People's Democracy

EDITORIAL

Revamped Garibi Hatao: Built-in Contradictions

THE UPA government has decided to launch a revamped Garibi Hatao programme from April 1, 2007. The union cabinet has restructured the 20-point programme which was last updated in 1986. The revised programme lists farmer support, food security, housing for all, labour welfare, development of backward areas and e-governance which have been added to the earlier list contained among other items, education for all, health for all, slum improvement, protection of environment and so on.

The big business media has tended to dismiss the new version of the Garibi Hatao as “populist” and having been devised by the Congress party with an eye to the forthcoming assembly elections. This approach betrays their class bias which refuses to acknowledge that economic growth has excluded vast numbers of the Indian people from its benefits.

The goal of abolishing poverty is more relevant and pressing given the experience of the one and a half decades of liberalisation. India holds the dubious record of having the largest absolute number of poor people in any country in the world. Even official statistics show 300 million people are poverty-stricken by the international standard of earning less than $1 a day. The blight of poverty is not just a question of lack of income. It affects all aspects of the lives of people. India has a shocking figure of 47 per cent of its children below five years being malnutrited. On an international scale, India is third from the bottom in the record of child nutrition. So whether it is farmer support, food security, health for all, education for all, slum improvement, development of backward areas – all of which are listed in the new 20-point programme – they are all essential steps to be taken to eradicate poverty. But the UPA government’s approach to poverty elimination is flawed and has a built-in contradiction.

It is flawed because the government still refuses to address the structural basis of poverty. In the previous 20-point programme, there was a direction on “enforcement of land reforms”. In the current programme, this has been dropped. When addressing the issue of rural poverty, the basic issue of land reforms cannot be evaded. Outside the three Left-ruled states, the agenda of land reforms has been more or less abandoned. The only exception has been the commitment made by the DMK government in Tamilnadu to distribute two acres of wasteland to each landless family. The other omission in the programme announced is the absence of employment generation. The agrarian crisis and the chronic problem of unemployment which are both contributing to and resulting in perpetuating poverty are not being tackled effectively by the UPA government.

The goals proclaimed of education for all and health for all are not going to be fulfilled with the present direction of policies and the resources provided for these sectors. If the CMP commitment to raise public expenditure on education to 6 per cent of the GDP and public expenditure on health to 2 to 3 per cent of the GDP are to be fulfilled, then the government has to raise and provide resources far beyond what has been committed so far.

The built-in contradiction lies in the UPA government’s policies. The direction of economic policies results in economic growth benefiting only 10 per cent of the population. While the government basks in the growth rate crossing 8 per cent for four successive quarters, it shows no signs of recognising that this growth rate is accompanied by sharpening inequalities and deprivation of millions of people.

The economic reforms of which the government takes great pride has resulted in the rich becoming the superrich. According to the Forbes Asia second annual list, of the 40 richest Indians, the number of billionaires doubled from the previous year to 27. The collective net worth of the 40 richest Indians went up from $61 billion to $106 billion. According to another survey, the Tenth World Wealth Report of 2005, India registered the second fastest growth of 19.3 per cent in the number of high net worth individuals. This enormous concentration of wealth is obscene in a country with abysmal mass poverty. The UPA government stubbornly refuses to mobilise resources by taxing the superrich, the stock market speculators, both foreign and domestic, and continues to offer tax bonanzas to them as seen in the tax free concessions for the Special Economic Zones.

The revamped 20-point programme is a faint signal that the Congress party is aware of the situation. But none of the good intentions set out in the Garibi Hatao programme are going to be fulfilled unless the government stops the conscious promotion of the interests of big business and those who control the productive assets of the country. As long as this approach exists, the goal of eradication of poverty set out in the Garibi Hatao programme will remain a pious wish.