Growth, Employment, Poverty Reduction

In 1990's World Bank research established "Growth is good for poor", but experience in recent past with countries pressing for growth has shown that growth did not necessarily result into poverty alleviation.

It seems pretty clear with the researches within ILO and UNDP that Growth may or may not result into Poverty Reduction. The poverty reducing impact of Growth depends on

• a) Employment -- in Intensity and Quality; related to which is Productivity Growth.
• b) Sectoral Composition
• c) Inequality

Employment 

Often it is expected that growth that is employment intensive leads to poverty reduction, i.e. Employment Elasticity of Growth is a good measure of growth leading to Poverty reduction. Here, we can describe limits of Employment elastcity in terms of following
- It does not talk of Quantity of jobs created,
- It does not talk of Quality of jobs created -- "working poor"
- It does not consider demographic changes,
and thus cannot provide a clear picture.

Employment growth with increase in productivity can lead to a better impact on poverty reduction.

Improvement in Sectoral Composition:


Necessarily means that with growth, higher proportion of population must engage in high productivity sectors, that is to say an Employment Shift from Primary to Secondary to Tertiary etc.

Also important is to consider that this must happen in area where Growth is required, which is Rural / Countryside, thus improvement in Agriculture (Intensive Farming) to Agro-based industries, processing industries shall create greater positive correlation between Growth and Poverty.

Inequality

If growth results in concentration of wealth or unequal distribution of resources even though in a Pareto efficient system, necessarily increases Inequality and thus increases poverty. Whereas, equitable distribution of resources can alleviate poverty even if growth is weak or narrowly based.

Thus comes concept of "Poverty Reduction elasticity of Growth" (which means 'x' % reduction in poverty due to 1% increase in growth rate) that reflects the slope of Growth - Poverty Line. This elasticity is dependent on the prevailing inequity levels.

Pivot effect: Growth is simultaneously accompanied by reduction in inequity resulting into steeper slope in Growth - poverty Line.
Shift effect: Growth is simultaneously accompanied by reduction in inequity resulting into parallel / downward shift of Growth - Poverty Line.

Conclusion

Growth is considered as necessary for poverty alleviation but high growth alone is rarely sufficient. Employment, productivity and structural transformations are crucial in determining the poverty reduction impact of growth.

Growth in one sector of economy must be Employment - and Productivity - intensive and growth of employment with rising productivity involving shift in employment towards occupations and sectors with higher productivity.

Another key element in Growth - Poverty nexus is inequality, i.e. A growth process that benefits the lowest quintile of population more than the top quintile will have greater impact on poverty alleviation than a Growth process accompanied by rising inequality .



Reference: Yojana Article October 2013 "GROWTH, EMPLOYMENT, POVERTY" 

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Gender Inequality

It is the nature of studies to be comparative i.e. we tend to compare traits / subject as we see / observe them in nature for any kind of study. Same is with "inequality" which means property of not being equal.

In society we see various inequalities. The caste / tribe inequalities, rich poor / have - have not inequalities are the most common Social and Economic inequalities respectively. By that I mean inequalities with their origin in Societal and Economic perspective which has its impact on political outcomes, or to simply put in decision making. 

But the most important and most widespread inequality which crosses the barriers of socioeconomic perspective thereby hindering decision-making process is GENDER INEQUALITY. As is visible abundantly, gender inequality exists within same caste thus piercing societal basis and its existence within same rich - poor means breach of economic basis. (Having already considered Political inequality as outcome of basic inequalities without undermining its impact on reducing or removing them.)

Here arises the need to understand the basis of this Gender Inequality and address the basic issues to resolute. "Understanding of the other kind" is the only perspective missing here as it occurs. Deep rooted into the mindset because of lack of  education, both moral value - based and scientific fact - based. This education is not only lacked at basic levels but at Graduate and higher levels, as is this learning and sensitisation remains a never ending process. It is a well established fact that we grow with time and our behaviour must too.

The need for addressing this inequality is the highest as has been seen that the depth of the root is beyond Social and Economic causalities plus it affects a much larger population and in a much distressing way. One must look at the lost opportunity here in terms of volumes of innovations, good ideas etc. lost because of this inequality alone. 

Fairly the "Opportunity for Development" is lost in this insensitivity.

Another very important aspect of Inequality is diversity. A regular answer to inequality shall be equality which, as a Policy in India, is termed as Reservation, but the constitutional mandate is much more creative "Promotion", "adequate Protection". That means promoting and harnessing diversity to provide equality in status which is defined then in Social, Economic and Political perspectives.

