Quarantine Human Material for Inclusive Growth
By Sudhansu R
Das
Various Agencies have chronicled India’s growth story from six days reserve in the 90 to a trillion dollar economy with $ 270.181 billion reserve in 2007. India and China are projected as the two guiding angels for the developing world economy. India’s GDP grows at above 8 % per annum, which has added one lakh dollar millionaires. Economist thinkers have written a number of Books on India’s economic prowess. But the growth and glitter of Indian economy is unable to hide the human misery in the Indian subcontinent. According to the Trade and Development Index of UNCTAD, India’s economic and social well-being status are below sub Saharan African nations. India ranks 94 th out of 118 nations in the World Hunger Index. Human Development Index of the UN ranks India 126 th among the lowest performing nations.
The 11 th Plan aims to take care of the human problems in India by increasing the plan outlay to Rs 36,44,718 crore which is more than double of the 10 th plan. The main thrust would be on social sectors, agriculture and rural development. The subsidy allocation for oil, food and fertilizer is estimated to cross Rs 1,00,000 crore during 2007-08. Political economists say without GDP growth such a huge allocation of funds for social sector would not have been possible.
The question is whether India has the right kind of human material to utilize the fund allocated for the social sector. Rampant corruption makes inclusive growth a difficult process. According to Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, India ranks 72 nd below the African nations. The recent survey of the Center of Media Studies finds 80% of all Indians pay petty bribes amounting to Rs $ 4.8 billion for services they are entitled to. Former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan’s in his book India’s Politics-A View from the back bench” notes out of an estimated budgetary consumer subsidy of Rs 7,250 crore for 16 states in 2003-04, Rs 4200 crore did not reach the BPL house. When natural calamities ruin the lives of millions of people, it brings fortune to many who thrive on looting the calamity funds. It is very difficult to keep an account of the amount spent on calamity victims. Sometimes back, Supreme Court bench of justice said in disgust the only way to rid this country of corruption is to hang a few of you (accused in corruption case) on the lamp post. Economists Mahendra Dev, Ajit Ranade and former Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi pointed out only 20 percent of development fund reaches the target group. Finance Minister Chidambaram in his budget speech expressed we have no dearth of funds but we have problem in deliverance. India’s prowess in information technology has not helped much in monitoring development fund for social sector. Monitoring mechanism will not work unless Indian political class allows political inclusion.
Development fund and subsidies if reaches the undeserving people it creates a mass of idle energy which ultimately destroys the entrepreneurship cycle in the society and creates inflation. Look the cost of treatment in health sector has soared up many folds and is out of reach of common man who have to got to the much mismanaged government run hospital. It would not be fair to blame any political party for this situation. The only alternative is to quarantine the human material from its progeny. “There is a need to instill a sense of discipline among citizens. The education system right from the primary level has to concentrate on this aspect,” said former President Shri A P J Abdul Kalam. India desperately needs self-belief to come up as a developed nation. In the past, British did everything to rob off the self-belief of Indians as they taught to Indian school children :
“Behold the mighty Englishman
He rules the Indian small,
Because being a meat eater
He is five cubic tall.”
What British taught has been inherited by Indian brown Saheebs who continued to look west for development concept and ignore the potential at their doorsteps. This is the reason why India lost many plant and animal species, polluted its rivers, made urban mess, allowed its best brains to serve the economy of other nations. Indian doctors run the Britain’s National Health Sevice where out of 80,000 doctors, 30,000 are Indians. Indian planners must understand the fundamental truth that globalisation is a manifestation of national interest only. A strong nation with good human material can only derive the benefit of globalisation.