Monday, 26 December 2011 22:40
DEVELOPMENT DEFICIT
BY SUDARSHAN CHHOTORAY
The current mode of exclusive development caters to only the elite section of the society and excludes the marginalised section. It has brought to the fore the impact of neo liberal policies that was adopted by the Government about two decades ago.
The decreasing trend of budgetary allocation towards the social sector like health and education has worried many. It is being argued that while on one hand the Government drastically reduces subsidy in the needy sectors, why on the other it has been providing subsidised minerals to the corporate? There is a need for formulating a “Resource Management Policy.”
Also, there is a need of prioritsing for increasing the food production than pursuing aggressive industrial policy. With the agriculture being unsustainable and non availability of adequate unskilled labour in the villages, people in the rural areas have no option but to migrate to other States and face inhuman conditions there. Take for an example, the pathetic condition of the distressed migration in the Western Odisha and the policy gap that is evident in the area. The exploitation of the labourers and human rights violation are to be dealt with much sensitivity and care. Interstate Migrant Workmen Act was devised looking at the bonded labour (dadan shramik) of Odisha but still the ominous trend is on.
When asked, an eminent scholar has brought into notice the critical areas of exclusion and how the poor and marginalised section has been paying the price for development. “The development benefit is accrued by the corporate, political parties and contractors, not by the local people. People are kept in utmost poverty and marginalisation, which is State-sponsored,” he said and advocated for inclusive growth and how it should be oriented to the benefit of all the sections of the society.
However, a former Finance Minister, while sharing his concern on the rising poverty day-by-day in Odisha, lamented that development is not reaching to the poorer section of the society. He termed it unfortunate on the part of the Odias to beg from Centre for every small reason. He criticised the lack of farsightedness of political leaders of the State and how they are sub servile to the bureaucrats. He stressed on the policy framework needed to be developed keeping the people at the centre of it, opined.
“Our political parties don’t have any think tank to design and develop programmes that will cater to sectoral growth leading to social development,” said an activist. He expressed his sheer frustration over the last few years’ politics of favouritism and lack of political philosophy for the development of the State. Apart from that, he criticised the power politics that is instrumental in having no political consensus on the major development issues.
It has been observed that the political parties get influenced by the market economy. The champions of have-nots become the champions of haves and the vice versa in this new globalised economy. The crying need is the capacity building and development of human resources in the political sphere. We should encourage the initiative of some of the civil society organisations in transforming the lives of the people through a right-based approach and ensuring lasting social justice, he said. According to a senior political observer, there is no people’s politics at present in the State. He reiterated that as long as we don’t see that the poorest person in the society is not represented in the politics, we are going to do no good.
Meanwhile, globalisation and economic reforms have made a direct impact on all the segments of the backward States like Odisha. The industry, agriculture and the financial sectors have been impacted alike. The market forces have forced several small and medium scale industries and public sector undertakings out of race. The rural sector is also not getting a proper price for their agricultural produce because of the traditional farming. And, the poor economic factors have led the financial sector, specially the banks to squeeze their operations.
The globalisation has led to economic disparity between the rich and poor States. The economic backwardness at the geographical level and the gulf between the rich and poor at the social level has its social cost — increase of violence in the civil society and the manifold growth of the radical left extremism in the State. The unrestrained market competition was responsible for the closure of several State owned companies. The abundance of natural resources and cheap labourer has attracted the global players like Posco and Vedanta along with local mega players like Tata to set up their shops in the State. The Government has signed more than 100 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with different players. The setting of new projects has led to a large scale displacement of the marginal farmers because of their land being snatched away with the collusion of State machinery and the corporate houses. Local people are still putting lot of resistance in these areas.
It is a challenge for the Government to safeguard its own industry from getting further affected due to the opening of the economy. And, it must be very careful while entering into any MoU with any mega player. The Government machinery must take the advice of the professionals in accounting and legal sector while giving a final shape to the project.
The agriculture sector is the second causality in the globalised economy. The agriculture produce is not able to compete within the domestic market leave alone the global market due to the absence of a proper rural infrastructure and commodity market. Here, challenge lies before the State to develop a proper infrastructure for the development of agriculture sector of the State. The farmers need a proper warehousing to keep their agricultural produce which demands a regular supply of electricity. Proper roads are also required to transport these agricultural produces.
Odisha is a paradise of natural resources with abundance of minerals, forest, fresh water, good soil and a long coastline. Proper management of the natural resources can be a harbinger of prosperity for the State. Odisha has 31 per cent of its land under forest coverage covering 48,374 sq km. The forest land is a rich source of non-timber forest products, timber, medicinal plants, etc. A good part of the forestland can be scientifically managed to give good material and financial returns. Forest management is still in its colonial system of exploitative management. Besides products, forests have immense opportunity in the field of tourism.
Odisha has a 480 km of long coastline. The long coastline has nice sandy beaches throughout. The coastline can also have easy communication to the mainland since there are no big barriers. Odisha has a historic tradition of sea faring and the opportunity has to be explored. Freshwater is a big liability for Odisha, since during the rainy season it is available too much creating heavy floods. This asset has to be utilised by promoting industries and also agriculture.
There are also opportunities to manufacture and sell quality drinking water.
Odisha is rich with bio-diversity. The utility of bio-diversity in the present day market is yet to be studied. Ecology is best protected when it facilitates tourism otherwise there is a constant pressure from poachers and mafia. With rising demand for organic products and services in the fields of healthcare, cosmetics and food, rich bio-diversity can pay high dividends. Odisha has to explore and utilise the opportunities keeping the ecology and bio-diversity well protected.
As the battle of providing such basic services to the people could not be won in the last six decades of post independent India, undoubtedly there is every possibility of missing it by next few decades, unless all relevant efforts are made in this direction. Various civil society groups, ongoing movements, voluntary organisations, community based organisations, trade unions, media, academic institutions, neighbourhood groups, associations of various social interests need to come together to strengthen the voices of citizens for attainment of development goals set internationally, nationally and locally.
For each and every human development indicator, Odisha is today far below the national average and sometimes below the least developed States like Jharkhand, Bihar or even some North-East States. Only a participatory democracy can help in meeting the challenges of the globalisation. And, the participatory democracy can be possible by intensifying the democratic process and bringing transparency across the board.
(The writer is a senior freelance journalist)
PUBLISHED ON 27TH DECEMBER 2011, THE PIONEER, BHUBANESWAR
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