Events & Issues

New Delhi, 5 October 2016

Politics of ‘Povertarianism”:

FULFILLING ASPIRATIONS

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

It is heartening to note that the BJP recently decided to look into the vital issue of mitigating poverty, which needs to be tackled seriously. Though commentators have long been stating that the Party is geared towards the interests of the business and middle-income sections, the changed stance at the Kozhikode conclave recently is indeed welcome.

More so, because an integrated strategy is necessary to upgrade the poor and economically weaker sections living standards.     

In fact, the ruling Party decided to celebrate the current financial year as the “Year of the Welfare of the Downtrodden” across the country. In keeping with the path shown by BJP ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya it decided to realize his dream of a developed India where even the poorest of the poor would be taken care of.

Thus, the conclave resolution underscored the “important primary goal should be to eliminate economic equality, discrimination and disparities”.      

True, a section has been advocating the need of fighting poverty given that the Delhi and Bihar elections last year demonstrated that the poor were mostly out of BJP’s reach, notwithstanding some had voted for Modi in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Recall, the poor hooted for Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party in the Union Capital and Lalu’s RJD in Patna. Consequently, if the BJP did not change its approach in the coming UP elections the poor might vote for Mayawati’s BSP. 

Party insiders feel that the pro-poor image would not impact the NDA Government’s push for economic reforms nor would the aspirational youth belonging to the middle class be affected. Pertinently, Modi was perhaps the first political leader who recognized the shift from poverty to aspiration. Whereby, welfarism and reforms should be inextricably integrated for development so that the country could move ahead.   

Notably, this changed approach is positive as rural rejuvenation is the need of the hour for which the poorer sections cannot be allowed to languish, thus they have to be provided minimum facilities. Moreover, the youth among the weaker sections have to be given work and employment opportunities so that they could join the mainstream.     

Towards that end, the Union Government has already taken some positive steps for rural rejuvenation with many schemes and a large chunk of the Budget earmarked for agriculture, irrigation and rural infrastructure development.

This is expected to continue in next year’s budget also as the Government is intent on transforming the rural sector where two-thirds of the impoverished sections live.     

Some economists of the welfare school of thinking believe, and not without reason, that along with Modi’s programme of ‘Smart Cities’ there should also be an endeavour to make ‘Smart Villages’ in at least 100 districts of the country.

No doubt, the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) has plans to make ‘Adarsh Grams’, but it is not focussed. Only time will tell whether this programme would be able to transform villages and lift people above the poverty line.   

Meanwhile, spending on education and health is quite poor by standards prevailing in the Third World leading countries. The need for gearing up social infrastructure development is intrinsic to poverty alleviation and, as such, higher budgetary resources have to be allocated in these sectors in the coming years.    

While Modi has given a thrust to skill development, the programme has to reach all corners of the country. Whereby, the rural youth have to be properly trained to help them get employment opportunities. Or alternatively, two or three youth could jointly set up their own venture with small financial loans from RRBs or cooperative banks. There are adequate opportunities in certain sectors which need to be identified and emphasised. 

Besides, the prevailing social unrest can only be checked if the youth from the backward sections do not become wayward and are gainfully employed. In recent months, different forms of unrest have gained ground, the basic reason being the youth are being motivated to take activities not conducive to social peace and stability.

To counter this trend, local level employment has to be encouraged so that the youngsters get opportunities in projects which are set up in and around their areas. Alongside, the widening disparities in income levels specially in urban areas need to be bridged.    

Simultaneously, corporate houses must come out with welfare activities through corporate social responsibility (CSR). The areas they need to invest should preferable be outlined by the Government so that resources are channelled in the right direction for the greatest number of beneficiaries.       

Clearly, the programme of poverty alleviation must be taken up in right earnest by empowering panchayats as well.  Obviously, this entails a decentralized approach so that grass-root organizations can decide their own projects according to priority and get them implemented. The focus should be on ensuring better facilities for those who are below the poverty line or border-line so that their income levels improve.    

In sum, decentralization is the need of the hour wherein both the Central and State Governments have to ensure that this becomes a reality. Arguably, one cannot state whether military spending needs to be curtailed so that more resources are channelled for development work. But efforts have to be made to generate sufficient resources for rural infrastructure development which would go a long way in alleviating poverty.

Undeniably, a big challenge for policy makers, but some way has to be found. Recall, famous film maker Satyajit Ray’s trilogy which showed that if nations are at war and greed persists in the human mind, development work suffers whereby the poor remain impoverished.  ----- INFA

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