The Areas Of Darknesss

Poverty, inequality, and social injustice, as well as the poor quality of life experienced by the vast majority of the population, are major blemishes on India's social and economic development. Despite commendable achievements in terms of economic growth and political democracy, the Indian people enter the twenty-first century with a low per capita income, an intolerable level of illiteracy, and a lowly position on the world index of human resource development. Since independence, the people's social and economic situation has improved, but at a too slow pace. 

•    In 1954, when presenting the social objectives of planning to the parliament, Jawaharlal Nehru said: We are beginning to plan for India's 360 million people... What are the desires of 360 million people? … It is self-evident that they require food; it is also self-evident that they require clothing, shelter, and health... I propose that the only policy we should consider is working for the 360 million people; not for a few, not for a group, but for the entire population, and bringing them up on an equal footing.

 

•    Nehru defined socialist society as a "society in which there is equality of opportunity and the possibility for everyone to live a good life" when presenting the Second Five Year Plan to the parliament. These objectives have only been partially met. A social order that is humane, egalitarian, and just has yet to emerge. For far too many people, living a good life is still a pipe dream.

 

•    Despite consistent economic growth, independent India has failed to eradicate poverty in the past fifty years. This is a major blemish on the company's record. However, it is also true that, while poverty still exists, it has decreased. The concept of the poverty line was developed by the Planning Commission in the early 1960s. 

 

•    Below this line were people whose calorie consumption, particularly of food grains, did not meet a calorie minimum. While no figures for the colonial period or the early years after independence were available, it was estimated that nearly 59 percent of the population was poor in 1970-71. Since then, the number has been steadily decreasing. 

 

•    In 1977-78, it was 51.3, then 44.5 in 1983, and 36 in 1993-94. On the other hand, over 300 million people, roughly equal to India's population at the time of independence, are still living in poverty. Furthermore, poverty levels differ by state, with 63 percent in Bihar and 20 percent in Punjab and Haryana in 1993-94. Landless agricultural labourers, small and marginal farmers, and the urban poor bear the brunt of poverty.

 

•    The reduction in poverty levels was largely due to various antipoverty, mostly employment-generating, programs launched by the Indira Gandhi government in the mid-1970s under the leadership of Sukhamoy Chakravarty, one of India's finest and most socially committed economists. 

 

•    Since 1984-85, these programs have been pursued more aggressively, despite still being underfunded. Despite corruption and a failure to always reach the targeted groups, they have had a significant impact, as the figures show. In Maharashtra, the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) has proven to be particularly effective. 

 

•    In this context, it is important to note that the radical restructuring of the Indian economy brought about by the Nehruvian planning strategy during the 1950s and 1960s enabled the adoption and implementation of anti-poverty programs. 

 

•    Even without the proof of the poverty line statistics, it is clear that Indians are no longer in abject poverty as they were during colonialism. The period's mass starvation has been overcome. Since the Bengal famine of 1943, India has not experienced a major famine. Few people died of hunger or disease during the worst drought of the century in 1987-88. The severe droughts of 1965-67 and 1972-73 were similar in nature.

 

•    Similarly, during the colonial era and the immediate post-independence years, a large number of Indians went without two meals a day for several months at a time, and in some cases, even one meal. According to a recent study, the number of people who were unable to obtain two square meals per day had decreased from 19% of households in 1983 to less than 5% in 1994. 12

 

•    The increased availability of food grains and other food items over time also indicates a decrease in the incidence of poverty. While per capita food grain consumption fell by over 24% between 1901 and 1941, it increased by 28% between 1951 and 1995, from 394.9 grams per day to 468.8 grams per day in 1971 and 507.7 grams per day in 1995. This increase in availability can also be seen in the case of a variety of other consumer goods. 

 

•    In 1950, annual cloth availability per head was 9 meters, 15 meters in 1960, and 29.3 meters in 1995. The graph below depicts the annual per capita availability of a variety of other important consumer goods. From 1950 to 1996, milk production increased fourfold, from 17 million tons to 68.3 million tons, eggs production increased fifteen fold, from 1,832 million to 28,400 million, and fish production increased sevenfold, from 752 thousand tons to 5388 thousand tons.

 

•    Nonetheless, poverty and, in particular, endemic undernourishment, particularly among children, are widespread, though not to the point of starvation or utter destitution, except among the elderly and handicapped. Although a dent has been made in poverty, it is not deep enough. 

 

•    Poverty has been exacerbated by the presence of glaring social and economic inequity. While the poor have not become poorer and have benefited from economic growth, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened in front of our eyes. The benefits of this growth, as well as the significant increase in national income that has resulted, have been disproportionately reaped by a few people in the upper and, to some extent, middle layers of society. 

 

•    Misallocation of income, opportunities, and power has also been built into the country's social and class structure. Inequality is likely to rise in the short run as the economy liberalizes and develops on the basis of "capitalist animal spirits," but inequality will fall in the long run if the government can provide the necessary skills and infrastructure and back it up with fair and predictable tax policies.

