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Round The World
New
Delhi, 19 May 2023
G-20 In India
BUILDING THE WELFARE STATE!
Dr. D.K. Giri
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia
from May 19 to 24. In Japan, he will be participating in the economically
powerful G-7 meeting, in Australia he was to join the Quad, which apparently
has been put off by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese due to
non-availability of the American President Joe Biden. He has been caught up in
his country’s domestic economic downturn. Modi will still go to Sydney to
address a huge 20,000 strong pre-booked gathering, induce the Australians to
invest in India and talk of enhancing bilateralism.
A month
ago, the whole country was politically focused on the elections in Karnataka.
Given our political culture, elections overtake every other priority including
foreign policy, or developments beyond the borders. Now that elections are
over, until the next one, the government will refocus on governance and world
politics. Although the present tour has been planned before, the media and
public attention will shift to PM’s movement, simply because he is the “mover
and shaker” of Indian politics as well as of drawing international attention
for his ‘politics of conviction.’
Before I
touch on the topic, I wish to propound this week, let me also recall the SCO
Summit held earlier this month on 4 & 5 May. There was not much to write
home about as the SCO comprises disharmonious members. In a well-articulated
article, the ‘Myth and reality of SCO’ was thoroughly discussed. Although
Chinese were expectedly quieter in their utterances, Russians were spewing
venom on Americans for plunging them into a proxy war in Ukraine, and Indians
and Pakistanis were as usual calling out each other on Kashmir, terrorism, etc.
Could SCO achieve any tangible outcome except going through the diplomatic
drills?
In the
beginning of the year, or from rather last December, there was some euphoria
about India having three presidentships – one in the General Assembly, the SCO
and the G-20, only the last is in process where India could make some mark as
the natural leader of the Group. New Delhi has a chance to showcase and lead in
its politics of democracy, multiculturalism, universalism, synthesis of
multiple contrasting perspectives, and so on. The slogan set out by New Delhi
is ‘VasudhaivaKutumbakam’, ‘the world is a family’. I have written
several articles in this column extolling the ingenuity of this slogan and
thrown up quite a few concepts to introduce such as Restoring the Global Ethic,
Unique Indian Perspectives, Advocating a Balance, Freedom of Religion or Belief
(R-20 & G-20), etc.
In this
piece, let us talk about another Indian spiritual principle “Sarvebhabantusukhino,
sarvesantuniramaya, sarvebhadranipashyantu, ma kashchitdukhbhagbhabet.” (May all be happy, may all be free from
infirmities (illness), may all see good, and may none partake suffering). As
our Prime Minister claimed India is the mother of democracy from ancient times,
one could similarly easily claim India could inspire the building of the
welfare state where everyone is relatively happy and secure. It is not an
ideological issue, it is humanism that seeks well-being for all. Although
BritishLabour Party is credited with laying the foundation of a welfare state,
it was a Liberal Member of Parliament William Beveridge who provided the basis
by charting out a welfare state system covering people’s needs from
cradle-to-the-grave. In his famous Report on Social Insurance and Allied
Services, published in 1942, Beveridge underlined the imperative need to
establish a minimum standard of living, below which no one should be allowed to
fall.
In
India, quite a few political parties have introduced welfare measures that could
contribute to constituting a welfare state, but they are being done as seducing
the electorate, promoting competitive populism and so on. The Central
Government has initiated a plethora of schemes for the poor – opening up the
bank accounts, setting up toilets and sanitation facilities, cooking gas
provision, electricity subsidies, and so on. Again, they are being introduced
piecemeal, short of a robust welfare state structure.
It is in
order that we look at some of the popular welfare state systems, understand the
basic principles and discuss the possibility of its universal application in
G-20 meetings. Europe has been considered the cradle of modern welfare state
system. In the closing decades of the 19th century the German
statesman Otto von Bismarckintroduced the concept in his country. His reasons
for doing so were mixed, yet the concept gained currency since. The present
welfare system in Germany is a post-war construction. In France, the welfare
system was influenced by the famous watchwords of the French Revolution –
equality, liberty and solidarity. In USA the welfare state programme crept into
the governance system after Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Reforms in 1930s.
Roosevelt’s ‘four freedoms’ including the freedom of want provided the
foundation.
However,
notably, the most outstanding model of modern welfare system is Sweden,
followed by other Scandinavian countries like Demark, Norway and Finland. The
Scandinavian countries together represent a regional welfare feature and ethos.
They receive worldwide attention and stand out as inspiring models for others
to emulate.
India,
the largest democracy and now the most populous country in the world, began
late. As it got independence in 1947, the welfare state had taken shape in
Europe. At any rate, Indian Constitution makers incorporated many provisions to
make it a welfare state, in the ‘Preamble’ of the Constitution and the
Directive Principles of State Policy. Furthermore, Articles 38, 39, and 41
refer to providing basic welfare, livelihood, right to work, gainful
employment, compulsory education upto the age of 14 (Article 45), and so on.
But the
growth of the welfare state was stunted largely due to neglect. Experts point
out that the welfare state received a serious setback during the finance
ministership of Manmohan Singh, who played up to the agenda of the World Bank.
The globalisation strategy in the name of re-structuring eroded the principles
of equality, solidarity and welfarism by using liberalisation, privatisation
and marketisation. This could be debatable as others argue that China largely
benefitted from opening its economy.
I would
like to rather sum up my proposition by laying out the principles of welfarism
and underlining how these are critical for universal humanism. How to download
these principles into practice may differ contextually. First, a welfare system
is state-centric, a democratic state leading the partnership with all other
sectors of society. Second, levelling the different strata of the society. The
state should level-up the lower strata by incentives and level-down the upper
one by taxation,using the twin principles of relative equality and distributive
justice.
Third,
the prominence of the public sector should be accepted along with participation
of private sector. Fourth, a welfare system promotes social integration by
creating common benefactors and enhancing social solidarity. Fifth, it provides
a conflict prevention mechanism. When social security of all citizens isestablished,
there is less risk of conflict, as, at the end of the day, conflicts are caused
mainly by economic disparities.
Finally,
the principle of welfarism naturally entails a global vision and world
solidarity transcending all cultures and continents. It is a principle India
should shout about as it is anchored in her spiritual tradition. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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