Spoilers of the democratic drive

Maoists in Nepal have in the past, with greater share in power politics, done immeasurable harm to the chances of healthy democratic movements in that country. They have unfailingly and deliberately created problems for the Government

Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, is a worried man these days, principally coloured in red — not for the lost ideological claim of his party, but because his command and credibility inside the party and in national politics is on the wane.

He has kept mum for months after the humiliating performance of his party in the 2013 parliamentary election. But after the customary soul searching, he is now trying to reunite the different Maoists camps and revive the party’s character in its rank and file.

In this endeavour, Prachanda is looking to the working class and the marginalised sections of society but he has also almost given up on his former colleague and now CPN(Maoist) chairman Mohan Baidya. This is his version of struggle for survival, but while doing this he has displayed his and indeed his party’s deep rooted desperation towards the new developments in Nepali national politics.

Another big factor is Mr Baburam Bhattarai — a powerful Maoist comrade who turned dubious to match Prachanda’s ambitions. There are open theories about their dualism in public life and none are refuted by these two giant leaders of the Himalayan nation. Mao is not alive but it seems like these two leaders believe in the old saying that ‘China’s leader is our leader’.

So much like Mao, they too, time and again, have committed follies, cheated the poor Nepali people of their aspirations, and damaged the delicate democratic fabric of Nepal.

Nevertheless, it will be wrong to say that Nepal doesn’t have place to accommodate radicals. But it is the wrong moves of the radicals, which have falsified the conception of progressive political manoeuvring. This amounts to a big setback for a democracy that is still trying to cross many hurdles.

Since 1996, when Maoism formally haunted the nation, almost two decades in Nepal have been wasted. Governance is broken, infrastructure is decaying, industry is in a mess — and the people are fleeing to Gulf countries where they live perilous lives.

Who are these Maoists representing then? Why they are still sticking with their false ‘ism’s and not focussing on national issues that are getting more serious day by day? In recent years, outbound human trafficking from Nepal has seen unbelievably high. Abroad, Nepalis live in a kind of exile and are routinely exploited.

Barring the elite, it is tough to find a Nepali who lives in dignified state. This was not the case earlier when Nepal was still poor but at least its political leadership had better control. Still, there has hardly been a ‘golden phase’ in Nepal.

Maoism was a stream forced to flow in an authoritarian China, where democratic tributaries were seen as rival counter-currents. It kept revising over the years in the country of its origin and, so cunningly, that it made China not only a closely-guarded, ruthless communist regime but also amusingly a hub of crony capitalism as well.

So, today, many communist leaders from China find themselves on the Forbes billionaire list even if their socialistic convictions stop them from making flashy style statements.

Sadly, this kind of an unhealthy cocktail of social and economic policies is being seen as the cure that can fix the ills of socio-economic disparity in Nepal. However, this will be at the cost of democracy, that will otherwise benefit the masses, unless the leaders turn into looters of resources. Such endemic tussles are, of course, long-standing. And resolving them is perhaps the toughest challenge for democracy.

Writing on Nepal’s last two decades appears tough, given how fast-evolving trends and developments boggle the commentator’s mind. One can see endless political activity and the unstoppable movement towards factionalism as well as the lust to grab the top seat of power, even if for a short while.

The Maoists brought these changes with bigger effect, and in the course of time, their brand of politics was borrowed by the old parties and narrowly-shaped the Madhesi and ethnic groups. And within this flurry of opportunistic moves, Nepali democracy has suffered. It has never recovered enough to support the country’s progress in different areas.

In the past, the Maoists, who then had a greater share in power politics, did immeasurable harm to the chances of healthy democratic movements in the country. Even now, they are creating trouble for the existing Government run by Mr Sushil Koirala.

It will be worthwhile to recall that Prime Minister Koirala is not a conventional representative of the Koirala family, rather he is detached from the aura of power. He has given the mandate to lead; he has not fought for it.

But his success is doubtful. The Constitution-drafting process is threatened by a motley group of Maoist comrades and it is unlikely that they will allow Nepal to stay the democratic course. The Maoists mock Nepali democracy and democracy here betrays masses and their humane expectations. On the other side of the tunnel, there seems to be no light.

