By Jayashree Jakhade

Seminars and debates to discuss poverty alleviation measures held in plush 5-star hotels over ten course meals have yielded precious little. For, even today the poor does not get even a square meal per day. This, even as the government spends crores of rupees every year on poverty alleviation measures. But again, figures do not support such government spending.

No correlation
The success of any economic policy is measured by its impact on poverty alleviation. This is particularly true of developing countries where three-fourths of the world's poor live. It is fashionable to have higher outlays in central and state budgets for social welfare. Rural education, sanitation, literacy, medical assistance, slum development are some of the broad categories under which assistance is sought to be provided. But, a year on year look at the figures shows that India even after 51 years of independence and 11 successful years of economic reforms, still lags behind where human development is concerned.

The Indian Government has been providing domestic assistance. It has also been accessing international aid to particularly tackle the poverty problem. And, all such aid is eating into the overall development of the country. Meanwhile, our GDP growth has been quite good alongside a good external trade performance. But, India still finds itself at the lowest rung of the credit rating charts. Why? For, more than three-fourths of the country's population still lives below the poverty line. It was in the 50s that the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) started providing financial assistance and chalked out economic reforms packages to help nations such as India to achieve their economic goals.

India overlooked
Unfortunately, the agenda set forth by these international bodies have failed in India. In 1991, the then finance minister Dr Manmohan Singh embarked on the structural adjustment programme to achieve higher growth levels to reduce poverty. But, after nearly a decade of initiating the reforms no significant improvement is apparent. In fact, higher growth levels clocked by the economy have only widened the regional disparities and the inequality gap in society. So then, there has been no correlation between growth and poverty reduction measures in these years of reform.

Pre-reform poverty
On the eve of the reforms process, according to the National Sample Survey (NSS), around 37 per cent of the population still lived below the poverty line. As for the situation today, certain economists and those sections that opposed the reforms have been vindicated. They hold that between 1960-70 when India achieved a Hindu growth rate of less than four per cent, poverty had declined by two per cent a year and those living below the poverty line was around 38 per cent.

This was much lower than the decade before that. That is, in the Fifties, 50 per cent of the population lived below the poverty line. In 1998, NSS figures state there was an average growth of five per cent and the people living below the poverty line stood at 34. 4 per cent. But, thereafter the figure is suspected to be much more higher .

A lot to be done
The NSS data apart, even a World Bank study reveals that a lot more needs to be done towards poverty alleviation in the country. Much of the blame is being put on the manner in which the reforms have been implemented. It is stated to be an half-hearted attempt by the powers that be.

Such a lackadaisical approach by the government has only worsened conditions for the poor says the report. Usually, reforms bring with them technological changes which makes labour redundant resulting in unemployment levels rising. And in a labour-intensive country like India this is what exactly happened. Figures corroborate this fact.

On the brighter side, what has also been observed is that once the reforms process falls in line and growth starts peaking, such adjustment problems get ironed out. The Bank has suggested in its report that the reform process be completed within four to five years.

However, even after eleven long years the reforms process is still on in India and nothing much has improved on the poverty alleviation front. The argument then is this: was India better off earlier with the Hindu rate of growth or are we better placed today with structural reforms? The answer is plain and simple: the ongoing reforms have certainly worked wonders which otherwise would not have been possible.

Global integration
No doubt, higher growth levels benefits the society as a whole. But, it is up to the policymakers to leverage the good performance for the betterment of the poor. Today, India has no option but to integrate with the world markets.

The world has become one whole and with free trading zones. And, India has been falling in line with globalisation trends. Hence, World Bank's allegations that India has missed the bus where reforms are concerned does not hold good. In the 1990s the country's fiscal deficit was eight per cent and inflation was in double digits.

But, today these ratios have fallen substantially and the government is in a position to invest in the socially vital schemes. When the reforms were first introduced the government's priority was to reduce the fiscal deficit. Government expenditure was pruned which choked off investments in the crucial social sectors.

Hampering zeal
The government intentions were good but implementation of policies were not done in a professional manner. The government should have kept aside higher outlays from the public investment funds towards the betterment of the poor, should have focussed on agricultural development which would have benefited majority of the rural poor, and should have strengthened the delivery systems and institutions implementing the social schemes. What actually happened is that all such good intent was only on paper.

Every year the government religiously announces poverty alleviation programmes such as Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana, employment assurance schemes, national social assistance programme, urban employment and anti-poverty programmes wherein huge central assistance is provided. But poor implementation has resulted in the schemes failing to take off. Today, the government is busy pruning its expenditure to come out of the fiscal mess. But, its zeal to cut the fiscal deficit is hampering developmental expenditure. Consequently, poverty alleviation schemes do not receive the required funds.

Macro focus missing
So then, a macro focus is missing. Majority of India's population lives in the villages and depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Hence, policy makers rightly focus on agriculture in their national policy document. But, investment charts show that agricultural income has been declining over the years and no concrete policy has been worked out to tackle the problem.

Inadequate infrastructure, poor public distribution systems and delivery mechanisms have diluted the reform efforts. Hence, if the reforms have to benefit the vulnerable sections of society India needs to put in place a very strong social security network.