog dedicated only to this study at   
http://residentwelfare.blogspot.com

Right now it contains the background to the study, hypothesis and some 
of my primary (first hand) impressions but I will be adding more 
material to it very soon. So please do take a look and suggestions are 
most welcome.

I will also be putting up the draft of the survey I wish to carry out in 
the selected RWAs on the blog by the end of this month and would be 
grateful for advise/refinements to it.

As far as data collection goes I have started collecting qualitative 
data via informal interviews and this has made me realise that I was 
ignoring the influence of personal or private benefit (actual and 
perceived) as a factor for the participation in RWA activities. Very 
preliminary/initial understanding seems to be that atleast in some cases 
it is just not to better the quality of life in a colony or locality 
that drives people to participate in the RWA activities but also the 
direct individual benefits that they get. For example in one RWA (Not 
giving the name till I can verify the facts in more detail, but it is in 
Vasant Kunj) municipal water supply was also opened in the afternoon but 
only the members of the RWA executive body seemed to know about this and 
the other people in the colony were ignorant of this fact. It was also 
not like the  RWA executive was hiding this fact, but nor had they made 
any effort to advertise it to all the members of the RWA. Similarly many 
of the residents felt that the level of security and cleaning service 
available to them personally was better if the service providers knew 
that they were active members of the RWA.

It is to verify observations like the ones above that I am planning the 
survey to collect quantitative data.

On another note does anyone know any library (other than the national 
archives) in Delhi where hindi newspapers for the last three years are 
kept? They are not kept in the DU library and I wanted to go through and 
collect articles on RWAs.

till next time

Rakshat