Waiting For Aladdins Lamp

Consider the figure given in the Economic Survey 1995-96, and leave out the north-eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. That leaves 19 states. Of these, in 1980-81, only eight had per capita net state domestic products that were higher than that of West Bengal. West Bengal was ahead of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In 1993-94, only seven states (Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) were worse off than West Bengal. While the South has been catching up with the West, the East (of which West Bengal forms a part) has been lagging behind. Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh are often referred to as the BIMARU states. Whether Bengalis like or not, there is no longer much of a difference between West Bengal and Bihar or eastern Uttar Pradesh. This is also true of the indicators of the quality of life. Take a look at female literacy or infant mortality rates in some of the districts of West Bengal. Measured by any yardstick, West Bengal is one of the poorest states in India today.

 

The state has always had two standard responses to this phenomenon. First, immigration following independence. To quote Bidyut Ganguly: When you compare us to Maharashtra and Haryana you forget to consider that unlike those states, we have had to tackle seven million people who had infiltrated after Independence. Doesnt matter if that was 50 years ago.

Dont make the mistake of mentioning Punjab though. That will immediately take you to the second argument step-motherly treatment on the part of the Centre. States like Karnataka and Maharashtra did not have to cope with decades of discrimination by the Centre. Thus spake Bidyut Ganguly.

States like Karnataka have always been the favourite child of the government. These states have been sponsored by the Centre. Thus spake Somnath Chatterjee.

With the onset of reforms, the discrimination (whatever be its form) has disappeared. The focus of policy changes has shifted to the states. What is the problem now? To quote Somnath Chatterjee: The Centres attitude has promoted unseemly competition among states for investment. What India thinks today, West Bengal will think tomorrow. In the interim period, one needs crutches for a poor state like West Bengal. The image of a step-motherly Centre is particularly appropriate. Vicious stepmothers figure in the folklore of many countries, including India. But the story of Cinderella is the one that is relevant. Cinderella did not have to solve any of her own problems, a fairy godmother came along. No wonder Somnath Chatterjee wishes that he had Aladdins lamp. A genie would have solved all of West Bengals problems.

There is a famous Coffee House on College Street in Calcutta. At these green-topped table, people will be huddled together, from morning till late night. Among other things, they will be discussing the problems of the world. There is not a single global problem that will not be solved at these sessions. What should be done about the hole in the ozone layer? What about Bosnia? Should Miss World contest have been held in Bangalore? A city and a state that solves global problems does not possess the time and energy to solve its own problems. To expect it to do so, would be unfair. If Marx is going to solve profound problems, Engels must take care of the more mundane ones.

West Bengals problems are remarkably stark and are three in number. First, a work culture is completely absent and this goes beyond the more limited issue of labour militancy. It spans schools, colleges, universities and offices, not merely factories . If wages and salaries become a matter of right, why should anyone work? There is a clear correlation between the advent of Left politics and a deterioration in the work culture. Second, as a corollary of the first, there is the mindset of equality. As many countries have now discovered, there is a tradeoff between equity and efficiency. In an attempt to curb elitism, the Left Front government had once tried to transfer noted teachers from Presidency College to unheard of colleges in the districts. The upshot was that no one wished to join Presidency any more.

This kind of contradiction has a spillover effect when it comes to attracting investments. For investments to be possible, land must be acquired and handed over. But this flies in the face of egalitarianism of land ceiling legislation. Third, infrastructure is in a shambles. The power problem may have been temporarily solved, but there is more to infrastructure than power. Barring Calcutta and its immediate neighbourhood, satisfactory basic infrastructure doesnt exist anywhere.

A bankrupt state doesnt have the resources to invest in these. So it woos private investments that are not acceptable because of a bankrupt ideology. What a pity that Aladdins lamp is not available. But for that, five years from now, West Bengal would have been leading rather than lagging.