Report by Aarti DharThe Hindu, 3 February 2008
NEW DELHI: For years now, India has proved there need not be a trade-off between democracy and high economic growth rate. But what it has to do now is to relate economic growth rate with social development, according to Thandika Mkandawire, Director of the Geneva-based U.N. Research Institute for Social Development.
Talking to The Hindu during his brief visit to the Capital, Mr. Mkandawire said the world was looking at India as a fast growing economy in the developing world but this growth needed to have a trickle-down effect on the poor people. “You can have this effect but for it to have a major impact, you would need a rapid growth,” he said.
However, the process of deliberate re-distributive growth had not happened so far and the government needed to devise some kind of a mechanism to combine economic and social policies because this would not happen automatically. “It has to be made to happen. And that where social policy matters,” he said, adding that historically India had produced some very interesting ideas on development.
Pointing out that for years India had remained a low-growth, low-equality country, Mr. Mkandawire said now it had entered the high growth bracket but inequality was also increasing, though the government claims that the number of poor has been reduced. “But then, Indian data is always controversial.”
Talking to The Hindu during his brief visit to the Capital, Mr. Mkandawire said the world was looking at India as a fast growing economy in the developing world but this growth needed to have a trickle-down effect on the poor people. “You can have this effect but for it to have a major impact, you would need a rapid growth,” he said.
However, the process of deliberate re-distributive growth had not happened so far and the government needed to devise some kind of a mechanism to combine economic and social policies because this would not happen automatically. “It has to be made to happen. And that where social policy matters,” he said, adding that historically India had produced some very interesting ideas on development.
Pointing out that for years India had remained a low-growth, low-equality country, Mr. Mkandawire said now it had entered the high growth bracket but inequality was also increasing, though the government claims that the number of poor has been reduced. “But then, Indian data is always controversial.”
Simultaneous process
Arguing that not many countries in the developing world had found a way of reconciling social policy to development process, Mr. Mkandawire said they thought social policy was costly and focused on growth rate with a hope that some day they would have enough money for social policy. “But our institute has done research that suggests that social policy is not something you do after development. It has to be a simultaneous process.”
Suggesting social policy was an important instrument for development, Mr. Mkandawire said there were some interesting initiatives taken by India for social development such as the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme that was being keenly followed at the United Nations. “This seems to be a serious attempt to share the growth rate but how effective it would be one cannot say though it is an interesting idea.”
The U.N. has commissioned studies to look at what is happening and review this interesting experiment if it worked, he said.
Arguing that not many countries in the developing world had found a way of reconciling social policy to development process, Mr. Mkandawire said they thought social policy was costly and focused on growth rate with a hope that some day they would have enough money for social policy. “But our institute has done research that suggests that social policy is not something you do after development. It has to be a simultaneous process.”
Suggesting social policy was an important instrument for development, Mr. Mkandawire said there were some interesting initiatives taken by India for social development such as the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme that was being keenly followed at the United Nations. “This seems to be a serious attempt to share the growth rate but how effective it would be one cannot say though it is an interesting idea.”
The U.N. has commissioned studies to look at what is happening and review this interesting experiment if it worked, he said.
Great achievement
Democracy is another ‘sector’ in India that interests Mr. Mkandawire. Sustained democracy is a great achievement of India in the context of high poverty figures that also proves that democracy did not automatically reduce poverty, he explained. “For years there was this debate on how democracy had not provided poor the space to use their numbers to change this for them. I suggest there has to be social and political mobilisation to use this democratic space for pursuing policies that benefit them. The poor have to organise themselves to change things in their favour.”
Democracy is another ‘sector’ in India that interests Mr. Mkandawire. Sustained democracy is a great achievement of India in the context of high poverty figures that also proves that democracy did not automatically reduce poverty, he explained. “For years there was this debate on how democracy had not provided poor the space to use their numbers to change this for them. I suggest there has to be social and political mobilisation to use this democratic space for pursuing policies that benefit them. The poor have to organise themselves to change things in their favour.”
Low enrolment
While India is being perceived as an important actor on the world scene, Mr. Mkandawire is at a loss to explain the low school enrolment ratio. “The gap seems so obvious and I am curious to know how some low-income growth and less democratic countries have more number of kids going to school than in India.”
While India is being perceived as an important actor on the world scene, Mr. Mkandawire is at a loss to explain the low school enrolment ratio. “The gap seems so obvious and I am curious to know how some low-income growth and less democratic countries have more number of kids going to school than in India.”