For Gender Inequality, as for any other inequality, only reservation cannot be the fulfillment of constitutional mandate. One must thus also add the creative aspects of sensitisation and growing education and learning thereby enabling harnessing the diversity the Women Perspective is bringing into the Development Agenda.

Identity Of India

In a Globalised World, where the world is being described as a Global Village, each country shall have its own Identity in terms of Socio-Cultural, Economic, Political, Geographic etc. etc. distinct advancement and uniqueness. 

In context as above, Please Fill this survey about strength and weaknesses of India / Indians and populate it to help get more views. Thank you very much.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XVPKDFR

A Vision: NSS - Shape Social Development

National Service Scheme (NSS), under Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, is a Public Service program launched in Ghandhiji's Birth Centenary Year 1969 by the then Education Minister in 37 universities involving 40,000 students. (http://nss.nic.in/) 

The Vision was building the youth through community service and in return building the Nation through these youth. As is visible on the site (above) 

Quote "Today, NSS has more than 3.2 million student volunteers on its roll spread over 298 Universities and 42 (+2) Senior Secondary Councils and Directorate of Vocational Education all over the country. From its inception, more than 3.75 crores students from Universities, Colleges and Institutions of higher learning have benefited from the NSS activities, as student volunteers." unquote

the 2nd and more important part of the vision has blurred on its way in this journey from 1969 to 2013. (Please visit the site, there is so much more that might surprise you !!)

As a curriculum NSS form a part of many University Programs, Colleges and Institutes of higher learning but there may be no answer to the two important question that, if I have the liberty, I shall put. First, whether students have benefited from the NSS? If yes, in which parameter that benefit is reflected? Second, has NSS played any role in Nation Building and if yes, do we have any parameter as an answer to this question, can we really relate those numbers in terms of the quality of public services offered by these volunteers?

Having raised these questions, It is felt that there is a great opportunity here in a vision of putting the NSS curriculum to a better use and mobilize the youth force towards development of society and at the same time bringing in an amalgamation of traditional and formal knowledge thus to create Innovation.

One can establish the need for mobilisation of youth by grounding it on the need to harness the Demographic Dividend and more importantly channelise the energy to fruitful cause rather than letting this energy destroy our own self. Another very valid construct is the need for sensitisation of youth towards the community needs and culture. Creation of a youth force aware of the needs of Community and working as trustees of the society is the dream of every Gandhian Sociologist.

A very different view is not of a sociologist but of a scientific thinker, an Innovator, researcher who is hunting for knowledge in various phenomenon of nature. It is a proven fact today that a lot of scientific innovations are result of tested Traditional Knowledge or a mimicry of Raw Nature. Even the analysis, propagation and testing methods are inspired by nature. Sampling, population multiplication, Survival in the surrounding and evolution are some basic technique that arises form Traditional Experiences.

We can talk of many examples where the distance from our traditional knowledge has cost us a lot. Eg. Neem, tulsi, Haldi many other traditionally very important plants and their products have been used since ages without much of effort put to describe their scientific basis and reproduce in laboratory for commercialisation. What this suggests is that there is an alienation of Traditional Knowledge from formal Research and Development. NSS may address the need to bring the traditional knowledge nearer to the formal Institutions. While trying to develop the society we may develop our Institutions as well, rather I shall personally bank on second for becoming the game changer in future.

Almost all universities have NSS or NCC as subject, where in NSS has a great Social as well as Knowledge Potential, if there is a central monitoring and guidance of the activities done as a part of NSS.

There may be some of government programmes (Social) that may be implemented through NSS and shall also qualify as Community Service. This should facilitate interaction and understanding of traditional ways of people and thus a few sensitive minds could use that knowledge to create new technology in their own field. As a tried and tested Vision that we already have a very popular concept of "Honey Bee Network" (http://www.sristi.org/hbnew/index.php) and now "Innovation Clubs" thanks to the efforts of some great thinkers of our times like Sh. Anil Gupta and others with him working to create an Innovation Culture.

Here, I am writing to put this in as an Idea and request all innovators of the likes of Aditya and Rishiraj of NIT Silchar, (http://www.gsep.in/index.html) to try to bring a prototype in their own colleges, by clubbing this idea to a Great Social Initiative of their own. I really hope to see more such initiatives.

The more effective way of seeing the change is to coordinate all efforts in one direction. Something that can only be done by reviving the Spirit and Vision that was given originally to National Service Scheme, a vision of leaders of future connected to the grass-root level in society and identifying them as a part of a Global Community. Let us relive this vision.

