Governance and Politics! 

It was one of the most amusing interactions I’ve witnessed. But for the fact that the underlying issue is such a critical one, it was almost funny.

The occasion was the annual ‘State Of The States Conclave’ organized by India Today, last Friday. While the event recognizes and honours states that have done well on various socio-economic parameters, it is also a good time for state and central leaders to debate on current issues. This time, the focus was on ‘Inclusive Growth’.

Hearing Chidambaram and the CMs speak on this topic, one could easily conclude that they were from different planets. Their views seemed to be set apart both in time and space.

Want a sampler? Read on… (Note that these are not verbatim quotes, but instead reflect the gist of the statements made)

Poverty & trickle-down effect

• Chidambaram: “if we continue to grow at 9%, as we’ve been doing, for another 20 years, we can get rid of abject poverty”
• Prakash Singh Badal, Bhupinder Hooda, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, and Tarun Gogoi: “Not happening. Economic growth is not impacting the poor, especially in villages. Disparities are widening”

Money for development

• Chidambaram: “thanks to high growth, funds are not a problem. States have almost Rs 53,000 crores available for them to utilize”
• All CMs( with sole exception of Virbhadra Singh): “where’s the money? Not in my state! We are neck-deep in debt”

Poverty alleviation programs

• Chidambaram: “there is no shortage of poverty alleviation programs. The weak link is in the implementation, which is in the hands of the states”
• Badal: “next year, we should have this discussion under a tree, in a village, so that all of us understand the real issues faced by rural folks. There is no point creating these programs in air-conditioned rooms in Delhi”

Focus on farmers and agriculture

• Chidambaram: “we have focused strongly on agriculture as well. The UPA government has raised procurement prices like never before”
• CMs: “Farmers are burdened like never before. Procurement prices are low, inputs prices are high, and credit is limited. They are under severe pressure”

Some of the CMs’ rhetoric may have been mere posturing in order to get the FM to loosen his purse-strings. But discounting for that, it was still evident that the FM’s planet presents a rosy picture, and is almost flowing with milk and honey. On the other hand, the CMs belong to a plane where the denizens are still impoverished, and pessimistic about the future.

Which is the real India?

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 16th, 2007 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Sensible Governance & Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.