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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

UPA's 'Bharat smiling' feebly -Subodh Varma
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: The UPA is strenuously denying that this campaign is its earthy version of the NDA's "India Shining" campaign, but few are buying the denials. Launched as a "multi-media" campaign to highlight its achievements in two successive terms at the Center, it has been christened by political observers are UPA's " Bharat Smiling" campaign.

The spirit of the campaign, says the publicity material given out by the Information & Broadcasting ministry, is "many miles we have come, but many more we still have to go", indicating that they have started many good things, but they need to be completed. I&B minister Manish Tewari cites this line to stress that this campaign isn't smug the way NDA's "India Shining" was; that many things are still to be done. What he doesn't mention is the implicit appeal: give UPA another term to finish the unfinished work.

Some of the key problems that the people of India face - employment, education, food - were rightly identified by the UPA and are highlighted by the campaign. Then, there's RTI, the law giving the right to get information from public authorities. But while they are being brandished as great achievements, how are these initiatives actually faring?

We look here at four key areas, which are likely to figure prominently in the discourse as India heads for elections next year. One thing stands out - the UPA has not been able to resolve a deep contradiction within itself between the twin compulsions of cutting government spending and mobilizing people in its support by giving palliatives.

Jobs

In a country where job creation has flagged despite high economic growth, one of the key measures by the UPA was the rural employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGS) initiated in 2006 and rolled out fully by 2009-10. A legal guarantee of giving 100 days of work per needy family was given. With over Rs 19 lakh crore spent in 7 years, the scheme has made a dent in creating jobs and setting the benchmark for rural labour wages. But, now it appears to be floundering.

There has been a 26% decline in persondays created, with dalits and tribals bearing the brunt by suffering 47% and 41% declines respectively. The average persondays created per household has declined from 54 in 2009-10 to just 44 in 2012-13. With implementation in the hands of states, there is wide variation in this figure among them ranging from 58 in Tamil Nadu to just 28 in Uttar Pradesh. Just over 15% of the works taken up were completed in 2012-13. Lack of funding, corruption allegations, shortage of manpower to administer the scheme and delays in payments are major factors.

 

Right to information

In 2006, the UPA government brought in the right to information so that citizens can get information about how their government functions. It has become quite popular, and in fact dangerous too as over two dozen RTI activists have been killed by the vested interests they were exposing. Surprisingly, only 29 ministries/departments out of 66 are providing complete information to the Central Information Commissioner (CIC) on how they handle RTI queries. Out of 2,314 public authorities registered with the CIC some 721 are defaulters - they don't give information about their responses to queries. In 2007-08, a total of 2.6 lakh queries were received. This jumped to 6.6 lakh in 2011-12. But what is revealing is that in 2011-12 over 4.3 lakh queries were carried over from the previous year. The rate of disposal has dipped from 86% in 2006-07 to about 68% in 2011-12.

 

Compulsory schooling

 

The Right to Education providing for compulsory education for children in the 6-14 years age group became law in 2009. Gross enrolment ratios in primary classes (I-V) were already touching 100% at the beginning of the decade, propelled by the free mid-day meal scheme. But dropout rates in 2001 were about 40% by class V and 53% by class VIII. These dipped to 30% and 42% respectively by 2009, due to massive funding for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the mid-day meal schemes.

The RTE is thus addressing the 30% dropout rate in class V, and also ensuring 25% seat reservation for economically weaker sections in a bid to stop the exit. Over Rs 231,233 crore are to be spent on implementing the RTE till 2014-15, mainly for setting up the infrastructure, appointing about 5 lakh teachers, and training 7 lakh untrained teachers. It is a gigantic task, the key issue being preventing dropouts and ensuring quality education.

Recent surveys indicate a continuing decline of learning levels in primary sections. For instance, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), between 2010 and 2012, the number of children in Class V who could read Class II text fell from 54% to 47% and those who could solve a two-digit subtraction problem with borrowing fell from 70% to 50%.

Food security

The food security bill is still pending in Parliament after going through years of grinding debate and nit-picking. India has 230 million hungry people, a quarter of such people in the whole world. So, the matter should have had the highest priority. But the UPA has been caught between the compulsions of cutting spending and feeding the hungry. The new bill provides for giving cheap foodgrain to 75% of rural and 50% of urban households. It is estimated to cost over Rs 1,24,000 crore per year. On the other hand, a series of bumper harevests have left warehouses overflowing with grain, but no takers. Stocks zoomed up from 192 lakh tones in 2008 to 667 lakh tones in 2013, more than two and a half times the statutory requirement. An outraged Supreme Court has given 92 directives relating to food in the past 12 years to prod a reluctant government into action. Many states have already started their own schemes to provide much needed food to the people.