Working Group: Veena Joshi (Convener), Umashankari, Rahul Goswami, C N Krishnan

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1.  India today is host to perhaps the largest share of world's poor --

●   ill-fed and malnourished people, especially women and children

●   heavy burden of disease and ill-health

●   poor housing and unhygienic habitat conditions

●   education that does not lead to secure jobs with decent wages.

●   poor quality and unsafe means of public transport

●   poor quality of governance practices, including justice delivery.

● degraded environment leading to poor quality of water, air, soil and vegetation

 

This is the reality that is clearly visible to anyone and gets mapped into figures like our country ranking 125th in terms of GDP (PPP), 104th in terms of Hunger Index. Etc.

 

2.  Mass poverty and unemployment can be eliminated by significant investments going into ensuring

●   food and nutritional security with full coverage of the population

● essential healthcare needs, especially primary healthcare, with full coverage.

●   proper housing, drinking water and sanitation for all

●   school education that enables everyone to earn an adequate living after 12 years of schooling.

●  affordable road and rail transport that is safe and comfortable for everyone.

●   accessible and responsive system of governance, including security and justice delivery.

●   Environmental and Ecological health and sustainability for all.

 

As has become amply clear by now, poverty removal targets are not achievable through a trickle-down process resulting from huge infrastructure investments, along with some acts of state charity that converts citizens into beneficiaries.

 

3.  The most important part of this investment needed for poverty removal would go into, not advanced technologies, materials or machinery, but into large scale employment of people at different levels in all these sectors. For example, hiring and training teachers in large numbers, with reasonable salaries and job security, and with appropriate training is the key component of improving our school education system. The same applies to the other areas that are central to poverty removal. This single step also helps address the problem of unemployment to a good extent, and the resulting increased purchasing power will also expand the markets for manufactured goods and services.

 

4.  None of the steps mentioned above for the removal of mass poverty need significant amounts of high science, technology or management, especially of the type that needs to be imported. The knowledge, skills and awareness available with the ordinary people can be the foundation on which this can be done, supplemented wherever needed with specialised knowledge, technology and training. This knowledge base available in the society is made out of elements from both the Traditional and the Modern streams, through a continuous process of experimentation, innovation, absorption and integration practiced by the people in their day to day lives.

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