Villages were neglected in the socialist era: Yashwant Sinha

Yashwant SinhaThe two-decade-old history of economic reforms in India is uneven. Reforms were undertaken in 1991 under duress and this has been the story since then. Though every government since 1991 has embraced economic reforms, the impression that national consensus has backed economic reforms is erroneous. The fact of the matter is that there is no consensus on economic reforms within the various political parties and across the political spectrum; the Left parties remain stubbornly opposed to them and the people at large are completely indifferent.Every government, therefore, adopts a minimalist approach and does only what is pressing and unavoidable. There is no doubt that India has travelled far as an economic power after the initiation of economic reforms. The new normal for GDP growth is 8-9 per cent; anything less creates the impression of a crisis. In the economic field, reforms have definitely succeeded, but in the political arena they have been a total failure. Finance ministers of this period have generally been unpopular politicians. Manmohan Singh lost his Lok Sabha election in 1998-the first and the last he ever contested. P. Chidambaram also lost the election in 1999. I lost my election in 2004. Jaswant Singh did not contest the 2004 elections and Pranab Mukherjee had only briefly been in the finance ministry when he was re-elected to Lok Sabha in 2009. The UPA 1 government's track record in economic reforms is well known; yet, it was re-elected in 2009. The political risk, therefore, is in carrying out economic reforms, not in avoiding them.Why are economic reforms unpopular amongst political parties and the aam admi? Why is their constituency limited only to economists, economic administrators, industrialists, bankers and the pink media? To my mind, the reasons are not too far to seek. Economic reforms have no doubt brought economic growth, prosperity, increased per capita income and improved living conditions, but these benefits have not been shared widely amongst the people and regions of the country. Economic reforms have only accentuated regional disparities, income disparities and caste and class disparities. The explosion in the field of media and IT has acerbated it further. The unrest that we see in the rural areas often resulting in violent movements can be directly ascribed to this sense of loss and deprivation among large sections of society.A major weakness of our planning process, which remains uncorrected to this day, is the concentration of the process on the individual and not the village. Villages were neglected in the socialist era; and villages remain neglected even in the era of liberalisation. The only difference is that it was tolerated when India was growing at the Hindu rate of growth; it has become unacceptable when India is growing at 9 per cent per year.Dono Reshaam is a tribal village in the Hazaribag district of Jharkhand. It is a part of my constituency and barely 15 km from National Highway 33 which connects Hazaribag and Ranchi. It is situated in thick jungle, is not connected by road and is in the midst of Left-wing extremist movement. Nobody ever visits the village. When I went there last year the villagers welcomed me and told me that I was the first elected representative to have visited the village ever. It was a shame for me also. The visit to Dono Reshaam was an eye-opener. It does not have road connectivity, electricity, drinking water, health or education facility; nothing. The only sign of progress was a bridge over a small river which was built some years ago as a result of my effort, I was told, and an elementary school under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. I have been to the village a number of times since then and adopted it for development. Dono Reshaam is a shame for me personally and a shame for the entire planning and developmental process which began in India in 1952. And Dono Reshaam is not alone. In Jharkhand and other backward regions, such villages exist in plenty. Why should they not take to Left-wing extremism?Based on the experience of Dono Reshaam, in a meeting with the member secretary of the Planning Commission, I have suggested that an immediate survey of all the villages of the country should be carried out to ascertain whether they are equipped with the following facilities: an all-weather road, electricity, drinking water, irrigation, health facility, education, agricultural extension, housing and sanitation, village and cottage industries and employment opportunities. An exercise of this kind will immediately throw up the size of the challenge that we face regarding provision of these basic amenities to all our villages and also a plan of action from below for the future. Planning from above has clearly failed us.I recall the screaming headline of a leading daily newspaper recently when it welcomed the announcement of the government to permit foreign direct investment in pension funds, in retail trade and in domestic airlines. It was excitedly described as the launch of the second generation of economic reforms. This is where the crux lies. The protagonists of reforms have made the reform agenda so narrow that it is of no or little consequence to the aam admi. Reforms will remain elitist if they do not embrace the far-flung villages and the large masses of our people. For some of us, reforms have become synonymous with FDI.The aam admi is not looking for doles. He is prepared to pay for the services provided to him but the service should be reasonable, efficient and assured. One cannot expect a village household to pay a fixed charge of electricity without it ever getting electricity. It will not pay for irrigation if there is no water in the canals. The aam admi is not a beggar. He must be given the dignity he deserves. The challenge for the future is to build a new India based on providing the basic amenities to all our people which we take for granted and which still remains a distant dream for them.- Yashwant Sinha is a former finance minister.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Dec 30, 2011 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---

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Villages were neglected in the socialist era: Yashwant Sinha

Economic reforms have only served to widen disparities of region, income and class. For political parties, the risk is in carrying them out, not in avoiding them.

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