Some paradoxes and shortcomings of Socio-Economic Development, Administrative and Political Systems of India & Remedial Measures by Er Kaptan Singh
During the last decades India has made tremendous progress in various fields. Today our country is considered as one of the fastest growing economies of the world. But growth is not inclusive and not shared on the basis of equality. It is a matter of deep concern that socio-economic disparities in between rural and urban areas and agriculture and non-agriculture sectors are increasing day-by-day. This is reflected in large gaps in income, education, physical infrastructure development, livelihood opportunity indices, human development etc. As a matter of fact our development efforts are suffering on account of paradoxes and shortcomings of our political, socio-economic development and administrative systems. Some of the glaring issues are quoted below.
1. Socio-Economic Development
i) Our political leadership has always claimed that their aim is to improve the quality of life of the deprived sections of the society. Large number of these people live in villages. But our model of development is urban –centric .Benefits of development flow from Megha Cities to Cities, Cities to Towns and Towns to Villages. Rural - Urban disparities, in various aspects of socio-economic development, are increasing day by day.
ii) Nearly 70% of our population lives in villages and mainly depends upon agriculture for their livelihood. Agriculture plays an important role in the socio-economic development process of the country. It provides food security to the population of India. Sons & daughters of farmers and other rural community are playing an important role in the defense and security of the country as large number of military and security personnel come from villages. Further Agriculture is labor centric. It creates 4 to 5 times employment in comparison to non-agriculture sector to add same amount of GDP. Therefore it is a boon for a country, like ours, facing problems of poverty and unemployment.
iii) Economy of Agriculture sector differs from the Economy of Non-Agriculture sector. It contracts with the population growth while economy of non –agriculture sector expands with population growth. Special efforts are required to fill this ever increasing gap. Further, with the population growth, fragmentation of land is taking place. Consequently, big land holdings are converting into medium ones, medium into semi-medium, semi-medium into small ones and the small holdings into marginal and so on. At this stage nearly 85 % farmers have come into the category of small and marginal farmers. As a result of it, this profession has become non-profitable to the majority of farmers. In fact 95 % farmers are unable to meet their expenditure from the agriculture income and are living in poverty. A study report by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development showed that 52.5 % of the agriculture households were indebted with an average debt of Rs 1,04,602.00. Due to poor economic conditions farmers are forced to commit suicide. National Crime Bureau of India reported that a total of 296438 farmers have committed suicide since 1995. In 2019 the number was 10281. Immediate measures are required to improve the economic condition of farmers and rural India.
i) Policy Change : Our country is faced with significant socio-economic challenges associated with poverty, unemployment and food security. Contribution of agriculture is critical in helping to stave off some of the challenges and creating a dynamic agriculture sector with modern days economic ideas would play an important role in boosting the development of this sector whilst contributing to the overall growth of the national economy. Smart investments in agriculture sector along with reforms and strengthening of delivery and regulatory systems will result in creating more jobs and income in farming as well as other sectors. These include formulation of a dynamic and farmer’s beneficial policy with the participation of farmers , providing productive employment through setting up and expansion of agriculture based small and cottage industries in Rural India ,remunerative prices of agriculture produce on the principal of parity with prices of non-agriculture produce , improvement in storages and marketing ,increasing productivity ,diversification of agriculture , expansion of social infrastructure in rural areas , enhancing the financial outlay , increasing irrigation facilities , strengthening research and extension , improvement in the implementation of rural development schemes etc.
ii) Participatory Role of Farmers :
At present, there is no participatory role of farmers in the policy determination and formation of road map of agriculture related programs. There are no forums where they may be heard and their socio-economic problems discussed and solved with their involvement. Government should facilitate creation of such forums with the help of genuine farmer organizations and representatives.
