The Hindu Business Line : Well-managed globalisation can reduce poverty: David Hulme

Mumbai May 1 A humanist with an academic's shirt on Dr David Hulme speaks of the plight of chronic poor and interplay of market dynamics that make the poor poorer across the globe.

Dr Hulme is founder-director of the Chronic Poverty Research Institute and associate director of the Global Poverty Research Group (Universities of Manchester and Oxford) and the Brooks World Poverty Institute at the University of Manchester.

Speaking to Business Line here, Dr Hulme says globalisation has widened the divide between the haves and the have-nots, and more importantly the pace at which the rich were getting richer was way ahead of the poor's attempt to make a mere living. He was in Mumbai to deliver Exim Bank's annual lecture-2007.

Govt initiatives

Placing the onus on governments to further the cause of the poor, Dr Hulme says it is not beyond nations such as India to make things easier for the downtrodden. "If a turnaround could happen in the Indian Railways, I don't see why a similar thing can't happen in poverty mitigation."

Referring to government initiatives, he says if only Indian States could be made to compete against one another for logging welfare indices relating to health, education, opportunities and security, the poor would benefit immensely. The process of globalisation meant that the government impact is somewhat reduced, but if it manages globalisation well then poverty reduction will occur. During the last 15 years, poverty reduction has been the quickest in India.

Private sector role

Liberalisation does not mean leaving everything to the private sector. "You can maximise economic growth that will improve the lives of many but also spoil the lives of some or you may go for an aggregate growth rate that is a little bit lower which will benefit many people at the bottom — primarily through health and education."

Globalisation is knowledge demanding. "Business houses in India will need educated and healthy workers."

The private sector always looks to innovate, and compare the growth rate in other countries. They understand the value of skilled workers and spell out the need for educated trained labour to the government.

Scandinavian countries, he says, mirror what cohesive public-private policies can achieve.

They ensure few people are trapped in poverty and most children get good education.