Apropos of the column ?Bharat shining? (FE, August 26), after liberalisation, the occupation matrix has undergone a sea of change. Construction and trade was almost missing in the rural areas. Agro-industries were low-key those days. The entire rural population was either land-owning or working as agricultural labour. In other words, the demand and supply of labour was responsible for the lower wages. For obvious reasons, the supply was much higher than demand. These lower wages are responsible for poverty. As economic activities diversified, the division of labour was obvious and hence the occupation matrix got reshaped in a manner where was the agriculture sector became a drag because it was less remunerative. In urban areas, poverty has diminished more slowly in the post-liberalisation period as the unskilled labour living in these areas have no better chance to move up the income ladder because the nature of work has remained same by and large. MGNREGA has given both the genders new opportunities of earning. As poverty is a household phenomenon, there are evidences which indicate that income is rising fast in the rural areas, and hence the faster decline in poverty than in urban areas.
RK Arya
Faridabad
Consensus before approval
Apropos of the editorial ?Vedanta Lessons? (FE, August 21), the pathetic plight of the overseas investors in India like Vedanta must be brought to the fore. Indeed, it is a sorry state of affairs that Vedanta?s proposed 6 million tonne aluminium projected in Orissa is in the doldrums even after the company spent more than R50,000 crore in various rudimentary project. The raw material, bauxite, from Niyamgiri hill in the state, is being denied to the company. Even after the environment ministry cleared the decks for the company to proceed, the gram sabhas in Rayagada-Kalahandi districts became stumbling blocks. The government, before granting any mega-projects from overseas ,like Vedanta’s, should consult the concerned states and ministries and discuss the pros and cons. But once a project is approved, the government should not let it be blocked under any pretexts and let it proceed with the operations. Lakshmi Mittal-led Arcelor?s and Korean steel giant Posco?s projects in the state have also been delayed. At this juncture, with paucity of both local and foreign investments, Vedanta being denied bauxite is unfortunate. The spokesman of the Vedanta aluminium project says that the company has not obtained even a single gram of bauxite from the Niyamgiri mines. Is India really capable of nourishing its industrial growth?
NR Nagarajan
Sivakasi