Sunday, April 19, 2009

Development - Illusion..??

By Abhishek Joshi:

In today’s developmental context what stands out as a forlorn conclusion is the pace and beneficiaries of this plank. The speed of execution coupled with larger masses of people who are receiving it. Measuring in absolute terms from a GDP factor to the amount of FDI money which it attracts, governance desk of this country has this calling card for everyone to see.
We have seen rapid development. Implementation of national infrastructural schemes, flyovers, urbane development, malls with decked up global brands sitting on the shelves with high propensity of consumption from the great middle class parivars. Globalized models straight leaf out of developed economic countries linking our fate with them and feel urbane of we having been arrived.

Is this true. I do not know. I think if this actual development would have happened, we would have not seen unabated stories of 175,000 farmers committing suicide in a decade. We yet would have not had close to greater than a quarter of the country population referred by the card. The great Below the Pyramid Card (sorry, I need to take this one later) Below Poverty Line Card. Our leading developing states should have not seen being compared with Uganda, Congo, and Chad on Human Development Index. Optimism is to be corroborated with evidence and unfortunately less than 100 kms from the capital it is not to be seen. Governance and distribution system anomalies, continuous waiver of loans for the masses without any probable recourse of implementing it right with determined efficiency is what has eluded the bottom most people. Endless debates on the actual percentage of developmental policies however limitless option to sustain or to succumb at the bottom.

Accentuates this further is the glaring insensitivity to these matters in media, public discourses, policy formulation and election manifesto’s. If all but less than to eradicate the reasons but continue to support the extension of offering sops to maintain the level of poverty and ensure it remains that way. Agrarian dependent economy caught in the muddle of global trade negotiations of subsidies and self pat on back to have made noises at trade forums is yet not heard in our own backyards by virtue of yet being dependent on ensuring the fair market price of the produce is afforded as MSP for the crop. It looks upon the governance desks and legislative authorities for pre harvest and post harvest support policies supporting this mass based dependency is another spoke in the wheel. Starvation deaths and malnourished children, unfortunately getting lesser attention in public views and media than the conflicts, disasters and political opera’s are contrary to the fact of we assume to continuously moving ahead with development.

What perhaps is needed is a concerted effort to force the policy formulation through active public intervention. The question of faith has not diluted albeit we have created an illusion and happy to not look outside of it. Poverty classification has re divided itself as Rural and Urbane poverty and reasoning and rationale for each none to his own ears is what the sound is all about. Interplay of deprivation is perhaps the last of the definitions we needed. Elusive in all this is the main beneficiary for whom this interplay has been created. Development index needs to be inward looking for us to actually relate to it on certain parameters and tested to its utmost strength.

I put forward these parameters in my next post
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