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SOME BASIC FACTS ABOUT INDIA’S POLITICAL,

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

by George Mathew

Director, Institute of Social Science New Delhi

Introduction

   India has a sub-continental dimension, covering an area of 32,87,263 sq.km, with a population of 846.30 million as on 1 March 1991. According to the 1993 estimate India’s population is 896,567,000. The annual population growth rate for 1980-93 was 2.0%. The second most populous country in the world, India is the home of 16% of the world’s population and accounts for 2.42% of the total world area. The population of India as recorded at each decennial census from 1901 onward has grown steadily except during 1911-21 when it showed a decline. In absolute terms, the country’s population has increased by 161.12 million during the decade 1981-91, which is ten times the population of Australia and more than twice that of Germany.

   An encouraging feature is the decline in the growth rate of population which marginally decreased from 24.66% in 1971-81 to 23.85% during 1981-91.

   India comprises 25 states and seven union territories (see map). In most states the population growth rate declined during the decade. However, seven states and three union territories, which account for one-third of the country’s population, recorded an increase in the growth rate. Nagaland registered the highest growth rate of 56.86% while Kerala, the lowest rate of 13.98 %. Uttar Pradesh continues to be the largest state, population-wise, with 16.44% of the people, followed by Bihar comprising 10.21% of the country’s population.

   Bombay metro is the most populated city with an urban population of 12.60 million, followed by Calcutta with 11.02 million, Delhi with 9.42 million and Madras with 5.42 million. The population density (inhabitants per sq.km.) has gone up from 216 in 1981 to 273 persons in 1993.

     Other important facts (1991) are:
    

Declining Sex Ratio

   One of the most disturbing aspects of the Indian census is the decline in the female proportion of the population. The sex ratio (number of females per 1000 males) in India has been generally adverse to women. The ratio has also declined over the years except in the decade 1971 to 1981 when it slightly improved from 927 to 934. In 1991, it fell again to 927 per thousand males. The state of Kerala, known for its high physical quality of life like high literacy and with near more than one-fifth of its population Christians, presents a sharply different picture as the sex ratio is 1036 females per 1000 males. The inhuman neglect of girl child and discrimination against women account for this abnormal trend.
 

Political

   India has a functioning democracy, the largest in the world. More than 500 million people – 18 years and above – out of its 844 million (1991) elected members of the Lower House of the Parliament in the latest general elections held in May and June 1991. Fifty-three per cent voters exercised their franchise in the latest elections. The percentage, though, was considered to be the lowest ever in the history of Indian elections. Higher levels of people’s participation has been a hallmark of Indian elections. For the last 44 years since Independence, democratic elections have been a regular feature in this country.

   The political ethos today in India is rooted in the long years of the National Movement for Independence. India’s first organized attempt to overthrow British colonial power was in 1857 but it took the shape of a mass movement or mass struggle in the early decades of the present century. It permeated all levels of social life. Political education became part of Indian life through cultural organisations, educational institutions, reform movements, caste and communal associations and, above all, the plurality of parties, their ideologies, and media. Literature, art, theatre, etc. grew around the themes of nationalism and democracy. It is not wrong to say that today India is an “intensely political land and politics is in the people’s bloodstream.” Competing ideologies and parties attempt through all available means to educate the masses on issues affecting them, not only on the eve of elections but even at other times. In India there will be an election every year at one or another place, state or local level, if not a by-election to the Parliament. Each general election is a near social revolution in its magnitude and sweep. The discussions and de-bates are not confined to local issues; they are analysed in public meetings, from a national and international perspective. People know that their collective future is determined by the political process and that they have a stake in it. This means not indifference but active participation in elections.

   India is one of the biggest functioning democracy in the world. But superimposed on a feudal social framework unexposed to real democratic traditions the people find it difficult to make a real success of their newly found democratic praxis. Once charismatic leaders like Pandit Nehru who practised democratic principles were removed the weakness of this democracy surfaced. The ruling party which ruled most of the time has degenerated.

