Responding to Local Poverty - On what the affluent ought to do and what the poor are permitted to do

This pre-project will plan a three year research collaboration between top scholars in India and Norway, which will investigate the responsibilities affluent citizens and governments in the two countries have to address poverty in India. Three types of m oral reasons are often invoked to support the claim that particular agents have responsibilities to address poverty. First, if agents are able to assist the poor at relatively moderate cost they have a duty to do so - the principle of assistance. Second, if agents have contributed to the poverty they have a responsibility to address it - the principle of contribution. Third, when two countries have strong ties with one another, the affluent of both countries have a responsibility to help alleviate the dep rivation of poor people in both countries - the principle of association. Our research team will investigate the moral significance of association-based responsibilities and their practical implications for poverty in India. We will consider how these r easons interact with contribution-based and assistance-based reasons, and how the poor may permissibly respond to those who fail to discharge their association-based responsibilities. The pre-project will plan and prepare the collaboration. A workshop w ill be held in New-Delhi in April or May 2011 at which scholars from India and Norway will discuss the project's core questions. We will then prepare an application to the NRC for the main project. In the final half of the year all details regarding colla boration and task assignment will be finalized, and a project-management website will be designed. A workshop will be planned for 2012. An aim of the main project is to establish frameworks and partnerships that will continue to bear fruit long after the project itself ends. Accordingly, an additional aim of the pre-project year is to design the main project with this aim specifically in mind.