An Eye-Opener For Policymakers

Yet another book on development. That too by Dreze and Sen. But this time the coverage is on the lessons which India could imbibe on development from its own wide spectrum of regions extending from Kerala, which has managed social indicators comparable to the developed world to Uttar Pradesh, whose sex ratio is the worst compared to any other part of the globe. This book consists of extensive survey articles on the lessons to be learned on the role of public policy towards spearheading social change. It could very well be reckoned as a companion volume to their earlier work, India: Economic Gains and Social Opportunity.

 

As a prelude to the articles that follow, Sen underlines the importance of reorienting public policy to meet the social needs of individuals. Underlying the importance of reorienting and monitoring the efficient use of expenditure in social sectors, he attributes endemic poverty and deprivation to be the logical outcome of the lack of vision on the social front.

Haris Gazdar of the LSE and Jean Dreze of D-School give a glimpse of the state of affairs in UP. The deplorably low levels of literacy, the highly unfavourable female-male sex ratio, high infant mortality rate, low life expectancy despite a more or less similar head count ratio (HCR), (as far as poverty is concerned) with Kerala. They shed light through innumerable statistics. A classic case is that of endemic poverty and deprivation due to the lack of a coherent policy perspective and monitoring measures. Government schools remain closed literally all days of the year. Palanpur village, which has a zero literacy rate as far as female scheduled castes are concerned, is one such example.

The making of the Kerala model of development is presented in a historical perspective by V K Ramachandran of IGIDR. The multitude of social reform movements demanding electoral representations, preferential treatment and entry into the temples in the initial years of the current century were later transformed into movements demanding radical land reform and public provision of essential commodities. Though the achievement of Kerala on the social front could be attributed to a vigilant demanding public and social democratic governance, the inimitable nature of the model is due to its unique historical past embedded in the social movements. The sustainability of achievements in the social arena is dubious with industrial and agriculture growth lacking. The Kerala experience, nevertheless, provides for lucid reading.

The article by Sunil Sengupta of the Vishwabharati University and Haris Gazdar on agrarian politics and rural mobilisation in West Bengal draws attention both to the success and limitations of political mobilisation. That 50 per cent of the total villagers in West Bengal are be beneficiaries of land reform under Operation Barga is an excellent achievement. It would be politically unwise to harm its allies, i.e, the peasants in general. The arguments on the lines of equality of landholdings is generally avoided. Some light is also shed on the historic debate in West Bengal politics arguing on the one hand that CPM in power was responsible for social reform and the other, bringing into the limelight the electrifying role played by a demanding public. The recent spate of productivity increases in West Bengal in the agricultural front gives lot of hope. Nevertheless, the sectional deprivation of tribals in the hilly areas or the dichotomous development of Calcutta and Greater Bengal finds no mention in the review.

The final article in this volume is an econometric investigation towards understanding the interlinkage between mortality, life expectancy and gender. The study by Dreze et al includes an extensive database of 298 districts and comes up with empirical results which could be controversial.

The UNU/WIDER study on development economics could serve as a useful handbook for researchers, development administrators and NGOs. For the layman it could be a pathway to the field of development economics.

The lucidity in writing, demanding less thoroughness in development economics terminology, makes it easily accessible to the layman. One feels that an inclusion of a chapter on Orissa, which has the highest percentage of population below the poverty line, would have been more appropriate. Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen have become household names in development economics. Let us only hope that their policy prescription of social intervention is taken in the right spirit by those concerned.