Sustainable Welfare

India being a socialist democracy committed to equitable growth of our citizens has always had a set of strong welfare policies aim at various problems namely poverty, malnutrition, infant mortality rates etc.

These policies have often been a target of a section of society that is wary of the amount we spend on subsidies and the welfare programs; and when these schemes fails to meet the desired objectives they are quick to point out at their failure and how this is an ill use of our tax rupees.

We often forget that it is imperative for us as a nation to ensure that the fruits of development are shared equally by all sections of the society if we are to progress into becoming a developed nation. You can’t underpay your domestic help, the homely maid and then complain about her children’s contributions to the malnutrition statistic. India’s educated elite have failed this nation (and the blame squarely goes on our political leadership especially the Grand Indian Political party that tried to become a mai-baap of poor and the destitute rather than making this a national mission involving everyone)

A second allegation (and not totally baseless) is that the only aim of the schemes seems to be garnering the vote banks as often these schemes which are supposed to be targeted to improve efficiency end up benefitting a certain caste, community or region according to the whims and wishes of the political leadership that tweak them accordingly.

Now I’m not against welfare or subsidies and neither am I about to lecture on the idea of targeted benefits as opposed to blanket subsidies but I would like the people of this great nation and its political and bureaucratic leadership to learn for the history and move towards sustainable welfare.

Historical Lessons

If I were to summarize the two greatest events when the general mood of this nation has celebrated shedding its socialists robes and adorning the capitalist hats it would be the 1991 liberalization and the current NDA government which is often accused of being pro-rich.

We need to ask ourselves (especially the left-oriented comrades), why did we reach such a point wherein a nation that has resolved to be a socialist republic democracy no longer wants to be one.

Both these above mentioned events were preceded by a welfare-overreach wherein the wealth of the nation was sacrificed towards reaching the developmental goal (which may have been achieved). We have to understand that while the governments in 1980s and the UPA government (ignoring their track record of excessive corruption) brought in a number of brilliant schemes that aimed at welfare of the poor (I am ignoring the vote-bank oriented politics and focusing entirely on the good intentions of the administration) these often came at the cost of neglect of the industries or the service sector leading towards unification of the pro-capitalism populace as well as the fence sitters (like me).

If studied over a longer duration of time, we realize that while these goals might have succeeded in the short term they failed in the long terms as the successive regimes were forced to abandon the welfare for a greater part of time in order to bring in necessary reforms that were more industry oriented and ended up hurting the cause of the proletariat (workers).

The most glaring example of a short term gain leading to long term failure in my mind would be Sanjay Gandhi’s approach with regards to population control using the forced sterilization campaign. Thanks to his efforts (often discussed at targeted towards a specific community), no government since then has been able to take concrete steps to arrest the population explosion that has created an additional stress on the resources. His efforts might have created a reverse effect as in recent years the one specific community that he tried to wrongfully target has seen the greatest growth rate.

Liberalization led to opening the flood gates of Indian economy, which along with much needed foreign investment and modernization of industries as well as the economy as a whole, also brought with it the menace of Multinational Corporations which have often lobbied to get a lot of genuine rules and regulations removed in the name of development and killed the local industries that our forefathers tried to nurture with a lot of care and personal attention.

Therefore, my suggestion to the leaders of today and tomorrow, as well as my leftist-comrades would be to abandon the missionary zeal that you have to help the poor at everyone else’s cost and look towards a balanced approach in economic policies. Don’t be a token opposition ready to oppose anything and everything that the right and the centre propose, because of you continue the way you are and have been, no one would (and indeed it is happening) care about your views or value your opinion, dismissing you as a disruptive force unable to contribute productively.

Left wing politics and ideology have guided some of the best policies responsible for the current shine of the Indian economy, and the best way to do so would be as democratic as those leftists who gave those policies. If not, you may make a name for yourself and your policies in the books, but no would be left to read about your achievements outside a few universities and seminar halls.