Why is India not able to take care of its poor like most other countries who are neither great democracies nor economic powers or the military power that we boast of? The new economic policy of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation has done wonders for the moneyed class but for the vast majority of poor, now intended to be covered under MNREGA, it has not delivered. MNREGA is not a ‘guarantee’ in the same sense as a person in service sector is guaranteed to get his salary at the end of the month or a company is guaranteed a pre-determined rate of return in a Public Private Partnership. The poor are left dying as a result of starvation and malnourishment, high mother and child mortality rates, committing suicides or anti-naxal operations. Is that how we’ve decided to eliminate our poor? Just last week a 12-year-old girl was killed in police firing in Kalingnagar, Orissa. Certainly, she cannot be a naxalite.

There needs to be a peace and equity audit of our budget and planning process. We need to examine to see whether the economic policies that we’re adopting are increasing the gap between the rich and the poor and causing more social unrest.

The basic minimum wages need to be revised. Although very recently the rural development ministry has revised the MNREGA wages but those are only marginal. Ideally, the people who are involved in producing material items, like roti, kapda and makan, essential for the survival of all should get the highest remuneration in society. The people in service sector can work for daily wages. This may be considered a utopian dream. So, a more practical suggestion is to accept the demand of some people’s movements of Rs 250 per day as the minimum wage rate for a day.

The prime minister-appointed expert group headed by C Rangarajan has rejected the National Advisory Council's proposal of supplying subsidised foorgrains to 75% of the population citing lack of procurement capability. The present procurement is 50-55 million tonnes of foodgrains. In 2009-10, the food grain production was estimated to be 218.20 million tonnes. To fulfill the NAC requirement, procurement of 65 million tonnes is necessary. If the government was to improve its procurement policy there certainly should be no problem in procuring enough to guarantee food security to all the country’s poor. Presently, because of harassment faced at government procurement centres the farmers prefer to sell their food grain to private parties even at a price lower than the minimum support price. The procurement in the last rabi season itself started late.

It is a pity that agriculture sector records a slower growth rate than the industry and service sectors. It is not that the production in agriculture is any less. It is because of the prices set and wage rates, which are not determined by free market alone, that we get a skewed picture. Industry will not record a high growth rate without a number of concessions from the government. Similarly, without the high salaries, which are not commensurate with the effort or the performance, the service sector will not exhibit high growth rate. We must give up trying to move people from agriculture to industry, the basic thinking underlying the new economic policy. We must strengthen what we are good at. The agricultural produce must get a respectable support price and people in primary sector decent remuneration. Agriculture must have a separate budget like the railways.

The new economic policy has also failed to check corruption and inflation like the poverty. Big bills like those of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 must be withdrawn from the economy after giving a notice of two-three months. This will help enlarge the tax net and generate funds the government desperately needs for investment in the economy. The size of black money economy in India is three times that of white money economy. This measure will also check corruption to some extent. In any case, this move will not affect 90% of the population who rarely get to see the big bills.

The attempt by government to outsource work to NGOs is not desirable. NGOs run by people close to the politicians and bureaucrats often walk away with big funds and become an extension of the corrupt government machinery. Ideally, the NGOs must not be funded by government at all as they cannot be held accountable by the people. If they are NGOs in the true sense they should raise their resources from the society. Plenty of rich people as well as CSR funds with private corporations are available to support good initiatives.