By Gyan Prakash
“Poverty is just a state of mind. It does not mean the scarcity of food, money or material things. If one possesses self-confidence, then one can overcome poverty.” One cannot find a better quote to start with. It was Rahul Gandhi, ?the flagship dynastic prince of Indian politics?, as Modi wittingly calls him. Needless to say, the statement drew flak from all sections of the society. Gandhi could not possibly have made it worse, for poverty in India is like affluence in the west; both widespread.
Recently, the PM chaired Planning Commission came out with some numbers, which said that poverty in India has declined from 37.2% in 2004-05 to 21.9% in 2011-12. Tendulkar committee involved in the estimation of poverty further mocked the poor by defining the poverty line at ` 33.33 in cities and ` 27.20 per capita per day in villages. Congress top brass took the statistics so positively that they even planned to market it. Congress MP, Raj Babbar went on to claim that one can easily get a hearty meal for ` 12 INR in Mumbai. Rashid Masood said that the number stood at ` 5 in Delhi. Justification, they did. Backfire, it did!
Our politicians fail to realize that if we believe that the Planning Commission statistics are even vaguely near the true value, it would roughly translate to a whopping 270 million people, in simple language, 27 crore people earning less than 33.33 in cities and 27.20 in villages every day! It?s a mere $ 0.5 a day. So if there exists an opportunity for publicizing those numbers, it?s for the opposition party, not the ruling party. Hell, no.
In fact, none of the political parties has done well with poverty in their respective states. Whether it?s BJP, Congress or any other regional party, they have all surrendered to poverty to keep their vote banks intact. The outcome is that BJP ruled states (between 2004-05 to 2011-12), Chhattishgarh (39.93%), Madhya Pradesh (31.65%), Karnataka (20.91%), Jharkhand (36.96%), fall in same line as Congress rules states in the same temporal window, Assam (31.98%), Maharashtra (17.35%), Mizoram (20.40%). Third parties have not fared well either. Examples of Bihar (33.74%) & Orissa (32.59%) justify it.
When the strategy of marketing poverty backlashed, our grand old political party, Congress hurriedly passed the Food Security Bill in parliament which aims at providing highly subsidized food items to at least two-thirds of the total population. With ` 125000 crores of annual spending, the plan is set to become the largest of its kind in the world.
“Congress knows that the moment masses get educated, their chairs will be in danger.” Modi explained the government?s inaction towards poverty in these words while addressing a mass rally in Mandsaur. By far, it stands true. Instead of generating enough employment opportunities to enable people to address their own needs, Congress came out with a plan that would feed them for free. So now, food without work is defined de jure. The result? Congress remains pro-poor. Poor remain poor. And poor vote congress.
Very rightly someone called India, a ?banana? republic. The meaning of democracy gets smeared outside urban circles (referring to people rather than areas) and as we approach poverty, the notion of a dictatorial regime takes over completely. Now, as elections approach, the poverty-stricken regions would be frequented by contestants seeking a term of autocracy giving a feeling that India & democracy are quite related.
An entrepreneur at heart, a visionary of an ideal society and passionate about his ideas, Gyan Prakash believes that a radical transformation in the society can be brought about by only those who have the courage to come out of their comfort zone and voice the concern of the indigent, i.e., today?s youth. He ascertains that education, as a tool will play a pivotal role in such a paradigm shift. He has special interest in marketing and has been actively involved in such stints ever since he joined IIT Kharagpur as a student in 2010. Apart from mainstream activities, he is a social activist & loves reading. Drop a mail to start a conversation with him at [email protected].
