Open Forum
New Delhi, 29 August 2012
Rural Vs Urban India
RICH-POOR DIVIDE WIDENS
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
The India story is
getting mired in corruption scandals, with the political class having little or
no time to spare for equally critical issues. One of these being that the gap
between the rich and the poor is widening. Worse, the benefits from the boost
to the economy were cornered by the upper crust while the poorest sections
continued to languish in squalor and destitution.
The above
is not political bickering but based on the findings of the recently-released
68th National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) survey, which has failed to get
the attention it deserves. The poorest living in rural India spends on
an average only Rs 16.78 per day to survive and half the rural population in
the country spends less than Rs 35 per day, notes the survey. The monthly per
capita expenditure covers the money spent by a household on the entire gamut of
life – from food, education, medicines to durable consumer goods and also
entertainment.
Development
economists believe that irrespective of the so-called massive surge in economic
activity over the past several years, the fiscal divide is clearly discernible
as revealed by the startling figures where 90 per cent of rural India spends
less than Rs 68.47 per day per person. For urban India, 90 per cent spend much more--Rs
142.70 where costs of living are exponentially higher.
Two years
ago, the spending in rural India
was Rs 55 per day per person and Rs 122 in cities. Given the average inflation
levels prevalent over the past two years, a comparison suggests a majority
continue to live with stagnant or reduced spending power. Clearly, the gap
between the poorest in villages and the richest in cities has widened further. The poorest 10 per cent in villages
spends on an average 15 times less than the top 10 per cent in cities. Even the
affluent in rural areas are no match for the richest in urban centres. In fact,
the monthly expenditure of the creamy layer in urban India, i.e. top 10 per cent of the
population, is 221 per cent that of the rich in the countryside.
Importantly,
the survey has again highlighted not just the existing state of the poor and
the impoverished sections but also that development has been imbalanced and
rural sector continues to be neglected. While the urban bias in Indian planning
has been checked in recent years the focus should now concentrate on developing
proper physical and social infrastructure in rural areas to bring about
tangible improvement in the standards of living of the village community.
Consequently,
an expert panel under eminent economist Dr. C. Rangarajan has been constituted to
reassess the methodology that had earlier been used to define poverty. This was
after the Planning Commission findings that a person spending over Rs 32 a day
in urban areas and Rs 28 a day in rural areas could not be counted as poor had created
a storm in the country. The panel’s report, however, is expected to take a
couple of months.
However,
as the process of poverty estimation goes on, the big question will be how to
tackle the basic element of poverty. The focus obviously has to be on the
development needs of the rural areas and to rehabilitate the poor and
half-starved farmer and his family. More resources need to be allocated. In
recent years, some headway was made by allocating increased resources for
infrastructure development and social services sector.
The Rs
72,000 loan waiver, announced in the 2008 Budget, was no doubt a great help but
something needs to be done for those who had taken money from moneylenders and
fallen into a debt trap. Given that the demand for food is growing, there is
need to put strong emphasis on modernizing agriculture and increasing
foodgrains production. This would entail ensuring three crops per year,
encouraging horticulture and floriculture production and keeping an eye on
productivity increase. Since land holdings have become smaller gradually over
the years, some form of cooperatives should be formed to cultivate a few
holdings together and then share the produce equitably. The output would need
to increase considerably to benefit the poor farmer.
For this,
the panchayats will have to come forward and ensure that the land yields
optimum and value-based products on the one hand and on the other inputs have
to be made available free of cost to these cooperatives. The process of
economic decentralization – that is, more authority and power to the panchayat
bodies – has to be a reality. Moreover, the Government has to ensure that
agricultural land should not be used for industrial/township development under
any circumstances.
The
Eleventh Plan emphasized on certain measures for taking agriculture to a higher
trajectory of 4 per cent annual growth for tackling poverty. Apart from making
low-cost technology available to the small farmer at the grass-root level, some
of the specific measures outlined are very relevant today. These include: improving
water management, rainwater harvesting and watershed development; reclaiming
degraded land for cultivation and focusing on soil quality; bridging the gap
through effective extension at the grass-root level; diversifying into
high-value outputs, fruits, flowers, medicinal plants, bio-diesel etc; providing
easy access to credit at affordable rates; and improving the incentive
structure and functioning of markets.
Recall
that well-known economist, Ignacy Sachs, had urged the need for a second green
revolution, which has been reiterated by Dr. A.P. J. Abdul Kalam and Dr
Manmohan Singh on several occasions. According to them, while the share of
agriculture in national income has been falling rapidly, the population
dependent on it is more or less static. It is therefore, imperative that science
and technology must look into agricultural productivity, affordable
technologies, energy and water techniques and efficient and relevant farm and
non-farm technologies.
However, for
over past three years the Government has given a thrust towards agricultural
production in the Eastern region through allocation of special resources as the
benefits of the green revolution did not have any effect here. The talk of a
second green revolution is expected to encompass all categories of farmers and
incorporate the whole of the agricultural sector unlike the regionalized
success achieved during the first green revolution (for only 5 crops).
Obviously,
requisite agricultural reforms have to be brought about for efficient use of
resources and conservation of soil, water and ecology on a substantive basis
along with introduction of newer technologies, encouraging production and use
of bio-fertilizers and application of bio-genetics for improved plant and
horticultural products. This strategy if implemented into practice will go a
long way in rural regeneration which, in turn, will reduce poverty. One may
conclude with an estimate by Dr Rangarajan as early as in 1982, that a mere one
per cent increase in agricultural output led to a 0.7 increase in national
income and it may be added that most part of this enhanced income obviously
reached the grass-root levels of rural India and benefited the farming
community. ----INFA
(Copyright, India
News and Feature Alliance)
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