By Abhishek Joshi: (contd. from last post)
What do we mean by Pro-Poor:
When we refer to our Pro-Poor ideology the first aspect which strikes our thoughts is to collectively seek favourable responses from our policies of governance to ensure that the bottom most person in the social hierarchy and his basic needs of rightful living, food, water, shelter, medicine, education and livelihood for being met at the first instance itself. The system needs could afford to go conservative; perhaps for a while as progressively it moves up the ladder however the course correction needs to be respectful at its origin itself.
We are aware today that unfortunately, we continue to follow the “trickle down theory” of governance, where only when it rains heavily, the top most gets drenched first in the shower of benefits with the last person obligated to get rightful few drops for sustenance and rest for him to secure all by himself. The pro-capitalist and new school of thought as socio-capitalist political formations are the one’s who decide on every aspect of this shower as well. How much of it, when, where and who gets the right of it in. Unfortunately, naming one group of association or political alliance for this misgiving would leave the others to achieve there liberty but it remains quite true and sadly, that each one of them has participated in this uncouth dancing ring of nominations of richness with impunity. It’s a hard known fact that rules of engagement of democratic participation itself have been heavily muddled with candidates having criminal track records, supported either fully or partially by stashed black money and economical offences perpetrated on state itself, which now they lay their claim to rule.
These segment of people are so deeply entrenched in this system that from a minority few immediately after independence who used to work underground for fear of social denouncement are now freely as majority, even with pride in few cases are openly supporting this process with nefarious motive of extending their ambitions of insatiate desire of greed. It is a known fact that Bharat leads the list of nations on illegal money stashed away in tax heavens and Swiss Banks. Dishonest industrialists, scandalous politicians, civil servants and officers, film artistes, illegal sex trade operators, to name just a few, have deposited in foreign banks in their illegal personal accounts a sum of about $ +500 billion, which have been misappropriated by them. This amount is about 13 times larger than the country's foreign debt. With this amount 250 Mn poor people can get Rs 1, 00,000 each.
This huge amount has been appropriated from there own people on pretence of effective rule of governance by exploiting and betraying them. If this huge amount of black money and property comes back to India, the entire foreign debt can be repaid in 24 hours. After paying the entire foreign debt, we will have surplus amount, almost 12 times larger than the foreign debt, leaving one wonder and aghast with its sheer magnanimity. If this surplus amount is invested in earning interest, the amount of interest will be more than the annual budget of the Central government and assuming all taxes thereon are abolished, the Central government will still be able to maintain the more than basic upkeep of its citizens.
This amount is also more than the combined of the other top four nations at 1.4 Trillion US$. Resultantly, these ill-gotten wealth hoarders to protect their social legitimacy continue to sponsor and lubricate this system with this money as favours and reaping a bountiful harvest in return, churning this cycle over and over again. Naturally, if this money is going to be deciding the policies for betterment of its people and masses, it would have a major share of this money solely to be kept to ensure this cycle remains intact, maintained and forcefully in their own desired direction. This has created a social imbalance such large that people, who are rich, continue to add up this wealth to themselves and people who any which ways were deprived in the first instance are being pushed more and more deep into this bottomless pit of poverty. Already we are being witnessed of various social anomalies and situations where one can only think and ponder the rotten environment around us with empathy.
The government has at best acknowledge this fact as latest as under Arjun Sen Gupta Commission report, which blares its throat out on the system deficiency, its vagaries of implementation and the end result – which if anything as sad, is bitterly laced with mistrust of its own people, their will if anything again but dishonest and execution capability, if all remotely plausible.
To speak of Pro-Poor pursuits it certainly is most important to bear in mind, first and foremost task of equipping them with their constitutional right of “basic fundamentals” and adding further their “equal” right of non poverty. Presently, the statistics of poverty are more conspicuous by there absence, an expression, which sadly is even short of covering this statement. What we have instead is the Gross domestic Consumption, Investment index of statistic, which as apparent as they would are skewed more towards encouraging this divide to widen at with capitalist fervour. Sadly, both the government and the ‘their’ people who vehemently avoid looking at the former are contented with Share Price sensex, attracting FDI’s in various fields and production and consumption factor of the country, as latter. It bitterly, as mentioned above hide more than it reveals yet everyone seems to be calling this as score card of relative success at expense of the common man, for whom this foundation of progress is being laid. This corrobates its match with celebrations by the government of “India" announcing to have arrived when the annual Forbes declares the number of its billionaires from the country, gracing its list, pushing more an more “with” same number of decimals of this wealth replacing the actual number of people “with” it who are constantly being pushed down into abject poverty yet covering the same ground of existence of this country.
The difference between the per capita income of the wealthiest citizen of the country and the lowest on the social ladder is pitiable with almost 90 times its size of earnings. This entire constitutional machinery, including parties, both ruling and opposition have become so hard necked in their pursuit of serving their “true” masters with contemptuous wealth-ism that the appalling condition of poverty are simply ignored or at best not even acknowledged being present, to deprive the only sustenance of their voice being heard at above. This makes them continue to work against the dignified right of their living versus what essentially should have been made “for” them.
