Is 9% India's Limit?
Development for the masses… Yes… that is the term. Oh… since you just came here, let me acclimatize you with the season in my mind right now. I was thinking about the development pattern in India.
Recently I traveled by train from Palakkad to Bangalore via Tamil-Nadu in the daytime and I had a first hand feel of the urban-rural divide as the adage goes. Believe it or not, I actually saw people working in the fields completely naked. Being naked is perhaps the most comfortable way to beat the scorching sun when you are toiling in the field. But the point I am trying to convey is that if the people there had a proper education and exposure to the outer world then it is unlikely that they would have the mindset to go about romping stark naked in the middle of the day. I saw children running barefoot wearing rags. I saw vacant buildings with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) painted on it with crumbling pillars and rotten rooftops. I saw such small fields that I wondered how they could even sustain themselves with it, let alone sell their produce for a margin.
To me it became apparent that these villagers had no idea about how rapidly the world is changing and how much it has already changed.
When I read about the government schemes, I realized that bulk of the planned growth happens only in the cities. Yes, there are a few schemes like the NREGS, SSA, etc which primarily focus on rural areas, but they are far too few and too ineffectively implemented to cause any tangible change in the rural landscape. All of our 9% growth rate is confined to pockets of urban India with the other India, the rural India, the true India being deprived of the progress. A good case in point would be my own village in Kerala. I cannot think of a single major change that has happened there in the last 15 years. They still don’t have a hospital worth its name. All the landmarks and the shops and the roads are still the same. Not an extra meter of road has been added. All that great social development indices they talk about was already achieved 20 years ago and the place has not progressed since.
Cities don’t require that much government attention to grow. People there already have the mentality to grow and they will consciously try to raise their standard of living. The government needs only to act as a small catalyst. The governments’ efforts I believe must be primarily on the rural sector. Yes, we are progressing at a healthy 9% rate by focussing on cities but that is nothing when we look at the possibilities. There is a HUGE potential waiting to be tapped in our rural heartlands. Just imagine if only 28% population can bring about a 9% growth, then the opportunities if the entire population can be harnessed are limitless. If somehow we can invigorate our countryside, then, my friends, India would be unstoppable.
Au contraire, if we don’t do something about this rural-urban divide I fear that the progress that we see today, will someday, end. Social inequality will be our bane and the cause of our downfall. We have an opportunity today to make India something it has never been since the Vedic ages, a country of uniform prosperity and peace and we must not be found wanting.
Recently I traveled by train from Palakkad to Bangalore via Tamil-Nadu in the daytime and I had a first hand feel of the urban-rural divide as the adage goes. Believe it or not, I actually saw people working in the fields completely naked. Being naked is perhaps the most comfortable way to beat the scorching sun when you are toiling in the field. But the point I am trying to convey is that if the people there had a proper education and exposure to the outer world then it is unlikely that they would have the mindset to go about romping stark naked in the middle of the day. I saw children running barefoot wearing rags. I saw vacant buildings with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) painted on it with crumbling pillars and rotten rooftops. I saw such small fields that I wondered how they could even sustain themselves with it, let alone sell their produce for a margin.
To me it became apparent that these villagers had no idea about how rapidly the world is changing and how much it has already changed.
When I read about the government schemes, I realized that bulk of the planned growth happens only in the cities. Yes, there are a few schemes like the NREGS, SSA, etc which primarily focus on rural areas, but they are far too few and too ineffectively implemented to cause any tangible change in the rural landscape. All of our 9% growth rate is confined to pockets of urban India with the other India, the rural India, the true India being deprived of the progress. A good case in point would be my own village in Kerala. I cannot think of a single major change that has happened there in the last 15 years. They still don’t have a hospital worth its name. All the landmarks and the shops and the roads are still the same. Not an extra meter of road has been added. All that great social development indices they talk about was already achieved 20 years ago and the place has not progressed since.
Cities don’t require that much government attention to grow. People there already have the mentality to grow and they will consciously try to raise their standard of living. The government needs only to act as a small catalyst. The governments’ efforts I believe must be primarily on the rural sector. Yes, we are progressing at a healthy 9% rate by focussing on cities but that is nothing when we look at the possibilities. There is a HUGE potential waiting to be tapped in our rural heartlands. Just imagine if only 28% population can bring about a 9% growth, then the opportunities if the entire population can be harnessed are limitless. If somehow we can invigorate our countryside, then, my friends, India would be unstoppable.
Au contraire, if we don’t do something about this rural-urban divide I fear that the progress that we see today, will someday, end. Social inequality will be our bane and the cause of our downfall. We have an opportunity today to make India something it has never been since the Vedic ages, a country of uniform prosperity and peace and we must not be found wanting.
A nice article. But everybody knows the problem, someone need to find a solution.
ReplyDeleteyeah.. i guess many people are aware of the problem... however the solution is not tat hard to find i believe... as i said i think our govt needs to come up with more schemes focused on the villages., what exactly is something i m not qualified to suggest since i m yet understand the crux of the problem completely...
ReplyDeleteI dont believe that government is the solution. Solution should be coming from people itself. I recently came to know that 100 farmers of Gujarat got together to grow some type of potato only for McDonald which they were earlier importing just for their French fries. This kind of initiatives are required by farmers. A land which used to feed their grandfather and his family of 4, the family now of 16 is also living in the same piece of land. This is the case in W.B. which has mostly small and medium size lands. I think population is the biggest problem of India and that can be controlled only by people not by government.
ReplyDeleteu r right... perfectly right in fact... what i m trying to stress is tat the farmers typically are not aware of the things they can do or are skeptical about its practicality.. when i say role of the government, i mean tat we must have initiatives for the "knowledge empowerment" tat is necessary.. today people in the rural areas are just too ignorant about the opportunities available..
ReplyDeleteand i do believe tat govt can be a solution though it is not the only solution... in fact it might even be the best solution possible!!!
and thanks for your comments.. [:)]
ReplyDeleteas for the population... well i dunno wat to say honestly... well tats one weakness we have... all we can do is try and convert it to a strength..
ReplyDelete+1 to viggy's first comment. Even, I believe in constructive criticism - the problem WITH the solution!
ReplyDeleteWhat we can do -
With respect to population, have ONE kid! [or max two, depending on how the population explodes in the next 5 years [and if you love kids too much like me, but not cos the first one is a girl]]
What we should not do -
settle comfortably in the US.
Now,for errata[you asked for it ;p] first para - 'since you just came here this let me'
Last para - 'cause of out downfall'
If you can afford them, have them. Today it is the kids. Tomorrow the govt will start banning the Ferrari because they guzzle too much petrol. Population is a problem only when they cannot be maintained. Poor households have more kids because they think more kids = more hands to work. WHen they understand that it is not so, the problem is automatically corrected. Education and awareness is not the key. Not becoming a China!
ReplyDeleteAND ... Again Corrected! :)
Dude! Education and awareness is NOT the key? Haha you seriously need to proof-read man before you submit.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, education is the solution for almost everything. I was talking about what WE can do from our end. [The junk engineers, the busy business men, the non-teachers]
And, you are right about the "if you can afford them, have them". I just wanted to point out the "gotta have a male child" syndrome. And you pointed out the "more kids = more income" misconception.
PS - Though i get great joy in correcting people's mistakes, I can't be your PA with no income! :P
Oopsie ... Yeah proof reading is boring ... :P
ReplyDeleteHalf the time I am not even looking at the screen when I type things out ... :)