   A situation that has been developing in the recent past causing concern for the future of democracy is that of tensions and violence during campaigning and voting – in some regions to the extent of impeding the electoral process. In the 1991 elections more than 200 people lost their lives in election-related violence. This has resulted in politics and politicians being shown in a bad light, as well as a decline in political standards.
The institutions of democracy – parties, press (media), parliament, judiciary and local self-governments – create political awareness and therefore these institutions have to be nurtured and carefully protected by all democratic societies. India has had ups and downs in this vital area but on the whole there has been a fair amount of public awareness and protests whenever political expediency tried to subvert the institutions of democracy. The late Mrs. Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister attempted in her own way to bend these institutions to suit her interests but the people of India asserted their democratic rights and have continued to do so whenever they have felt that there have been subtle or not so subtle attempts at manipulation.

   Perhaps the potential danger to India democracy is the tendency to mix religion with politics. Hindus constitute 82.63% of India’s population. This majority religious community is not homogeneous but constituted of many hierarchically placed castes and tribes. Some of them may not even identify themselves as Hindus. In the last few elections Hindu upper caste symbols were evoked by one of the political parties, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and its front organisations to gain power. As a result, from an average 11% vote that this party used to get, it garnered 24% of the votes in the 1991 elections to the Parliament. This trend, if continued, can pose a threat to India’s secular character, minorities, and democracy itself. When religion and politics mix in the name of protecting a majority religious community’s interests, then fascism is not far away.

   However, the 1993 November elections to four State Assemblies have demonstrated that peoples of India do not approve extreme right-wing Hindutva to come to power. The BJP lost its hold oil three out of four States it ruled from 1991-92.

   The recent 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment has given constitutional status to local bodies below and at the District Level, known as panchayats. There will be about 500 district level, 5000 Block (middle level) and 2,30,000 village panchayats within the next one year. 2600000 elected members will take office from 1994, out of which 80,0000 will be women (one-third seats are reserved for women).
 

Literacy

   For the purpose of census a person is deemed as literate if he or she can read and write any language with understanding. The literacy rate in the country, excluding J&K, is 52.21% (64.13 for males and 39.29 for females). The pupil – teacher ratio at primary level in 1980 was 45 and it has risen to 47 in 1990. The percentage of female teachers at primary level in 1980 was 27% and in 1990 it rose slightly to 28%.

   The National Policy on Education (NPE) adopted in 1986 and updated in 1992 constitutes a landmark in the Indian educational policy. Having recognised the problem of working children, NPE proposes to tackle it with a programme of non-formal education as an integral part of a strategy to provide basic education for all. There are an estimated 153 million Indian children between the ages of 6 and 14 years. The age specific enrollment ratio is estimated to be 80%. Yet, there are still over 28 million out-of-school children in the 6-14 age-group, over 14 million of whom according to official estimates are working children. The drop out rate is also high: nearly half the children who enter class 1 drop out before reaching class V and two-thirds before class VIII. The target population of the National Literacy Movement (NLM) are the 121 million illiterates in the 15 to 35 age-group. With all these India can still claim the “dubious distinction” of leading the world in the number of illiterates.
 

Human Rights

   The Indian sub-continent has been the scene of numerous ethnic and political conflicts. To quell unrest, India has unfortunately resorted to the enactment of laws at both national and state levels which contradict the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Government of India is a signatory. The National Security Act (NSA), the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act (TDAPA), the Disturbed Areas Act (DAA) and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) are of particular concern in this respect. In the states of Kashmir, Punjab, North East and Andhra Pradesh, the Government of India is engaged in paramilitary operations which have involved arbitrary arrests, detention without trial, destruction of citizen’s properties, extra-judicial executions and deaths in police and army custody.

   The Indian Government was under pressure to do something about its human rights policies and record. The pressure, explicitly and implicitly, took the form of the Government of India being told by International Aid Agencies that unless there was some positive evidence to show that it was doing something about human rights, India would not be entitled to economic and financial aid and support.

