Open
Forum
New Delhi, 10
November 2011
High GDP Growth
NOT GENUINE PROGRESS
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
Some economists are concerned
over whether India can return to 7 per cent GDP growth. The entire outlook of
our economists, as always, is not on grass-root development but the GDP
numbers. Though it has been repeatedly pointed out that mere growth of GDP does
not percolate downwards and benefit those who live in poverty and squalor and
whose income needs to be given a boost.
The usual criteria
for judging progress, growth per capita gross domestic product is a misnomer; as
one can have high per capita GDP growth in a country where the majority is
underfed. An obvious indicator of economic progress is that essential goods and
services are affordable and available to the masses. Special mention may be
made of food intake and thus adequate or increased foodgrain absorption may be
treated as an indicator for assessing economic progress, though other factors
such as education, housing and healthcare are equally necessary criteria.
The government is
trumpeting the fact that India has achieved one billion vaccinations, whereas a
lot more still needs to be done as around 35 per cent of the population has
only been doubly vaccinated. The challenge is obviously not measuring the GDP
growth but the general welfare of all sections of the population, specially
those residing in rural areas and belonging to the poorer sections.
While sanitation
facilities in rural India have improved through the Swachh Bharat mission, the
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has provided cooking gas connections to
lot of people and the government is now planning to give piped water to every
household, the schemes are long term goals, which need sustenance and resources.
More so, as a recent report has noted that a large number of people in rural
areas are no longer using gas due to its high price and have returned to the
traditional practice of using forest wood for cooking.
Notably, India’s
southern and western States have fared much better due to high educational
levels and better governance of the administrative system. The laggard States
turn out to be Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh etc. as these
are most socially and economically backward. Besides, the discrimination
continues in these States, both on religious and caste considerations.
Moreover, under employment
and unemployment remains a big problem. There are less and less jobs in the
government and the private sector has virtually no employment opportunities at
the basic level. There are other serious issues affecting micro level
businessmen and very small traders who are struggling to earn incomes at
pre-Covid levels. Lakhs of migrants have lost their jobs and are trying to get
into schemes such as MGNREGS. And while rates are below Rs 200 per day in most States,
reports indicate that a significant portion have not got their wages for the past
few months. As per a survey, around 71 per cent of wages were not received by
workers for jobs completed between April and September 2021. The reason cited
is that the Centre has not earmarked and released additional funds needed by
the programme.
As is well known, the
demand of some political parties as well as social activists to extend the
scheme from 100 days to 150 days or at least 125 days has fallen on deaf ears.
Added to all this is the fact that female participation in the workforce has
come down, denting India’s demographic dividend.
The informal sector
economy has shrunk from its contribution to GDP of around 52 per cent three
years ago to about 18-20 per cent presently. A recent report of the State Bank
of India attributed this situation to introduction of GST, rapid digitalisation
of the economy and demonetisation. It was found that of the workers registered
in e-Shram, 92 per cent reported income of less than Rs 10,000 per month. If it
is assumed that each worker has, on an average, three dependents, then the per
capita income is alarmingly low.
Coming to the issue
of investment, the country was investing 28 per cent of the GDP even in
pre-Covid slump years, but it is presently much less, obviously due to resource
crunch. Private sector investment is not even half the amount as the companies
are more interested in keeping profits. There is no mechanism that could force
companies to invest a part of their profits in expansion and/or
diversification. Plus, it has been found that most corporates are not
allocating funds for CSR, as mandated.
Thus, there’s a need
to ponder whether the oft-repeated argument of lesser taxes for corporate
houses has resulted in their expansion and/or diversification plans being
intensified. Moreover, a special tax on the ultra rich was aired, time and
again, by a section of economists, but the government preferred not to comply
for reasons best known to it. Is it because these business houses are large
donors to the party in power? Do they extend different kinds of benefits to
political leaders?
There can be no
denying that improving its fund kitty through sales of petrol and diesel is not
enough for the government, rather it leads to inflation and price rise. Thus, there
is a need to tax the ultra rich and even the rich to generate investment in the
economy, specially for welfare schemes, which as MGNREGS shows, are starved of
funds due to government’s tight monetary position.
The government needs
to raise additional resources as with COVID-19 pandemic, the situation has
turned critical with large sections of migrants and informal sector workers unable
to earn a livelihood. The government is reluctant to formulate something like a
basic minimum income or even an employment programme for the urban poor.
What can and should
be done? In my opinion, the defence budget needs to be curtailed by 20 per cent,
apart from levying a special tax on those whose income is over Rs 4-5 lakhs per
month for two years or so. Doctors who earn lakhs from private practice may be
forced to pay the required income tax. The corporates must carry out their CSR
obligations and to ensure that the rule is complied with, it be scrutinised by
a retired judge. Besides, expenditure on the bureaucracy should be curtailed.
To sum up, while high
GDP growth may be necessary to boost national income, it does not necessarily percolate
downwards and help those struggling for sheer existence. The poor and the
impoverished continue to languish and all talk of their development remains
unaccomplished. Additional resources, as stressed, need to be generated through
diverse methods. The government needs to get its priorities right and ensure
that welfare of the masses, oft-promised, do not remain a mere slogan. It must
remember that the proof of the pudding lies in its eating. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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