Tough times will remain in this country that has no king but is not free from king-size maladies. And for that, the people cannot be blamed for an error of judgement as they were always without better choices.
-Atul K Thakur
Email: summertickets@gmail.com
(Published in The Pioneer on March25,2014)

Poornomics!

India’s growth story has failed to percolate down the layers of the society. To ensure citizen’s empowerment the leadership needs to invest in a more engaged effort.)

Adam Smith was a moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. He is best known for his second seminal book: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which strongly emphasizes on the role of ‘self-interest’ and religiously (read wrongly) taken by the believers of free enterprises as the capitalist scripture.

This has been in practice with overlooking his much humane earlier work The Theory of Moral Sentiments—where he defined "mutual sympathy" as the basis of moral sentiments (the capacity to recognize feelings that are being experienced by another being).

This he had written about seventeen years before, his magnum opus permanently stuck to the mind and soul of European intelligentsia and later crossing the geographical boundaries. So, still a better part of capitalist ideas remains seriously compromised.

The opposite school—Marx’s ideas hold that “human societies progress through class struggle: a conflict between an ownership class that controls production and a proletariat that provides the labour for production”—here the argument is sharp and firm.

But looking into the context of India’s poverty debate (surprisingly which is in limelight just after a month, when Jean Dreze had shared his concern for lowering footfalls from the policy circle on poverty issues) —it appears that more than the confrontation of ideologies and adding enlightened partitions, the poor need the merit of both capitalism and socialism working genuinely in their favour.

After all, the ideological convictions shaped during the 18th and 19th centuries too need some brushing up now—even the staunchest Marxist scholar like Prabhat Patnaik doesn’t deny it. However, they require to be understood through the complex interface of Indian democracy and economic reform, which essentially walks on a non-linear path.

It is already in reckoning of many of us that the key characteristic of a democracy rests on electoral contest. More than any other democratic processes—election and subsequently formation of the government shapes the turnouts of policy debates.

Nevertheless, this is high time, when the Indian government should officially declare macro-economic policies out from the rigid purview of non-resident economists, who are more political than the obvious political tribes of Central Delhi and have in fact no or shrugged opinion on most of the pertinent matters.

The ongoing trash debates between Amartya Sen and Arvind Panagariya shows the frivolous determination of these two top placed economists for real causes haunting a large number of Indian populations. This started with a review of Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze’s An Uncertain Glory: Indiaand its Contradictions, in The Economist.

The piece published in the magazine said that this book has greater relevance than Bhagwati and Panagariya’s latest book in advocacy of market linked reform (also for ‘market linked politics’ that later substantiated in interviews/numerous articles by Panagariya) Why Growth Matters: How Economic Growth in India Reduced Poverty and the Lessons for Other Developing Countries.

The debate went awful when Bhagwati took Sen and Dréze much lightly than they are. In reciprocation, Sen reminded everyone his old love (not in public memory) for growth although that should be packaged with heavy public expenditure for making it ‘notionally inclusive’.

Later, they both added their views on an ideal candidate for the next PM in Delhi and rims of paper were wasted in support of their PR affairs by India’s faithful mainstream media.

Shaped in the culture of non-reading and bandwagon effect, most of the top brass of the fourth estate has written about the spat of Sen and Panagariya and only few have actually remembered the national sample survey organization’s (NSSO) recent unbelievable dossier, asserting in a worst economic phase India has been able to slide almost 2% poverty annually in last eight years.

These NSSO figures, calculated according to the Tendulkar methodology, reveal that poverty levels in India had reduced by 15 percentage points, from 37 percent to 22 percent between 2004-05 and 2011-12.

According to the data, the total number of people below the poverty line in the country is 26.89 crore as against 40.73 crore in 2004-05. The national poverty line was estimated by Planning Commission at Rs. 33.33 in cities and Rs. 27.20 in villages per day per person.

This was brainstorming for thinking people and those chosen not to think too doubted these numbers. This is acceptable that over the last two decades of reform have changed the course of Indian economy—some for good reasons. However, as a rising economy, Indians should not be complacent with rise of fortunes of a segment of population.