   In 1992, the Government of India made a proposal to establish a Human Rights Commission and the Parliament passed the bill to constitute the National Commission on Human Rights in 1993.

   The human rights and civil liberties movement in the country which is strong and active, is highly critical of the way the Human Rights Commission was established as they saw in it a move to appease international organisations, institutions and powerful lobbies abroad.
 

Minorities

   Hindus, the religious majority in India, comprise 82.6% of the population of our country. Muslims are the largest religious minority. Though Muslims constitute only 11.4% of India’s population their absolute number, 92 million, makes them the second largest national population in the world. Christians, numbering 16.2 million form 2.4%, Sikhs 2.0%, Buddhists 0.7% and others including unclassified persons constitute 0.4%. To evaluate the efficacy of various safeguards in the Constitution for the protection of the religious minorities and to make recommendations to ensure effective implementation and enforcement of all the safeguards and the laws, a Minorities Commission was set up in January 1978.
 

Lower Castes And Tribals

   The caste system is unique to India. The 82.6% Hindus (except the tribals) are hierarchically divided into castes on the basis of purity pollution principle and division of labour by ascription. The move to do away with the caste system in the independent India has met with little or no success. On the contrary, caste identi-ties have been strengthened and play an important part in bargaining in the political and economic spheres. The assertion of rights by the once op-pressed castes in recent years has resulted in brutal suppression and conflicts bordering on caste wars. India’s 51.6 million tribals (7.8% of the total population), are considered part of the Hindu population. Although the country has excellent laws to protect the rights of the tribals, the development path embarked upon by India, that has involved the construction of large dams, super thermal power plants, large-scale mining etc., has uprooted them without adequate measures for their rehabilitation, resulting in their economic and cultural impoverishment. India has 104.7 million (15.8%) lower castes commonly known as Scheduled Castes.
 

Child Labour

   Varying estimates abound as to the number of working children in India. According to the 1981 census, work is defined as “participation in any economically productive activity.” Main workers are those who have worked for the major part of the year preceding the date of enumeration and whose main activity has been in either cultivation or as agricultural labourers or in household industry or in other work. Marginal workers are those who have done some work but cannot be classified as main workers. According to the 1981 census, there were 13.59 million working children in India. The National Sample Survey revealed that there were 17.36 million working children in India. Using another yardstick, the Operations Research Group comes to the following conclusions:

   A working child is that child who was enumerated during the survey as a child within 5 to 15 age bracket and who is at remunerative work, may be paid or unpaid, and busy any hour of the day within or out-side the family... estimated working children in our country are around 44.0 million. Out of these about 21.0% are in urban areas and the rest are rural based.

   While the census definition appears to be unreasonably restrictive since it is unwilling to recognise that children play a very important economic role, even if it is not directly productive, the ORG figures seem closer to reality and underline the enormity of the problem.

   Article 24 of the Indian Constitution prohibits children below the age of fourteen from working in any factory, mine or other hazardous job. Yet, children are routinely found employed in mines, on construction sites and in factories in carpet weaving, beedi making, gem industry and so on. Article 39 of the Directive Principles of State Policy directs the states to ensure just and humane conditions of work. The Child Labour Regulation Act, the Factories Act and other industrial legislations do exist according to which the present situation of child labour is not in consonance with the dignity of a child.

   While India’s child labour laws prohibit children from being employed in factories and mines, where wages are high, their provisions do not apply to cottage industries, restaurants, households and the agriculture sector, where wages are low. In fact, the agricultural sector stands out as the biggest single employer of child labour in India.

   In India, it is primarily female children who maintain the household in both rural and urban areas by undertaking non-productive activities like caring for younger siblings, cooking, cleaning, washing and fetching water. Parents are thus able to go out and work as wage labour because the household work is done by their children, especially daughters.

   The bias against the female child is both the cause and the effect of relegating her to such a role in contrast to the more productive type of work that the male child is typically engaged in.