iii) Improvement in formulation and implementation of MSP Policy
To make the economy of farmers dynamic, it is imperative that there should be a balance in the prices of agriculture and non-agriculture produce so that fall in the comparative purchase capacity of agriculture produce can be checked. Further the recommendations of Swaminathan Commission should be implemented in words and spirit while deciding MSP for various agriculture produce . The commission for recommending MSP should be given Statuary status so that its recommendations are normally binding on the government. Due to lack of knowledge and conspiracy of middlemen and selfish elements of Government Agencies, small number of farmers reap the benefit of MSP. Therefore MSP should be given legal status so that nobody cheats the farmers. Action must be initiated against the offenders.
iv) Improvement in the Sale and Storage of Agriculture Produce
There is a need to improve the current conditions of storing and selling of agriculture produce in the market so that there is no loss in the storing , and no middleman and trader can exploit the farmers as well as consumers . It is highly needed that an arrangement of sale and storage should be done in such a way that profit on the sale of produce be divided justifiably and proportionately to farmers, consumers and traders. A regulatory mechanism should be set up at various levels to check the exploitation of farmers as well as consumers at the hands of traders.
v) Increasing the Agriculture Productivity
India has limited land resources but its population is increasing un-abetted. In 2011 the population of India was estimated 1210 millions. It is estimated that it will swell to 1500 millions in 2030 and 1700 millions in 2050. But the possibilities in the increase of agriculture land are negligible. In 1951 the net sown area was 118.75 million hectares which increased to 140.86 million hectares in 1970 -71. Since then there has been negligible increase in the net sown area. Given the circumstances food security in India can only be achieved by increasing the food productivity. At present number of countries are ahead of us in respect of food productivity and there are large gaps even in different states of India. Following measures should be taken up to increase the agriculture productivity:
- a. Ensure timely availability of good seeds, fertilizers, and loan facilities to farmers.
- b. Expansion of Irrigation facilities.
- c. Strengthening of extension services.
- d. Remove Regional Imbalance in productivity.
- e. Applied research in agriculture with the participation of farmers.
- f. Allocation of more financial outlay for Agriculture development.
vi) Setting up agriculture based small and cottage industries in Rural India :
There is a need today that a chain of small and cottage industries based on agricultural products should be set up in each village so that more and more sources of employment can be generated at minimum capital, and income from non-agricultural resources of farmers and other villagers can be enhanced. In the present scenario lack of various inputs including capital, infrastructure, appropriate technology, guidance and training, skilled workers, marketing facilities, work culture and local leadership are hindrances in implementation of these programs. To prevent this situation some suggestions are given below:
- a. Set-up Agriculture and Rural Industry Research Institutes at Centre and States level that will take action in development and extension of appropriate Rural Technology.
- b. Set-up Rural and Agriculture Industrial Institutes at Centre and States level which will train farmers and other villagers about profitable schemes and provide technical guidance.
- c. Set-up Agriculture and Rural Industry Centers at each District and Block level which will help farmers/villagers in setting up of rural enterprises and also help in providing capital , machine , raw material and technical guidance and required training .
- d. To open sales Centers of Agriculture and Rural products at Block and higher levels for marketing.
- e. Capital investment for expansion of agriculture based enterprises must be enhanced.
- f. Strengthen and simplify Rural Credit schemes to enhance capital investment at individual level.
vii) Skill development & Entrepreneurship in villages for Rural Youth
Pradhan Mantri Skill development and entrepreneurship Scheme is being implemented by Government of India to provide employment to youth of India. It should be extended to rural youth. A proper training course should be designed for them. For this Skill Development Centers should be set up at block level. After training rural youths can start any of the following activities at their respective villages instead of heading towards cities:
- a. Trading in fertilizers, insecticides, seeds and other inputs in agriculture.
- b. Artificial insemination centers for improved breeds of animals.
- c. Trading and repairing jobs of Hand-pumps, Pump sets, Tractors etc.
- d. Manufacturing of agriculture instruments, power thrashers, windows, gates of iron, aluminum charpoys, beds, chairs etc.
