'Faster doesn't mean more inclusive'

Having been finance minister till 2008, P Chidambaram has often been the UPA government’s troubleshooter. Now handling the country’s internal security as home minister, he shares his views on inclusive growth and internal security. Excerpts:

Naxalism has developed a lot into a festering problem. Is it a function of the security forces’ control or also of rural-urban disparity and unequal growth?
The Maoists, the Naxalites, control large tracts of many states; the civil administration system there is non-existent. This can only be dealt with as a threat to public order. Once we are able to regain control over territory lost to the CPM Maoist and re-establish civil administration, surely development must follow. What is the point of talking about development in an area where there is no civil administration today? So, I see my task as first establishing or re-establishment the authority of the civil administration.

Aren’t all these problems linked to lopsided economic development?
Faster growth does not mean more inclusive growth. That’s why the 11th Plan document is titled ‘Faster and more inclusive growth’. Growth has brought benefits to large numbers of people, but it has not touched every Indian, especially states which have lagged like Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. There growth has been modest and the trickle-down has been even more modest.

When you talk of economic reforms, is it not more important to reform the delivery system than to open a sector?
If our delivery systems were better, if we were more conscious of time and cost and delivered more efficiently, our growth would be at least a percent or half a percent higher.