   Though a large number of female children assist their mothers in a variety of home based industries, they largely remain outside the ambit of the child labour law for it relates only to those children working outside their homes in work-shops, factories, etc.

   The existence of bonded labour in India has been recognised for long. Despite progressive legislation, it is not uncommon in parts of the country for parents to pledge their children to employers – in both the agricultural and urban unorganised sectors – against loans taken with the understanding that the child will work throughout its life for a pittance. Appallingly, many children when adults buy their freedom by offering their offspring in exchange.
 

Economic Situation

   Indian economic situation today presents a kaleidoscopic picture that conveys hopes to some and frustrations to many.

   At the time of Independence the expectations were raised very high. The early Five-Year Plans fully reflected it. There was a perspective of high growth, full employment, reduction of poverty and above all a socialist pattern of society based on distributive justice and equality of opportunity. The socialist pattern, clearly not a dogmatic variety sought to give the “commanding heights” to the public sector and control the private sector so as to serve social goals. A series of controls of production, prices, imports, physical control to direct scarce and essential commodities, location of industries, development of backward areas, etc. have been introduced. Unfortunately, this led to a controlled regime that bred inefficiency and corruption. While Thatcherism and Reagonism gained popularity in the West and capitalist world increasingly took to an era of liberalization and globalization, India too gradually welcomed liberalization. But that, in turn, led to heavy borrowing to finance increased the imports. Borrowing was easier than taxation and politically more popular. Total external debt increased from 20.6 billion in 1980 to 71.6 billion in 1991 — a 248% increase as against 71% increase in GNP. As on March 31, 1993 the official figure of debt is $93 billion as against 83.5 billion for China. No wonder net flow of funds is turning negative. By June 1991, the foreign exchange resources were pushed down to a nadir, not enough to meet even 10 days imports for a big country of the size of India. India’s credit rating which was on A+, fell to a B. The country also found it difficult to meet her debt service obligations. It was at this juncture that the IMF-World Bank inspired structural adjustment policies were clamped down on India.

   The Industrial Policy Statement of July 22, l 991 which came close on heels of the announcement of the new economic reform, a policy towards greater decontrol and delicensing was announced. The role of public sector has been reduced and the number of industries exclusively under public sector was reduced to just 8. A regime of privatisation has been started in full force.

   It is to be noted that Indian industry has over the years developed a highly diversified structure, considerable entrepreneurship and a vastly expanded capital market. This was in no small measure due to the autonomous and self-reliant path India has pursued over the years.

   India has also built up a stable agricultural sector. Today, she has become self-sufficient in food grains. But except in Kerala land reforms were not implemented. The rural sector remains highly skewed and hierarchical.

   Now the pertinent question is whether the regime of liberalization, globalization and privatisation will help the country achieve the cherished goals for which it fought the British? The answer is a firm no. The comprador business interests and the large middle class and upper echelons of society welcome the change as heralding a new world order. The WTO which will be in place from July 1, 1995, will usher in a global capitalist world order dictated more by considerations of profit. This will undermine the nation-State’s efforts to help the marginalised, poor and the needy without entitlements to participate in the market. Already the style of development has done the damage. The country’s economy has been hijacked by corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and business people. Indians are now part of what they call “emerging nations” with freedom for international capital to operate in India while millions of small man categories are denied of credit. International financial community is finding India an attractive place for investment. From the near-zero situation today’s fore amounts to $17 billion. This is an all-time high and is expected to grow. It shows that inter alia foreign investors are prepared to park their hinds in India. Now really India faces what some economists call a Dutch disease. While this surges ahead the two questions need be answered. First, are the increase in financial capital improving production or are we ushering a casino economy? Second, do the financial reforms help the credit needs of vulnerable sections of society? The answers are clearly in the negative.

    The sum and substance of what is said is that the new reforms are targeted towards the 250 and odd million people who only can be part of the market friendly regime. For a country with over 870 million population the question is can we leave the rest of 600 and above to the mercies of the market. The trickle down theory is totally irrelevant.