 

•    Apart from the issue of poverty, the poor's quality of life in India is another major area of neglect, as their physical and social needs are not met even at the bare minimum. In this regard, some progress has been made, but it has been slow and insufficient. 

 

•    In terms of overall human condition transformation, India has lagged behind. Its track record is dismal, even when compared to that of other developing countries. India ranks 132nd out of 174 countries in the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) latest index of human development, another name for the measurable aspects of quality of life.

 

•    Love, human relationships, appreciation of the arts, music, and literature are all immeasurable components of quality of life. However, some of its other components can be measured for progress or lack thereof. We'll start with three of the most commonly discussed topics in health and education: life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate (MR), and literacy. 

 

•    When comparing India's post-independence performance to that of the colonial period, it is clear that the country has performed admirably over the last three decades. This is despite the fact that India's successive central and state governments have placed a low priority on health and education. However, a quick comparison of the statistical progress made by some other countries, such as China and Sri Lanka, reveals how far we have fallen behind and what we still need to accomplish in these critical areas.

 

•    India's record in higher and technical education, as shown in previous chapters, is far better. In addition, school education has expanded rapidly in the last decade, with an increase in the percentage of school-aged children attending school and primary schools being provided in over 88 percent of villages. 

 

•    On the other hand, in recent years, the quality of education has deteriorated in both schools and higher education institutions. With the ‘cooperation' of all parties involved—the government, political parties, educational administrators, teachers, parents, and students—the public education system has become virtually dysfunctional. The quality of rural schools has deteriorated to the point where a child who has attended school for five years may be unable to read or write at all, and may only be able to write his name, if that.

 

•    Another area of human development that has been grossly neglected in the last fifty years is health care, particularly in rural areas. For example, during the last decade, 19% of Indians did not have access to safe drinking water, 25% to health care, and 71% to sanitation. Underweight children account for 53% of Indian children under the age of five, though this percentage has been decreasing in recent years. 

 

•    The great success of childhood immunization programs against polio, smallpox, tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough is a bright spot in this regard. In most states, particularly in the Hindi belt, the quality of services provided is quite poor, just as it is in the case of education. 

 

•    Housing conditions have improved in rural areas of India, where the number of pucca houses has increased dramatically, but they have deteriorated in urban areas, with millions of people living on pavements or in jhuggis (shanties), exposed to the sun, rain, and cold, with little access to water, electricity, or sanitation. 

 

•    Large-scale underemployment and unemployment in India has a negative impact on people's quality of life, not just on their physical well-being. Economic development has failed to create enough jobs in industry and services to have a significant impact on the unemployment of the landless and the educated in both rural and urban areas, resulting in serious psychological, social, and economic inequity in their lives. We may have a few more observations to make. There is a great deal of disparity between different states and their sub-regions in terms of development, poverty, and quality of life, which must be addressed. A rise in the quality of life or in human development indices would invariably necessitate the state taking a more active role in the social sector than previously.

 

•    Agricultural labourers and marginal and small peasants, who lack or have small plots of land and are increasingly unable to find work, are the poorest segment of Indian society in terms of quality of life and standard of living. 

 

•    Poverty and disease, as well as a lack of education, housing, health care, safe drinking water, sanitation, electricity, and cultural and entertainment facilities, affect them more than others. They are also the most likely to suffer from caste discrimination and oppression. They are also the least organised, both in terms of class and political participation.

 

•    Without a doubt, we still have "promises to keep and miles to go...," and we still have poverty, disease, illiteracy, inequality, social backwardness, and gender and caste discrimination and oppression to contend with. However, there is no justification for pessimism, resignation, frustration, or a lack of pride. 

 

•    Many of our current issues are the result of the massive changes we've undergone, rather than regression or stagnation. Despite its many flaws and shortcomings, India has made significant progress in the economic and political arenas. 

 

•    It has made significant strides in the direction of social justice. India now has the resources to further its social agenda as a result of economic development and transformation of the agricultural and industrial production bases of society over the last half-century. 

 

•    The debate over whether or not a poor society can pursue social justice is no longer relevant. There is no longer any need to balance increased production and productivity with poverty reduction and better wealth and opportunity distribution. Nehru's conundrum about how to combine development and equity has also vanished, because we can now do so. It would therefore not be unreasonable to expect and predict that, over the next decade or so, India will make significant progress, if not a quantum leap, in transforming the lives of the majority of the population and providing them with a decent standard of living.

 

•    The main source of our optimism is our belief that a healthy democracy can find a solution to these issues. Women, the rural poor, and oppressed castes are increasingly believing in the possibility of a better, more humane life. They've realised how much political power they possess. 

 

•    Despite its flaws, India's democratic political system provides them with the framework to exercise that power. In a democracy, the people's power is the "liberating deluge" that can and will wash away the accumulated dirt of the ages. This is, of course, all the more reason for India's democracy to be preserved and strengthened.