I. The Background

 

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

• 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, vegetation and animals

This is the reality that is clearly visible to everyone, 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 public investments going into ensuring

• food and nutritional security with 100% coverage

• essential healthcare needs, especially primary healthcare, with 100% coverage.

• proper housing, drinking water and sanitation for all

• education that can result in adequate livelihood for all 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.

Targets have to be set to reach these goals in a time bound manner , rather than GDP targets in trillions of dollars, 'developed nation' tags etc. As has become amply clear by now, poverty removal targets are not achievable through a trickle down process resulting from huge infrastructure investments going into building airports, highways, harbours etc, along with some acts of state charity that converts citizens into beneficiaries.

 

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

 

4. None of the steps mentioned in (2) above for the removal of mass poverty need significant amounts of high science, technology or capital infusion. 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 integration and innovation practiced by the people in their day to day lives.

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II. Organisation of the Panel Discussion

 

The proposition before the panel is

 

“The knowledge base needed for removal of mass poverty is largely available with the ordinary people and the small scale sector”

 

To what extent this is true in their fields will be presented by the panelists belonging to different fields such as Food and Nutrition; Healthcare and Medicine;Water for Drinking and Irrigation; Housing and Habitat; Clothing; Education; Public Health and Hygiene; Forests, Rivers and Ecology; Local Governance and Justice Delivery, etc. The panelists will express the extent of their agreement or otherwise with the proposition as far as their field is concerned.

Before the panel meets, each panelist may consult 3-4 members knowledgeable in that field to arrive at his/her stand in the panel.

Each panelist will have 5-6 mnts initially to clarify his/her stand in the field to which he/she belongs (coming to 60 mnts), followed by a second round (2-3 minutes) in which he/she may add something more , or comment on what was presented by others (30 mnts), and finally formulating the outcome of the discussion (10 mnts) – in all around 100 minutes.