    In India, by government’s own admission, 42% of its population is below poverty line (those who cannot afford a daily intake of 2100 calorie), nearly one-fifth of the total urban population, or 20.1%, is poor. Independent scholars, however, estimate the incidence of urban poverty to be around 37 percent. The most disturbing feature of these official and independent estimates relates to the figures on the absolute number of urban poor. While official estimates show that there has been a significant decline in the number of urban poor from 47.3 million to 41.7 million between 1982 to 1988, independent estimates indicate just the opposite trend, an increase in the absolute number of persons in absolute poverty, from 69.2 million to 77 million for the same period. Experts apprehend that the discouraging trend pertaining to the growth of absolute numbers of urban poor in India has accelerated after the introduction of the economic reform process since the 1990s. It is estimated that during 1991-92, the first year of the adjustment and stabilization process of the Indian economy, there has been an overall increase of 10.7 million in the number of poor in the country, of which 2.6 million has taken place in urban areas.

The New Economic Policy (NEP)

   The Government has undertaken sweeping economic changes since July 1991 that at best services the interest of merely the tiny, privileged minority. Under pressure from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the internal lobbies the trend is to integrate the economy into the global market ignoring local, political, economic conditions and cultural backgrounds. India is compelled to start from an unequal situation. The opening up policy undermines self-reliance, in the long term pursuit of independent development path. Fears are expressed whether it will even affect the nation’s sovereignty and independence. The NEP has resulted in devaluation of rupee, inflation, rise in prices of essential commodities, cuts on education, health and social welfare. The government for all practical purposes is withdrawing from its responsibility of providing social security and welfare to the poor.

Implications Of GATT

   The overall tendency will be towards expansion of agri-business enterprises and bringing more land under export oriented cash crops at the expense of subsistence agriculture. This will lead to larger concentration of land at the top and swelling of the ranks of landless agricultural labour.

   This is a direct onslaught on the impoverished masses. The traditional knowledge systems about seeds, live stock and agriculture as well as soil re-generation and water management will be destroyed.

   The NEP and the GATT has political implications too. The elected representative and the entire parliamentary process may lose its power to represent the people’s grievances. Democratic rights face abridgment with talk of moratorium on protest, struggles and strikes. Workers and union rights will be curtailed to suit the regiments of TNCs and local industrialists with amendments of labour laws. The military and paramilitary are being strengthened to control and suppress people’s organised struggles.

   There is sigh of hope in the protest movements gathering momentum against the NEP and GATT. There are groups and articulate sections of intelligentsia thinking of alternative economic policies which have generated considerable interest throughout the country.

Environment

   At the time of India’s Independence, our priority was the provision of the basic human needs of food, fuel, shelter, health, employment, etc. This was also reflected in the Five Year Plans. In the early 70s problems related to environment began to receive the direct attention of the central government. Nearly 10 years later, in 1980, the Department of Environment was set up. From 1985, there is a full fledged Ministry of Environment and Forests to serve as the focal point in the administrative structure for the planning, promotion and coordination of environmental and forestry programmes.

Environmental protection and ecological balance are essential to ensure that development is sustainable in the long run. Environmental problems in India can be broadly classified as (i) those arising as negative effects of the very process of development, and (ii) those arising from conditions of poverty and underdevelopment.

The Environment (Protection) Act 1986, is a landmark legislation as it empowers the Central Government to take all necessary measures for protection of the environment and to plan and execute a nation-wide programme for prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution, including laying down standards for discharge of environmental pollutants and for quality of environment. It aims at plugging the loopholes in the other related acts.

   The Ministry of Environment and Forests announced a National Policy for Abatement of Pollution in 1992, according to which the key elements for pollution prevention are adoption of best available clean and feasible technologies rather than end-pipe treatment. This implies serious consideration of production process changes which involve significant improvement in energy and water conservation.

