Growth is painful

Ask the teenager about growing wisdom tooth. Ask a chubby guy about growing belly. Ask the middle class family about growing budget. Ask the poor parents of a growing daughter. Ask the parents of growing disabled child. Ask the poor man about growing prices. Ask the slum of a growing city. Ask the rivers and forests about propulation growth. Ask the nature about industrialiasation. Ask the humanity about growing intolerance. Growth is invariably accompanied by unavoidable evils that leads to pain. Why do we want growth then ?

You need to mine aluminium or build a dam so you decided to clear up some thousand hectares of forest land. Take the tribals out of forest, give them homes and work in a town and education for their kids. You call this development. Let us see who are happy ? The MNC which got the project, the bureaucrat that gave the clearances, government which can boast of growth. Who bears the pain - the atmosphere which would have more CO2 at its disposal, the biodiversity, the tribals whose community is completely broken and identity is lost. Right, this was a happy case scenario when the tribals get what they are promised. Reality- 10 % of the tribals die in the process of opposing such projects, political bodies use the opportunity to gain political mileage but do actually nothing. 30 % of them join the naxals. 60 % make up for the slums and work at construction sites.

Growth is accompanied by inflation. Growth is for the rich but inflation is for the marginal. The big corporates earn huge profits, where does the money go ? To the rich shareholders, hefty bonuses to the CEOs and nothing to the aam aadmi. The rise in prices of basic goods and services affects the aam aadmi and not the corporates.There is growth in prices of grains and vegetables but why is the farmer still poor ? Because the grain and vegetable has changed some 10 hands in between the farmer and the consumer and those 10 hands(business) made all the money.

India has been growing at more than 8 % (average) since the last 6-7 years. I can see urbanisation but not without slums and increased crime. I can see the stock market booming, the FIIs making money but only at the loss of the retail investor. I can see the rich guy travelling on subsidised petrol but 60 % agricultural lands are still unirrigated and monsoon dependent. I can see hill city Lavasa coming up but i cannot see more than 5 MBBS doctors in Dantewada (population of 70 Lakhs). I saw green revolution and India attain food sufficiency but i still see India as the most malnutritioned country. I see Ambani topping Forbes list but I still see India low on human development index.

It is the crisis of growth. Growth is painful !

Naxalism: Causes and trends

Starting as a peasants movement, Naxalism has transformed into a sensitive problem that poses a serious challenge to internal security in India today. The basic root of Naxalism lies in unequal socio-economic development, exploitation and absence of thought leadership among the naxals. Over the years this has taken an opportune shape.

Naxalism is prominent in areas which have more minerals, ores and are mostly forests. Led by the need for economic growth and rapid industrialization, government and industries started exploiting these areas. They did not consider basic rights of the indigenous people living in those areas most of these people being tribal and under-developed. Not only the basic means of livelihood was snatched away from these people but also the impact that these industries had on the nearby environment led to the areas becoming inhabitable and their lifestyle became unsustainable. Absence of thought leadership from among these people led them to adopt the path of violence and extremism to fight for their rights and livelihood. The geographical locations being mostly inaccessible and undeveloped acted to their advantage by providing them hide-outs and inability of the government to counter. In the meanwhile more groups became aggrieved and Naxalism spread its roots.

Policy makers while countering the violence, came up with various policies to address the basic problems of naxals. Various programmes were aimed at providing them with basic health and education infrastructure and employment. Though these have been successful up to some extent, the basic attitude of the naxals have been violative. This attitude is a byproduct of corruption and lack-lusture governance in some cases. Also the radical developments are seen as an intrusion into their indigenous lifestyle. The limited success of the policies have posed a direct threat to self-serving and armed Naxal leadership who otherwise won't survive with democratic means. Even when the naxal leadership has been invited for direct talks, they have been reluctant to come forward which proves the opportune nature of the present day Naxalism which is more of violence and oppression.

Time is to act, to crack down upon the violent elements, and also simultaneously sensitivising with the needs of most of the others. Government policies needs to be implemented properly in a way so that the governance is sensitive to the needs and lifestyle, also fostering thought leadership among them. Radical change will lead to disintegration thus steady and sustainable change should be brought about so as to integrate (and not assimilate) naxals and affected groups into the Indian mainstream.

This post is a synthesis of my discussions with the Riturasssss...