- e. Civil works, Projects of Nursery, Bio gas, Social forestry, Food processing, Medical store, Nursing and Compounder etc.
viii) Some other measures to increase the income of farmers
- a. Diversification of Agriculture- It has been observed that in place of traditional crops, some other crops, fruits, plants and trees are beneficial to farmers. Officers of agriculture department at each district should be made responsible to guide the farmers about diversification of crops keeping in view food security.
- b. Expansion of Allied Activities – There is a possibility of significant contribution in increasing the income of farmers through animal husbandry, growing vegetables and fruits, poultry farms, floriculture, and medicinal plants. There is a need to develop and expand these areas in a planned way with the help of State and Central Govt.
ix) Vocationalization and Reforms in Education
In Rural areas, expansion and vocationalization of education can become a powerful medium of creating jobs. Some suggestions are as below:
- a. There is a need of improvement in current educational administration, education system, teacher training etc. For this a high level Committee / Commission should be constituted. It should include educationists from rural background.
- b. At the Center and State level, Rural Education Cells should be set up in Education departments and Planning depts. to take continuous steps to improve the quality of rural education and its expansion.
- c. To link education with employment, there should be an arrangement of training for Craft and Cottage industries along with regular study.
- d. Subjects related to agriculture and rural development must be included at 10+2 level so that students can learn the need and importance of agriculture and rural development.
x) Expansion of Social Infrastructure In Rural Areas
Today in rural areas, there is lack of infrastructure of education, energy, transport system, health and other social facilities. The expansion of social infrastructure in rural areas can be helpful in development and diversification of agriculture sector and a means of generating employment. It will also check the migration of common villagers to the cities.
Therefore standards of basic infrastructure must be set up in rural areas and accordingly special funds must be provided for creation and maintenance of the same. City and its surrounding rural areas should be developed as a single unit.
xi) Improvement in the implementation of Crop Insurance Scheme.
Time and again farmers face drought, excessive rains, floods and other natural calamities. Crop insurance scheme helps the farmers to minimize the loss. But due to complicated process and bureaucratic delays only handful farmers get the benefit of the scheme. Therefore the process should be simplified and made transparent and time bound.
xii) Improvement in the implementation of Rural Development Schemes
Various Rural Development schemes have been launched by the Government for the upliftment of farmers and rural masses but they failed to give desired results due to following reasons:
- a. Some of the programs are far from ground realities and need review and change.
- b. There is lack of accountability towards people in the administrative set up. Administrative reforms should be initiated to make the administrative set up sensitive and accountable to common man especially to villagers and farmers.
- c. There is no effective monitoring system at different levels of government to monitor the performance of government machinery. It would be appropriate to have an independent and transparent monitoring system.
- d. Most of the programs provide short term gains to the beneficiaries. These should be formulated to provide long term gains.
- e. There is rampant corruption at different levels of government and government machinery which is eating our development efforts. Number of organizations are working at Central and States level to check the corruption and punish the corrupt persons. But their efforts have failed to check it. In fact a common man has accepted corruption as way of life. He criticizes it when he is forced to pay bribes but he does not object to it when his near and dear ones amass wealth through bribes. It is high time that
honest and enlightened persons from different walks of life put their heads together and find out an implementable system to eradicate corruption.
2. Administrative System
Issues
i) We have made enormous progress in various fields since independence, yet the fact remains that we were expected to do better and we could have done better had we utilized our resources of man, material and capital in an optimum and efficient manner. The major share of this failure rests with the government machinery in as much as though the political leadership takes the final decision but the government machinery plays an important role in the formulation of policies and programs and later on their implementation. But our government machinery is not professionally competent in as much as professionals have no say in the formulation of policies and decision making. This is the monopoly of generalist administrators. Efficiency of the system has further deteriorated on account of corruption, no accountability, red tapism, lack of co-operation among various departments, rigid system, political interference, poor decision making, poor innovations etc.
ii) The government machinery has also lost confidence of people at large as they feel that public services are meant to benefit public Servants and not public . Public servants serve their masters, earlier Britishers and now Indian political leaders, instead of serving public at large. They are never absent from the lives of common men except when they actually need them. Instead of servants-civil or otherwise Indian public have masters.