   Under the same policy, 17 categories of heavily polluting and environmentally critical industries have been identified for introduction of pollution control measures through economic and policy instruments on a priority basis. The industries are cement, thermal power plants, distilleries, sugar, fertilizers, oil refineries, among others.

   The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 13 grossly sly polluted stretches of rivers Sabarmati, Subernarekha, Godavari, Krishna, Indus (tributaries), Sutlej, Ganga (tributaries), Yamuna, and a few others to formulate short-term result oriented programmes.

   The Environment Ministry has identified 19 critically polluted areas in the country which need special attention as regards pollution control. These include Vapi (Gujarat), Singrauli (Uttar Pradesh), Korba (Madhya Pradesh), Talcher (Orissa), Howrah (West Bengal), Chembur (Maharashtra), Najafgarh (Delhi), among others.

   Sixty per cent of air pollution in India is due to emissions of vehicles moving on the roads network. Although traffic density and petrol and oil consumption are not high as compared with those in the developed countries, the rate of pollutant emission per vehicle in India is 35% higher than that in the USA on account of poor maintenance of vehicles and roads, lack of traffic planning, a high proportion of old, overused vehicles, crowded highways and a large proportion of two and three wheelers.

   The objective of all development is to enhance the economic and general well-being of the people so that their standard and quality of living can be improved. It is imperative to incorporate environmental aspects in development projects right at the inception stage, to prevent the erosion and contamination of the resource base itself. Environmental Impact Assessment (ElA), which was introduced in the country in 1978, is a handy tool to assess the environmental compatibility of the development projects in terms of their location, suitability of technology, efficiency in resource utilization and recycling etc. At present ElAs are done for almost all major projects including thermal power, mining, river valley, industries, atomic power, new towns, communication projects etc. Projects which are sensitive and located in already environmentally degraded areas and those which are central government projects costing over Rs.200 million, are also subject to EIA.

   Forests are a renewable source and contribute substantially to economic development. They also play a major role in enhancing the quality of the environment. India has an area of 75.23 million hectares notified as forests, of which 40.6 million hectares is classified as re-served and 21.5 million hectare is protected forests. About 19.47% of the total geographical area of the country is under actual forest cover.

   Priority areas are: (a) Conservation of bio-diversity including forests, marine life, and mountain ecosystems; (b) Conservation of soil and moisture and prevention of pollution of water sources; (c) Control of industrial pollution and wastes; (d) Access to clean technologies; (e) Tackling urban environmental issues (safe drinking water, sanitation facilities and garbage disposal); (f) Strengthening environmental education, training, awareness and resource management; (g) Alternative energy plan.

   In spite of government regulations environmental degradation is going on because of extreme poverty of the people and politician-official-busines/industry nexus.
 

Social Security

   Social security has been listed in the Concurrent List of the Constitution signifying the responsibility of both the Centre and the States in this sphere. The task of providing meaningful social security continues to be challenging in view of financial as well as operational constraints, high incidence of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and the large size of unorganized/informal sector.

   The permanent social security benefits provided through legislative measures like Workmen’s Compensation Act, Employees State Insurance Act, Employees Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, Maternity Benefit Act, and Payment of Gratuity Act, etc. cater to mainly organised urban labour comprising less than 10% of the total labour force. Most of the States/UTs have pension schemes for the old and disabled, but due to eligibility criteria of income and age, only about 9% of old-age population gets the benefit of pension. In the last few years, group insurance schemes for landless agricultural labourers, life insurance scheme for Integrated Rural Development Programme (lRDP) beneficiaries and group insurance for certain categories of workers belonging to weaker sections of the society have been introduced. The coverage under permanent social security measures, however, continues to be small.

   Emphasis is, therefore, being given to transitory measures of social security. These include special employment and anti-poverty programmes, welfare programmes for development of women, children, weaker sections of the society, handicapped and disabled persons, Public Distribution System for supply of essential commodities at low prices, and subsidised education and basic health care. The National Renewal Fund has been established to fund schemes for compensation, retraining and redeployment of workers affected by economic restructuring.
 