This when the central planned allocation for anti-poverty programmes have seen a 15 fold increase in last 15 years from 7,500 Crs in 1993-94 to well over 120,000 Crs in 2008-09, this in addition to 70,000 Crs of farmer loan waivers, simply having no inter relation between outlay and outcomes. The situation gets accentuated more when we look at the sheer statistics of this greatest deprivation of rightful fundamentals that people in rural habitations, the villages where people have seen there income rise from Rs. 8 per day to Rs.9 per day, the thin economic “plimsoll line” widening the gap of beneficiaries from BPL (Below the poverty line) to Non – BPL entity after all these outlays in last upwards of dozen years. This interplay of deprivation as perhaps was waiting for even this partition to lay claim on the frugal benefit of governance. Alarming as it is, states corresponding to their efforts have none to appease but themselves by shamefully printing reports and organizing poverty shows to International aid doling agencies and countries to get grants. Situation likes these, where in states like Jharkhand & Madhya Pradesh with significant tribal population, 99.8 percent of there families are not able to cover one basic meal in any given month of the year. This when the state antagonism being proponent of rampant “world-bankism, grant-ism, accumula-ism with single denominator of capitalism has produced not less than 25000 people who simply have any number between Rs 7 Mn to 10 Mn, as Vehicles, all their way from portico to their garage, as simply a spoilt choice over mode of commute.
Also, this system has offspring’s in form of people, almost upwards of 1 Mn who simply have matching accessories to compliment their attire with 0.25 Mn to anywhere upwards of 2.5 Mn each. The level of socio-economic balance is so heavily skewed that even employment opportunities are controlled by just 20 percent of the people over the remaining rest, whereas the remaining below just earning 3.6 percent of their remuneration over this spread wealth and richness, ironically. These situations, to analyse have not been a result of manifesting themselves in a day.
These have had some signs of it even in pre- independence era however since the right of self rule as an independent nation was any ways deprived, it was hoped that these corrections would happen by themselves progressively with right earnest and policy changes geared towards betterment of and towards the people. Policies which were foreign would be dumped and nationalistic policies, allowing the expression of diverting these towards uplifting the masses over years of tyranny and eventually would disappear.
The seeds of hope were being carried to bear fruit of freedom, yet we just run out of expressions to condone where we find ourselves today. A lot of these expressions needs be made the foundation of this change to happen today with nationalism, patriotism and care of our people without expecting any favours in turns by these aggressors of capitalist formations. These anomalies are to be corrected, since without these we can not but dream of an egalitarian society and achieve its socio-ecological equilibrium.
To achieve the objective of a Pro-Poor system, which adopts and not discards the approach towards this balance, we foremost need to do away with the per capita formation pay anomaly brining it as close to be possible to be not more than 10 percent of it, between as high as the President of the nation, to the lowest citizen of the country. It would also be expected of all to agree on this approach by owing and endorsements by all political parties and its representatives to have their remuneration adjusted to the lowest denominator of this system. To ensure collectively this just does not remains thematic at best, progressive steps would be needed to create sufficient employment opportunities for this spectrum to ensure the system self corrects and sustains on its core, running efficiently without misbalancing itself.
To work towards a Pro-Poor nationalistic thought we would need to ensure that the basic tenants of rightful living and livelihood are duly protected. This would entail, everyone rightfully employed to his skill and all the people in the system have gainful right to food. Immense hunger, starvation deaths and under nourishment especially amongst the children due to non availability of rightful means to sustainable livelihood have created this wide imbalance where more than 260 Mn people go hungry everyday or having no course of even at best assuming the next meal availability. This abject condition to not been able to protect their families have had the most impact on the families of bread earners with children facing the most ghastly of the brunt in early years, some not even crossing the age of early childhood as a result.
Some 46% of the nation’s children relate to these facts and its immensely disturbing when development is being sponsored and proponents of it are seen singing paeans of globalized development. Gross malnutrition even reported now and children being sold of for want of money or at worst, for just few kilograms of rice or wheat is not something this illustrious nation feels proud off and should not as well.
To ensure eradication of poverty and its syndrome these “enforced” rights if needed should also cover the right to shelter, medicine, and education without any difference to their class, caste or creed. A composite nutritious meal is also right of every citizen and it should be addressed. In every meal, half litres of milk, half kilogram of wheat / rice, half kilogram of fruits and vegetables completing it. To ensure the right to good health and availability of quality health facilities we need to ensure that access to these rights are not complicated and the outreach is effectively planned. Around 27% of our population yet does not have approach to these facilities either being not present or ill staffed equally from resources or infrastructural reasons. Not having any medical access incase of exigencies is the depriving the basic right to life and this would have to be equally implemented in conjunction with others as utmost priority.
We should ensure that these instances are addressed with policies favouring them as “fundamental rights” as part of constitution and further see to it that stand executed as well to its fullest word. Necessary reforms would need to be carried out if the policies are found (which they are amongst a lot) wanting in these respects or want of infrastructural lacunas.
The entire might of nation needs then to be put behind to attain the objective of ensuring these basic fundamentals are foremost addressed over others as priorities and then only in our truest sense we would be able to achieve a state of equilibrium amongst ourselves, only then we can collectively call ourselves as following the ideology of the Pro-Poor Nation. To collectively now assimilate this Pro-Bharat, Pro-Poor ideology and find scientific deployment of these to develop our temperament for our above Nationalistic pursuits we need to definite the impact of these on our policies across various sectors.
Concluded.
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