Jul 06 2015 : The Times of India (Delhi)
How Bharat Lives
SECC survey of rural households yields valuable data, growth remains the best option
Wide-ranging data on socioeconomic status of rural house holds released last week added to the richness of informa tion on the transformation of rural India. When seen in totality, National Sample Survey information on consumer expenditure and PDS, and the C Rangarajan group report on poverty show rural India has become better off over the last few years. The pace of improvement, however, is not fast enough.It is essential to take a comprehensive look at data to avoid bewildering conclusions. For example Kerala, India's richest state by rural per capita consumption, has more rural households which identify manual casual labour as the main source of income when compared to Rajasthan. Kerala is better off than Rajasthan on any meaningful measure of well-being. Therefore, the sheer range of data which has come in over the last 18 months will help craft better policy but only if the right questions get asked. UPA, in this context, did get some policies right. Rural poverty dropped almost nine percentage points between 2010 and 2012 to stand at 30.9% of the population. Malnutrition too declined. NDA and state governments now need to calibrate interventions to make them more effective.
It is important to avoid the trap of ideological pigeonholing when intervening.Inept governance is India's primary chal lenge. To illustrate, NSS data on PDS shows Tamil Nadu's performance is qualitatively better than West Bengal. Around 34 years of communist rule in Bengal made little difference to the state's vulnerable sections. Simply put, if rural households in Tamil Nadu and Bengal have the same income, the former are significantly better off on account of a better standard of basic governance. Merely throwing money at a problem is not a solution.
The central message of the socioeconomic status of rural households is more than half of them identify labour as the primary source of income. From a policy standpoint, the question to be asked is since they are not tied to land why don't they have more non-farm options of employment? If anything, this survey shows how closely rural India's prosperity is linked to that of urban India. Policies that foster economic growth help in two important ways. People have an opportunity to move to better jobs and governments raise more resources to invest in effective welfare measures. The overall effect of both outcomes is to reduce poverty.
It is important to avoid the trap of ideological pigeonholing when intervening.Inept governance is India's primary chal lenge. To illustrate, NSS data on PDS shows Tamil Nadu's performance is qualitatively better than West Bengal. Around 34 years of communist rule in Bengal made little difference to the state's vulnerable sections. Simply put, if rural households in Tamil Nadu and Bengal have the same income, the former are significantly better off on account of a better standard of basic governance. Merely throwing money at a problem is not a solution.
The central message of the socioeconomic status of rural households is more than half of them identify labour as the primary source of income. From a policy standpoint, the question to be asked is since they are not tied to land why don't they have more non-farm options of employment? If anything, this survey shows how closely rural India's prosperity is linked to that of urban India. Policies that foster economic growth help in two important ways. People have an opportunity to move to better jobs and governments raise more resources to invest in effective welfare measures. The overall effect of both outcomes is to reduce poverty.
