India shining ???

It's been aeons since I wrote last...I haven't been to the end of the world or called it quits...Just that I was passing thru' some experiences in life which did not allow me to write. I'm back now, though. With so much happening around, there's enough to write about for quite a long time.

I read an interesting piece of story in today's Times of India. The title of the article - India shining: Rich families outstrip poor. From the title, I actually got a little carried away. I'll present the findings from the article in a nutshell here. Essentially, what the article argues is that: FOR THE 1st TIME, THE NUMBER OF HIGH INCOME HOUSEHOLDS IN INDIA HAS EXCEEDED THE NUMBER OF LOW INCOME FAMILIES. Now, this finding is attributed to an institution no less than the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).

Apparently, the NCAER in its report - How India Earns, Spends, & Saves, the NCAER estimated that economic slowdown in the last 3 years of this decade, the number of high income households would have reached 46.7 million by March 2010, exceeding 41 million low income households. The report further states that, at the start of the decade, the number of high income households was only 13.8 million, while the low income households were at about 65.2 million. During the decade, the number of middle income households is estimated to have risen from about 109.2 million to 140.7 million. Now, what levels of income qualify these households? Here it goes:

High income households: Income > INR 1.8 lakh per annum (LPA)

Low income households: Income <>

Middle income households: Income range of INR 45000 PA to 1.8 LPA

Well, without taking away any credit from the report or the actual economic growth that has occured, it is to be understood that thousands of farmers committed suicide in the last few years. A Nation that cannot protect the farmers' lives & a Government that does not have clear policies and enough support infrastructure to serve farmers better, is in my opinion, not necessarily heading towards becoming economically self sufficient, leave alone the dream of becoming an economic superpower.

So, even as households move up the trajectory from being low income based to becoming high income based, we should not lose sight of the ground realities. For example, even as we pay INR 100 for a Kg of dal, or INR 50 for a Kg of rice, we should be most concerned about how much of that actually reaches the farmer? For, even if only 50% of that amount reaches them, leaving the rest in the hands of the merciless middlemen, I believe that we would not have witnessed even 20% of the suicides we saw among the farming community. I'm not sure our policies really address these ground realities. A Nation in which farmers are self sufficient, can most certainly dream of becoming an economic supwepower. Without proper policies, property rights, & indegenous self-sufficing support systems, we cannot move up the economic growth trajectory.

The other article that caught my attention was the one on the high double digit food inflation. What really was interesting to note in the article was the candid admission that - despite the current Government being loaded with some of the best economic brains in policy making, we are witnessing unprecedented rise in prises and as a result food inflation too. What the article does not mention is what I believe is obvious - that high price is just one part of the high inflation story. The other & in my opinion the more important story is the LACK OF PROACTIVE, ROBUST, & RAPID FOOD DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM. The need of the hour is to ensure rapid food distribution for which we need robust multi-tier supply system at the central, state, upto Gram Panchayat levels, supported by a strong IT infrastructure to ensure rapid flow of information so that food grains can be made available at fair price to all households according to their income levels. Such a system will also ensure equity in the long term, & will lead to well nourished & healthy younger generation. Only sich a younger generation can lead our Nation to economic supremacy in future.

And, economic supremacy is not just about high income levels and double digit GDP growth...It is about the overall wellbeing of our Nation.