~ Nalini Atul

A Thought On World Population Day

Today is World population Day, 

A day recognised by the world to ponder over the boons and banes of ever increasing population in many countries and near stagnation or reverse growth in some. 

As any other issue on world forum, this issue also has its own Indian context which is unique to us.

We face both, the scarcities due to the increasing no. of people claiming the limited (till we invent/ discover/ innovate a paradigm shifting technology) resources as well as a potential in form of Human Capital, The Demographic Dividend.

The more we think of it the more it challenges us. The dimensions keep on increasing, (talking of Limited Resources and the claiming population), in terms of Quality of Resources, New Inventions / Technologies for a paradigm shift in usage of resources, efficiency improvement etc.

If we talk of Demographic Dividend too, there are dimensions of Quality of Human Capital and the kind of Growth opportunity we can provide to the youth, or whether the youth in Lack of proper direction will succumb to the need of putting their energy to use in baneful pretexts.

The need for a prelude in the right direction and right training has increased in the present crisis of economies in countries. We ourselves are facing weakening of Currency, increasing CAD and Fiscal Deficits with repayments due soon. If we agree that our great no. is our strength, we must also agree that these no. should represent a Vision and not Chaos. Critically viewing its just the different way of putting the Glass half full or Half empty analogy, but has much greater implications than can be imagined.

Not only the youth, another face of Demographic Dividend is our numbers in various countries creating a space of their own and having an Impact on International Issues. We need to ask ourselves a few questions today. Have we done enough to bring technological changes? Have we given emphasis to the efficiency improvements and innovations? Have we thought well and planned good for the future considering the ecological constraint we may have? Have we given the right direction to the numbers that we are?

But, the broader question remains and subsumes all, Do we have a Vision of where we see ourselves five years from now?

@ Worth pondering.

An Intellectual Overreach

The recent Decision of Supreme Court shall qualify as Electoral Reforms - "Decriminalization of Politics" but to call it Judicial Activism or Overreach shall be an Intellectual Overreach in my view.

The term Judicial Overreach implies Judiciary surpassing its Constitutional Mandate and Judicial Activism generally refers to the suo moto action by Judiciary. If we verify these conditions here, first, it is case of Supreme Court abiding by its Constitutional Mandate by upholding the Constitution above any other Law. If Section 8 (4) did not pass the test of Constitutionality, it is the duty of Supreme Court to strike it down. So it did giving its decision while considering a Civil Public Interest Litigation and not suo moto.

In order to prevent any chaos because of this verdict, SC has also clarified many aspects of the decisions including the applicability and execution of the same. The interpretation of RP Act vis-a-vis Constitution by SC cannot be doubted or questioned either and if there is any doubt the Verdict explains the Constitutional position of Section 8 (4) with respect to the Article 101, 102 (1) (e), 190 and 191(1) (e) of the Constitution.

In another case that was a under the appellate jurisdiction of Supreme Court, it upheld the 2004 decision of Patna High Court which had held that a person not eligible to be an elector cannot contest election. Again if we go by the basic qualification for any MLA or MP the most important aspect is him being a Voter or an elector as given in the Constitution, so how the RP Act could discriminate a Citizen by not allowing him to vote and allowing him to contest election while in Jail. It seems a logical paradox.

Had the SC declared the Section 62(5) of RP Act void and unconstitutional, it would have been an Overreach, but by making it equally applicable in all situations it has only upheld its duty and restricted itself within its mandate. If the political parties and executive believe that the law is wrong, they have all the right to amend it but we all would agree that we cannot question the Logic in the interpretation by the Honourable Court.

Regarding the implication of these decisions and the fear that this gives away the power of disqualifying an MP(s) or MLA(s) to the Courts, it is to be understood that the courts are only deciding whether or not the accused is guilty and there by Convicting or Acquitting him / her. This is by all means the basic function of Judiciary and if a person gets disqualified because of this, it is the mandate of Constitution and not the Judiciary.

Moreover, if as a result of such disqualification, any Government on a thin majority falls, the onus of such loss shall be put on the political class. Politics being a field which is so intensely Value Oriented, should it not be the responsibility of the Political parties to ensure that a person who is likely to get convicted should not be a part of them and has no moral authority to claim to be the representative of people?

It is definitely unfortunate that after all the debates, discussions, Committees and their reports that has been produced in last almost 50 years on the all important Electoral Reforms, finally it takes a SC verdict to bring the reform that is welcomed. It only goes on to show the stubbornness and lethargy of the Political Executive and the political class as a whole and brings forward the need of better values and ethics in the political arena.