Through popular yardsticks—it is impossible to judge the actual numbers of poor in this country. Though lately, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahulwalia has also shown his differences with NSSO’s data, prepared by an expert panel. In his opinion, the actual data would be much different, when the poverty measurement would take place in absolute terms.

These data will appear even more unreal if given little more thought on ‘relative deprivation quotient’. The growth, sans equity is a ground reality in India. Public expenditure alone cannot ensure inclusive growth—the citizen’s empowerment would take much more engaged effort than the leadership is intent to lend on this as of now.

In the meantime, the poor debates on politics and economics will not halt for sure!
Atul K Thakur
Email: summertickets@gmail.com
(Published in Governance now on August12,2013)

Immeasurable Poverty

The debate on the extent of poverty in India has been a matter of global interest in the recent years since the position of emerging India is matter of great concern in the today’s era of global trade convergence. Though in the wake of economic reforms, poverty estimation itself emerged as a challenge which making this crucial matter more complex and distant from actuality.
In India, poverty estimation is primarily carrying by fixing a poverty line based on a differentiated calorie-norm; this approach has been developed as a custom over the years since its prioritization by a task force of the Planning Commission in 1979 that defined the poverty line as on per capita expenditure at which the average per capita-per day calorie intake was 2400 calories in rural areas and 2100 calories in urban areas.

Unfortunately, this method remains instrumental as authentic tool of poverty estimation which work on average per capita expenditure incurred by that population group in each state which consumed these quantities of calories-the 1973-74 survey of NSSO had taken it into account as the poverty lines. Based on the observed consumer behavior in 1973-74, the poverty lines at Rs49.09 per capita per month in the rural areas and Rs56.64 per capita per month in urban areas-these poverty lines were updated over the years by simply accounting for changes in Consumer Price Indices {CPI}, thus the all-India poverty lines updated for 2004-05 were Rs356.30 in rural areas and Rs538.60 in urban areas, per capita per month.
That faulty standard explicitly revealed the government’s inflexible mindset on policy intervention which always rely on the collective generalizations as major tool-regardless of what the Planning Commission comes up with, the empowered ministers remained stick to their prefixed line.

In such stodgy working method, two most important determinants of poverty;Purchasing Power Parity {PPP} and deprivation remains excluded at the cost of calorie, that itself creates lot of perplexity in true judgment of poverty. Absence of universalization of social security schemes and access of all BPL families to Public Distribution System {PDS} further engraving the situation; based on urban line of poverty measurement, total number of poors in India have risen from about 403 million in 1993-94 to about 407 million in 2004-05.
Wrong exclusion of around 77% of population living merely on R16/day {National Commission on Enterprise in Unorganized Sector, 2004-05} is making India’s performance pathetic on the Global Hunger Indexes-surveys of multilateral agencies like UN and IFPRI demonstrate the actuality through its Human Development Reports.

There are many impediments are haunting on the way of poverty alleviation but its measurement is most daunting one among them which keep teasing to targeted efforts-asymmetry could be understand through these figures, National Sample Survey’s {2004-05} poverty rate compilation showed the variance on poverty level among nodal agencies, as per Planning Commission {27.5%}, NCEUS {77%}, Suresh Tendulkar Committee {37.2%}, Rural Development Ministry’s {50%}-on which data ones should rely? After a long slumbering, government and Planning Commission have accepted the report of Suresh Tendulkar whose projection on poverty rate is much higher than earlier contemplation of government.
The gross failure of government’s standing shows that, act is more important than preaching on the issue of hunger and poverty estimation. There is need to extend the stake to these 77% population of country who are dwelling with low access of food, sanitation, finance, education etc.

By providing entitlement of basic necessities to these marginalized section, government can ensure the equitable growth which is very essential in the size of country we have-alienation of such size is in no manner a feasible option before the government or any other party involved. One must not forget that, if these two-third population would be empowered in true sense, our position would be much maximized on the developmental front where we desperately struggling presently-this is only foreseeable reason where presently we are lagging behind from China where the relative is very feeble in comparison of ours. Let us see, how the implementation is going to work this time…
Atul Kumar Thakur
April 26th2010, Sunday, New Delhi
atul_mdb@rediffmail.com

Commoners Stake in Accesses

Standpoint wishes all its readers a very happy and prosperous new year2010...hope we will keep sharing the debates in similar spirits...Standpoint also offering its heartful condolence for Asheem Chakravarty,the legendary singer and percussionist(Indian Ocean)whose prematured demise was a painful jolt for all music lovers across the globe...

