INDIA IS RICH, INDIANS POOR

Mark Twain once said, “India is the cradle of human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of human history, the grandmother of legend and great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most constructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only”. Both geographically and resource-wise India is a blessed nation since the evolution of mankind. With ample access to oceanic resources and a huge land border, protected by the Himalayas, we have been uniquely positioned in the globe. Water, coal and iron are amply available. The Indus Valley Civilisation stands out as an epitome of our rich history of entrepreneurship. The works of rishi Kannad (including the Laws of Motion) in 600 BC and Arthashastra by Chanakya in 400 BC, shows the intellectual erudition on the Indian subcontinent when the rest of world was still uncivilised. From the empire of Ashoka the Great to the riches of Devagiri Kingdom, from the huge trade routes spanning the oceans to legendary gold hordes, India has seen it all before the Europeans turned this sacred landmass into resources center for exports of raw materials from India and imports of finished goods into India, thereby leading to a collapse of local industries.

Well, let bygones be bygones. After independence, with a broken back, India has still managed to stand up erect and establish herself as a major power in the world economy. However, India still continues to be among the poorest nations of the world having about 25% of the world’s poor. The unorganized sector of the Indian economy suffers severely from this menace of poverty. Rural India lacks basic modern amenities and is not properly integrated to the national markets even after 70 years of independence. As per the Rangrajan Committee, the poverty line estimated at INR 1,407 per capita per month for urban and INR 972 per capita per month for rural, we have about 35 crore people below the poverty line. What has gone wrong? Why even after so many efforts we are not able to alleviate poverty? The causes are many. The important ones can be:

1)      Population explosion: An explosion in the population of India hinders the process of poverty alleviation. A high population growth rate would mean high levels of illiteracy, diluted health care facilities and lack of access to financial resources. If the fertility rates are not immediately lowered, India is expected to reach 170 crore by 2050!

2)      Corruption: It is said that corruption has been inherited into Indian culture by the British. Today, it is so deeply rooted in our culture that considerable efforts to eradicate it have a negligible impact. This aspect has to cease to exist and this can start only at the individual level

3)      Land Degradation: This can be a repercussion of a very high growth rate of population in India. Increase in population coupled with limited land resources leads to land shortage which further leads to unsustainable agricultural practices leading to land degradation.

4)      Low Wages: Low wages of the unskilled labourers in the unorganized sector contributes to poor becoming poorer. A low wage would mean lack of education and job opportunities which leads to exploitation by the employer. The worker is unable to rise economically, lives in unhygienic conditions, suffers from illnesses and malnutrition, and gets economically drained. This forces him to get into the grip of the loan sharks and hence becoming poorer.

5)      Social Factors: Large scale inequality, capital deficiency, extravagant spending on social events like marriages contribute their share towards becoming poor.

There are a lot of attempts made by the governments, NGOs and other altruistic institutions to help fight poverty in India. There is some success but it is not adequate to boast about eliminating poverty. The main issue lies in scaling up the attempts made by them. Labour intensive sectors should be promoted to absorb the growing unemployment. Schemes like Make-in-India, etc. are aimed towards this objective. Self-employment through skill development has been made encouraging through schemes like MUDRA, Stand-up India Start-up India, etc. Labour and land reforms are a crucial part in this regard.

I am optimistic of a novel way in which the populace-rich India give in return the demographic dividend and we prosper again. The major aim should be to increase the ‘Total Factor Productivity’ instead of just employment because it is high time we had done away with this menace.