iii) Irony of the situation is that even after independence we continued with a system created by Britishers, an autocratic government , to rule this country though our political leaders opted for democratic Government of the people, by the people and for the people. Successive governments constituted Committees and Administrative Reform Commissions to reform the system to suit the democratic values and development needs of the country. But failed to implement the basic recommendations due to internal resistance of bureaucracy and lack of political will.
i) A Commission or High power Committee of eminent political persons, enlightened citizens including farmers and experts should be constituted by Govt. of India to study the matter and make appropriate recommendations . The Committee/Commission should also look into the recommendations made by earlier commissions. During this process, bureaucracy should not be associated with this body in as much as basic changes are bound to be uncomfortable to the ruling class of government servants who still considers common people their subjects. The Political leadership should also implement the recommendations of this Committee/ Commission over ruling the internal resistance of bureaucracy.
3. Political
i) A vibrant society must choose its leaders from amongst the persons who have history of social commitment and lived their lives with integrity and honesty of purpose. Leaders should also create their teams from amongst such persons. Today there are number of persons from different fields who have amassed wealth from questionable means and lack honesty of purpose but aspire for recognition as social-political activists and leaders. As a matter of principle the society or its leaders should never depend upon such persons to work for them. Great leaders and great societies have failed on account of deviation from this principle. Indian society is suffering on account of frequent deviation from this principle.
ii) There have been situations in which the anti-social elements have been elected to the legislature and occupied public offices. These people use the provision of the present Criminal Justice System which presumes an accused innocent unless pronounced guilty by the Courts. It is true that some innocent persons become victim of conspiracies of vested interests but there are real culprits also who protect themselves from the law of the land either by delaying the matter or by using unfair means. Incidentally rate of conviction of politicians is very low, just 6% only. Consequently large number of politicians with criminal background go unpunished from a court of law, and are not disqualified from contesting elections. According to the report of Association for Democratic Reforms in the 2019 Lok Sabha 233 M.Ps have declared criminal cases against them. This is an increase of 44% since 2009 and 26 % since 2014. No party is exception to this malice.
iii) Although the Constitution of India pledged itself to a cast less society, in fact, the power and activity of caste have increased in proportion as political power passed increasingly to the people from the rulers. We do not cast our vote in favor of good candidates but cast our vote on the basis of cast, religion and region without considering the merit of the candidates.
iv) Further some political parties are attracting deprived sections of the society by offering freebies or offering various items like rice, laptops etc. on cheap rates .In the long run this will prove to be counterproductive to the process of socio-economic development.
It may also lead to lethargy among the beneficiaries, dissatisfaction among the remaining population and possibility of class conflicts.
Some political parties, equipped with majority, use public funds on the projects which have no bearing on public interests.
v) Election process has become very costly and the candidates and political parties need financial support from different corners of the society. The farmers and common man have no surplus money to support the political leaders. Capitalists have surplus money to provide financial support to political leaders. Consequently the political leadership favors the business class .The hold of Capitalists on the political leadership and their capacity to influence the policies of government increase .On the contrary Political leadership neglects the population at large including farmers and treat them as vote bank only. Further, the accounted legitimate expenditure is a mere percentage of actual spending by the candidate and their corresponding political parties. High cost of elections creates a high degree of compulsion for corruption in the public arena. The costly election process has become another matter of great concern as it is making only the rich to be more qualified to become an MP (Member of Parliament) or an MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) over a well-qualified public-spirited person as can be seen, out of 533 candidates elected to the 17th Lok Sabha (2019-present), 475 Parliamentarians (accounting for 88%) are ‘crorepatis’. This reflects the paradoxical situation of poor India with rich Parliamentarians raising concerns about the growing role of money power in politics.
