The Hindu Business Line : Poverty’s rural dimension

Economic growth in recent years has been lop-sided, with concomitant problems of agrarian distress, migration to urban areas and, in extreme cases, suicides

Seven years into the millennium, it is heartening to note the progress made in fighting global poverty and hunger. Following a series of actions for the world’s poor and hungry, the number of people in developing countries living on less than $1 a day fell to 980 million in 2004 from the peak of 1.25 billion in 1990, while the proportion of people living in extreme poverty fell from nearly a third to 18-19 per cent. At this rate of progress, experts and policymakers are hopeful that the first of the eight Millennium Development Goals — eradicating extreme poverty and hunger — will be met by 2015. However, progress is uneven. The decline in global poverty is largely due to rapid economic growth in Asia — East and South-East Asia, in particular. Accelerating growth in India has also put South Asia on track to achieve the goal of eradicating poverty. Yet, the unfortunate fact is that a high proportion of children either go hungry or have inadequate nutrition in South Asia. This is an issue India needs to be seriously concerned about. On the other hand, Asia contrasts with Sub-Saharan Africa, home to a large number of the world’ s poor, including the ultra poor, where poverty stubbornly refuses to go away.

The poor in India are predominantly rural; and poverty and hunger reduction has been slowest among the poorest. Agriculture and related activities provide livelihood to the rural population who must enjoy enhanced access to assets, infrastructure and markets to improve their living standards. It follows that rural growth cannot take place without sustained investment in the creation and maintenance of assets (land, irrigation, inputs), infrastructure (warehouses, rural roads) and markets (both input and output markets). Simultaneously, accelerated flow of investments is necessary in health, nutrition and education, particularly for women and children.

Alongside investment, good governance is critical. In addition to schemes and adequate budgets, identification of target beneficiaries, timelines for programme implementation as also monitoring and evaluation of policies is crucial. This is precisely where India falls short. Investments are inadequate and poor governance often means lack of accountability for sub-standard performance. While economic growth is most desirable, growth without equity could prove counter-productive, as it will widen income disparities among people, with the potential to set off socio-political upheavals. India has the capacity to make a substantial contribution to reducing poverty and hunger in the world; yet, the economic growth in recent years has been lop-sided, with concomitant problems of agrarian distress, migration to urban areas and, in extreme cases, suicides. The Eleventh Plan has inclusive growth as its central theme, but little to clearly indicate its magnitude. It goes without saying that there is need for a demonstrable commitment to investment and governance.