Rural Poor

   More and more areas under the cultivation of food crops have now been planted with export oriented cash crops. This has led to non-availability of food leading to starvation and hunger among the rural poor. With drastic reduction in subsidies, majority of the poor cannot afford to purchase food grains from the open market. The government schemes to help the poor, for instance, IRDP have declined from Rs. 3.4 million in 1989-90 to Rs. 2 million in 1992-93. The employment generated under the JRY (Jawahar Rozgar Yojana) also declined from 864 million man-days in l989-90 to 778 million man-days in 1992-93. In both, the decline was pronounced during the period of SAP, the years 1991-92 and 1992-93.

   The logic of liberalization prevalent in the industrial sector holds true also for the agricultural sector. In the name of efficiency small farmers are gradually driven out of agriculture by big farmers and agribusinesses. This has become a major area of concern especially in relation to the question of food security which is critical in a country where a third of the population lives below the poverty line. The gross area under food grains cultivation came down from 127.7 million hectares in 1988-89 to 126.8 million hectares in 1991-92. As against this, cultivated area under cash crops has shown magnificent increase during same period. This trend towards commercialization will only intensify with the export-or-perish principles being now vigorously pursued under SAP. Further, a disturbing trend is observed in terms of the per capita availability of food grains which declined from 494.5 grams per day in 1989 to 476.4 grams in 1992.

   Moreover such averages of macro statistics reveal little about food security at the threshold level. Growing food stocks and availability are meaningless if households lack the purchasing power or resources to ensure an adequate nutritional intake. Further, security at household level may reveal nothing about intra-household distribution of food, which by convention discriminate against women. Clearly then, the notion of food security must be considered in terms that reach beyond a simple stock-taking of government storage facilities.

   Besides, the government is amending the land ceiling laws to provide easy access of MNCs to penetrate the agricultural and food processing industries. Number of legislations and regulations to protect the small and marginal farmers and agricultural workers remain on paper and unimplemented with the meagre benefits of the measures being siphoned away by big farmers and farm-lords.

   The export-drive will lead to further inequalities in land ownership. Small land owners, without the means to shift production to more profitable export crops will have no option then but to sell off their lands and become landless labourers. Employment opportunities are minimum in the export-crops, the sector being highly capital intensive. This will lead to massive unemployment, mass migration, disruption of family and family life, child labour and intensified exploitation of women. Thus, the globalization of agriculture leads to the demise of rural life and society.

Urban Poor

   During the decade of the ‘80s there has been considerable shrinkage in employment opportunities. The rate of growth of employment has been decreasing every year during the decade. The later half, 1987 to 1990 has actually witnessed negative growth rate in employment in the private sector and the rate in public sector was only around 1.5%. The official figures based on registration in employment exchanges underes-timate the severity of unemployment and under the liberalized process of economic competition, the industry will begin to retrench workers which was not so easy even in the recent past. Along with the “exit policy” that is sought to be implemented, employees will be forced to choose between unemployment and a lower wage rate. Moreover with the full adoption of market economy in Indian conditions where labour supply exceeds demand, the real wages will be compressed by 30-40% of the present level. Unskilled labour with very low bargaining power because of its unorganised character and poverty will hit the hardest.

   Since the last couple of years a new phenomenon of employees resorting to employment of contract and casual workers is noticed. This has led to further drop in the strength work of the permanent work force. According to one assessment out of a total of 300 million in the work force, nearly 270 million persons work as casual or contract workers or self-employed.

   The shrinkage of job opportunities in rural areas forces growing migration of rural people and thus to an increase in urban population — from 29 million in the ‘60s to 56 million in the ‘80s.

    The situation has led to a perceptible increase in indebtedness of the rural poor. In the absence of institutional mechanism local issuers advance money to the toilers at rates as high as l00% and use goons to recover interest and capital with criminal intermediation and even torture. This is one factor which leads to the almost all-pervasive criminalisation of the city.