vi) At present most of the persons are joining the politics to get power, position and money. They lack commitment to serve the public. Every one of them aspires to be elected as M.P or M.L.A in as much as after election to Parliament or Assembly Members become entitled to certain amenities including salary and allowances, travelling facilities, medical facilities, accommodation, telephones etc. Further they have Local Area Development Fund at their disposal. An M.P gets Rs 5 Crores annually under this head. Different States also allot funds to M.L.As. Therefore politics has become an attractive proposition for resourceful persons. This has led to mushroom growth of Political parties. As per Election Commission of India the number of registered political parties has swelled to 2698 , 8 National Parties , 52 State Parties , 2638 Un Recognized Parties . The situation is not conducive for growth of democratic values and increasing corruption, money power and criminalization.
vii) Inheritance and family politics has become an integral part of political life in India. If any person is successful in politics, his total family will be in the political process. We can see mother, father, their sons and daughters are in the fray and now in Assemblies and Parliament too. Every political party is offering seat to the family members of leader after his demise. Theoretically there is nothing wrong in this process. But it is bad on various counts. There have been cases in India when politics has turned to be safe heaven for them to be acquitted from their misdeed. They can influence more than other can .Their opinions can be imposed on people .Sometimes incompetent persons occupy responsible positions. This system is undemocratic as it provides little opportunities to normal but good people to rise to political power. As a matter of fact this is nothing but monarchical and feudal system in the garb of democracy.
Remedial Measures
i) Burden of democracy rests on the shoulders of political leaders in general and members of parliament and assemblies in particular. May be some of them have used money power , muscle power to enter these august bodies And some of them have criminal background. But large number of our M.Ps and M.L.As are committed for maintaining democratic values and joined the politics to serve the people of India. They, across the party lines, should put their heads together and find out ways and means to improve the system. As a matter of fact Parliament should frame a law to prevent criminalization of politics and take concerted efforts to cleanse the political system of the country. The law enforcement agencies and judiciary should work out a system for expeditious disposal of criminal cases against the political persons. The constitutional functionaries, who have taken the pledge to uphold the constitutional principles, are charged with the responsibility to ensure that the existing political framework does not get tainted with the evil of corruption, money power, criminalization, family politics, cast ,religion ,region etc .
ii) It is high time to end populist announcements and freebies by the parties.
iii) We should introduce a System in which the State bears the election expenditure of political parties that are contesting elections. This will encourage the common man to participate in the election. This can also bring transparency in the funding process as public finance can help curb corruption.
iv) The time has come to implement simultaneous polls of Center and States because of its underlying advantages including reducing the costs of holding elections by the ECI and spending by candidates.
v) There is need of strengthening the office of the Election Commission of India in order to provide more independence and tooth to the institution.
vi) There must be a limit on the expenditure of the party. A time frame must be set for accounting the expenditure of parties and must be made public before the actual date of elections so that the voters and the concerned authorities could be priory informed.
vii) Audit of political parties accounts must be conducted in order to make them accountable.
viii) Political parties need to be brought under the ambit of Right to Information Act (RTI) Act 2005.
ix) Political parties need to rise morally and self-discipline themselves restricting their use of money power. They should adopt effective measures to check the flow of black money into the election process.
x) Political parties should train their new legislatures so that their contribution to the democratic process is enhanced. They should also monitor the performance of their legislatures.
xi) There is a need of improvement in the governance system and regulation of political financing along with bold reforms to break the vicious cycle of corruption and erosion of quality of democratic polity. Local bureaucracy must be made accountable & held responsible so that their burden is not borne by the political parties.
xii) An enlightened and educated voter is the pillar of the democracy. Therefore Voters need to be educated regarding the significance of their vote. They should be made aware & well-informed about the candidate they seek to vote, thereby rejecting those who try to influence them with freebies .A voter forfeits the right to question the government when he/she compromises on moral values and accepts gift or cash for his/her vote. Therefore, citizens must vote in elections based on character, conduct, caliber and capability of the candidates and not based on cash, caste, community and criminal prowess. This could be the ultimate solution to check money and muscle power in politics .
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