As we are heading for a dawn of New Year with leaving this present epoch making year in which we partially upfront with the havocking recession and later witnessed its recovery to a scale; amidst these loose and gain situation, its marginal impact on commoners or Aam admi could be sensed very high despite their substantial proportions in low end services.
Frequent retrenchments and layoffs in the name of cost cutting measures and inflation, surging like banyan trees are relentlessly jeopardizing the relative potential gain of these sections that hitherto have been never caught in such web of relative deprivation before the reform era when earlier income gap was not happened so huge.

In the early eighteenth century, India accounted for nearly a quarter of world output, but by the time India got independence, that share had declined to about 3%; the common men’s were in the centre as the deterioration of basic indexes have been largely constituted through there growing destitutions.
Major causes of this growing divides are numerous approaching frills which desperate common men to experiment adequately to raise their fortunes-indeed by data, incomes are growing up in rural areas, only the failure to innovate policies are hampering the immense scope for empowerment that sustained growth offers the common men in India.

Besides other outcomes, reforms opened up new possibilities of emancipation for the masses which can thrive and strive for inclusive growth with empowering connotations that’s strikingly sound better than earlier popular moves like Garibi hatao (Poverty Eradication) in 1970’s.
Although these all needs a consistent backing of positive political will and constructive mindsets all around; since the adoption of liberalization programme in 1991, India as nation have been countering with numerous oddities- cries of separatism in its north-east and the north-west region, religious antagonism, militancy, scams, natural calamities, instable neighborhoods and of course current global financial crisis in which despite its bid to escape have considerably caught in losses.

Before this ongoing financial crisis, the Asian crisis of 1997 and over investment in the mid-90’s brought an end to resurgent growth in the Asian continent, growth again picked up only in 2003-04; thereafter, till the present financial crisis that reached to noticeable scale in September 2008 and started receiving much notice after the bankruptcy of iconic Lehman Brothers and near about six dozen other financial institutions in western economies.
Despite such adversities on global financial integration and availing one-fourth of it territory affected by violence and insurgency, Indian economy sustained a robust growth of 7% and is expected to touch the level of pre-recession by the next fiscal year which is indeed admirable. So, we still have positive indications by surpassing the enormous challenges, the only big thing we are missing now the universalization of access to the fruits of growth….innovations at various levels could only take off when the required resources would be easily available among the executioners.
Optimization of financial delivery through no-frills services by the financial institutions could rationalize most of the innovative practices; UPA government’s moves like Unique Identification Project (UID) and payment of wages of many centre sponsored developmental flagship programmes such as NREGS, through banks could caused for a lot of positive changes which are most sought after for the being.

Usually I don’t believe in practices of blind consumerism albeit some inherent positive competition could be inferred for the while to produce it as show piece-telecommunication in India is most formidable example before the financial sector in India; the way telecom companies have been targeting the low end users through shift competition and consistently reducing of theirs margins of profit is a best example of participatory growth.
It’s worthwhile to note that even after that most of company’s including government owned, BSNL&MTNL are making handsome profits; some positive initiatives are needed from our banks to uplift the morale of common folks whose improved positions would be very imperative to see the Indian growth stories in real light.

Education and financial stability has powers to do miracle in rural hinterlands of India; the famous quotation of great communist economic thinker Karl Marx seems very conducive here “It’s material being ness that decides the awareness of humankind and not the vice-versa”….through practical understanding to deep analysis of complex developmental economics, all formed same crux that the access or entitlement that decides the fate of related folks.
After sixty-two years of independence and considerable shaping of our economy, now the time is ripe to incline the priorities towards ensuring the basic facilities for all along abandoning populist and divisive ingredients from the honest developmental agenda.
Atul Kumar Thakur
December 30th 2009, New Delhi
atul_mdb@rediffmail.com