   The criminalisation is now also a political phenomenon. The external reactionary forces are based upon criminal terror which permeates both the work sites and the residential areas. The subsequent erosion of democratic institutions is capitalised upon by forces of religious fundamentalism and communalism who receive no mean aid from the policy paralysis on socio-cultural issues of the Central and State governments.

    Women are, of course, the special victims of this abysmal urban conditions. The shrinking job market renders them unemployed. They then fall into the trap of the highly exploitative contract labour system. Self-employment schemes have been more or less uniform failures. These have not led to the empowerment of women but only pushed them into the money economy on the most adverse terms. The current spurt in globalisation and liberalisation will further depress their incomes, intensify their exploitation and deteriorate their workshop conditions.

   This, obviously, leads to deterioration of living standards and conditions. Health already vulnerable due to malnutrition, hard work and violence suffers even more. Commercialisation of health services deprives them of even the minimum relief.

   Women are also targets of dubious and hazardous population control technologies, once again heavily pushed by the international financial institutions. Cynically the authorities use them as guinea pigs and play havoc with their bodies, minds and lives.

   The helplessness on the one hand and the rampant consumerism and commercialisation on the other propels many women into prostitution. Not only are they demanded thus but put in bondage, subjected to violence and ultimately smitten with STDs and AIDS.

   In the last two decades, most rapidly growing cities have become the symbols of unequal development. These islands of prosperity deny the urban poor even the basic right to shelter. As a result, they are forced to live on pavements, railway tracks etc. Under pressure to release urban land for non-housing purposes or for expensive residential complexes, the State responds with demolition and eviction of the urban poor from their dwellings. The threat of eviction is an ever-present danger with guarantee to alternative site almost non-existent.

   Authorities fail to realise that the urban poor are an integral part of urban society and they have to play a key role in maintaining the informal economy of most of the metropolises, a major contribution which goes unrecognised. In this sector too privatization and monetization has made its impact. People are lured into the logic of privatization schemes by the promise of security of tenure. Often this leads to the eviction of the poor in favour of schemes for high and middle income sections. The promise of alternative accommodation under “sites-and-services” schemes becomes meaningless as people under the pressure of inflation and unemployment are unable to repay loan installments. This is all the more true as the alternative sites are invariably far away from places where people have their livelihood, (where they can work as domestic workers or petty vendors, recycle waste, ply rickshaws, etc.) As the Jawahar Rojgar Yajana scheme has been cut by 38%, loans for self-employment are also not easy. Under economic pressure people will sell their right to accommodation and again squat elsewhere illegally.
 

Conclusion

   “The Asian miracles,” or “the Asian tigers” and the “emerging economies” phenomena, are all indicative of the new economic development taking place in Asia. This rapid economic development in several parts of Asia has brought with it new problems as well as possibilities.

   It is clear that market-based economic policies, alone, cannot create conditions to eliminate poverty and unemployment. In fact, the inequalities created by market forces and their distortions will worsen existing social crises in parts of Asia. In other words, country experiences in Asia show that growth alone cannot and will not solve the problems of poverty and unemployment without state intervention.

   The tendency of several Asian countries to incur large expenditures on defence during the Cold War period must give way to diverting those resources to social sectors. Mahbubul Haq has summed it up succinctly: “It is time for the politicians and the generals to interpret national security not just for their land but for their people. Not just territorial security but human security.” At the same time, the post-Cold War scenario must not give space for economic conflict or economic warfare resulting in the domination of one economy over the other.

   In Asia, social justice for the deprived sections – minorities, women, oppressed castes, indigenous people – is the priority. If appropriate actions are not taken the gap between the burgeoning middle class, with its consumerist values, and the poor will continue to widen. There is an urgent need for the rich and affluent to reorient their life styles and consumption patterns because the available resources of Asia are not enough to sustain these high consumption levels of a few.
 

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