Who is Poor in India!
Recently a furious debate was witness on the floor of Parliament on the criterion to be applied to be declared 'poor' in India. Poverty and poorness are two very familiar terms in India. For politicians of all hues, it is important to keep the issue 'alive and kicking'. After all a substantial and significant segment of our populace who are dubbed as 'poor' in India, decides the fate of their 'masters' at the hustings!! One has to hear the red-speeches of our politicians to figure out how they view the issue of poverty and poor people. It was not far too distant that Late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave her rousing call of 'Garibi Hatao' to outscore even leftists parties in terms of electoral gains. While the poor masses danced to her tunes having been completely overwhelmed by the fervor of this slogan only to to be disillusioned later. In fact they were left wondering if she was referring to elimination of poverty orthe poor!! Since she departed from the landscape of this country, a lot of waters has flowed down the Ganges but not the fate of the poor of this country. In politicians' lexicon 'poor' must exist as a tempting word to catch votes. They have simply have neither time nor honesty to take stock of poverty and poor people of India.
It is this backdrop that has to be kept in mind when one reacts to the criterion set by a technocratic body like National Planning Commission which brought all our honorable members of Parliament rising on their feet to show their red faces over it. The august body has fixed Rs 28 and Rs 22 to be the average daily income in the urban and rural areas of India not to be declared as 'poor'! You may not like the presence of poor people in your house. You may not touch them with a barge pole!! But why do you insult them? Poor people and poverty exist in the lexicon of our politicians as powerful vote-catching tools. It is equally interesting to see that even leaders of leftist parties who breathe fire in talks and lectures on the upliftment of submerged sections of our society have developed a strong taste in good things of life.
Now coming to the very wisdom of judging poverty on the basis of a particular level of income or expenditure, the question that should be agitating our minds if any such exercise is at all rational? The crores of poverty-stricken who exist in this cruelly unjust land have virtually none to turn to speak about their state of affairs. Think of hundreds and thousands of malnourished mothers, children in the rural India! Think of hundreds and thousands of hungry, poorly-clad youngsters who loitre around streets and Railways stations doing everything to fill their empty stomachs! Denied the very basics of life - food,shelter and education - we have turned these potential assets into liabilities. Crores of rupees are spent on preparing national census on them and what finally comes out of them are all cold pieces of statistics which are interpreted by the people who matter to suit their own interests. This has been going on and on ever since Independence without much progress in poverty alleviation programs of the government. And our honorable people who represent us before Parliament in a mock show of solidarity with the poor of this country beats their chests in a laughable show of theatricality!
Why can not we replace this so-called criterion of per capita income by more realistic and scientific methodology? Was there any need to fix any such notional amount as criteria for determining the economic status of a poor person? Even admitting the need for such an exercise how could such ludicrous thought seized the wise-men of the Planning Commission that these amounts are even remotely realistic. It is alleged that some states manipulate data on the actual number of poor pool to benefit from Centrally sponsored schemes. Therefore, anomalies abound! Some of the visibly progressive and prosperous states get more funds allocated than the ones which are known to be perpetual laggards.
Similarly bad governance and maladministration also come in the way of fighting poverty in India. Once the late Prime Minister rhetorically commented on how a fraction of the original funds actually percolate to the target group! What he said has an ominous ring of truth even today. The poor people in India have lost every hope and have seen it all. The poor people of India form a heterogeneous class cutting across all lines caste,creed,regions even politics. The so-called leaders of the dalit used their folowers as ladders to fulfill their political,economic and megalomaniac ambitions to leave them literally and figuratively high and dry! All are happily ensconced in flesh-pots of modern living in New Delhi or state capitals. Occasional electoral rebuffs or setback never make them change their ways.
A poor person person in India has nothing to lose but under few circumstances they are prepared to surrender their dignity and honesty. How many times we comes across reports of rag-pickers returning money to the nearest police station or a woman working as a Railway sweeper returning a bag full of currencies worth rupees more than 25 lacs! Compare their conduct with our great leaders, Sukh Ram stashed away a few lacs in his Pooja room and was sentenced for his crime, yet none has come across any image of his face of shame! It should be fresh in the minds of all that some of our honorable parliamentarian belonging to all political outfits stalled the proceedings of the House for three long days on a demand to raise their emoluments five times.
Does it augur well for the country when a clear disconnect exists between the leaders and the people whom they are to represent? A country which has a shameful figure of nearly 77% poor also has seven hundred eighty members of Parliament 50% of whom are all crorepatis! No wonder we would continue to witness such frivolous and demeaning debates on poverty and poor people of India.
Like it on Facebook, Tweet it or share this article on other bookmarking websites.