Neoliberalism Normalising The Unacceptable: Indian Government Unable To Comprehend People’s Anger
By Prayag Mehta
19 December, 2013
Countercurrents.org
As is now well known,under the present growth scenario India’s already unequal society has become more unequal with about 77 percent of the population (in 2004-05)-- with a per capita daily consumption expenditure of less than Rs. 20. The proportion of people unable to access 2100 calories per day, after meeting all essential non-food expenses, increased over the 2004-2010 period. showing a substantial increase in poverty and impoverishment .As the National Sample Survey Organization data on household spending pattern.shows, the average spending (or income) of the richest group was 15 times that of the poorest group in urban areas in 2012 increasing from 12 times in 2000 During the same period, the disparity between the haves and the have-nots increased from 7 times to 9 times in the rural areas..Thus, India has the dubious distinction of being home to one in every three of all malnourished children in the world, with around 46% of children under three remaining underweight.The same period was however, very lucrative for the millionaire population whose wealth in 2007 grew by 22.6 per cent from the previous year. This small section of our population consume so much that, the ecological footprint of the wealthiest Indians is 330 times that of the poorest 40 per cent..
How does this dismal senario translate in even the bare quality of life for the people? The same children who suffer from malnutrition also suffer from lack of access to health services, quality of care for the pregnant mother as well as good hygiene practices. Over 50 per cent of the population, more than 620 million people, practise open defecation in the country. Absence of toilet or latrine is one of the important contributors to malnutrition. One of the fatal cnsequences is, as the 2005-6 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) reveals, 48 per cent of Indian children under 5 and 45% of children under 3 were stunted. This is particularly important because the same nutritional processes that determine a child’s height in the first 24 months also determine his or her cognitive potential. Another soio-psychological outcome of this neoliberal growth in India is that, the traditional preference for male children is being reinfprced resulting in the phenomenon of missing women. The sex ratio (girls/1,000 boys) in the age group <6 years fell from 927 in 2001 to 914 in 2011, and the number of missing women increased from 46.35 million in 2001 to 49.73 million in 2011. One of the clearest negative fall out of neoliberalism in India is that, states with rapid growth are the ones with pronounced sex imbalance
How come , that, the Indian rulers blind to such a debilitating social scenerio? This is partly explained by the attitudes and values of the leading promoters of neoliberalism such as Margaret Thatcher who thought there was no alternative ( the famous TINA factor) and Ronald Reagan who pronounced that “Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.” Such attitudes and values have been pushed hard by Institutions like the World Bank, IMF and other influential foundations and individuals to mould governments’ behaviour world wide, particularly in the newly industialising countries.It is particularly importasnt for us to understand that neoliberal reforms are being pushed despite the fact that, as. the United Nations Commission of Experts has recently pointed out, such policies are at the heart of the macroeconomic causes of the resent economic and financial crisis. It has already plunged the worldwide financial assets by over $50 trillion - the equivalent of annual global output.
Unmindful of such catistrophic consequences, the dominant super power has been pushing for neoliberalism. It is motivated by its ‘imperial’ values and ambition’ as succintly revealed by a remark by a senior US functionary that ‘‘we’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality’ The same arrogance is reflected in their approach to climate change dubbing it as a personal problem. A powerful metaphor about man's nature---self interest as its assumed psychological basis – has been passed off as a universal "truth" Such assumptions about policies accompanied by preconceived ideas about human behavior seek to legitimize various types of social inequality and oppression
. That, despite such a grim situation, India continues to persist on neoliberal reforms raises serious questions about the mentality of our elite policy makers. Despite their rhetoric of inclusive development, they hardly .show compassionate feelings towards the poor. Their attitudes seem to confirm research which predicts increased unethical behavior among those placed higher in social class While the poor tend to identify more with the larger “in-group” and to pay greater attention to the suffering of others,. the upper 1%of the population are not bothered by low living standards of the people No wonder, therefore that elite sections of the Indian middle class think they have more in common with people in the West than with the poor in India.
Such attitudes are bound to negatively impact administrative behaviour of the government and, therefore, crucial ground situations. For example, majority of the primary health facilities remain far short of governments’ own minimum standards. Instead of trying to improve the quality of education ,they plan to hand over vital public instituions to private hands as illustrated by the recent decision of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to auction its schools to private bidders.whose main, if not the sole, interest would be to run them for profit. It is increasingly visible in the mining sector of the country where the livelihood rights of the poor are pitted against the profit interest of the mining industry. Half of the top 50 mineral-producing districts in the country are in the tribal areas where the poor have become poorer The employment scheme for the poor is shodily implemented, as reported recently by the Comptroller and Auditor-General The same situation prevails in education where schools fail the RTE test, suffering from lack of essential infrastructure including toilets specailly for girls. It is reflected also in the pattern of its spending on social services.including food subsidy - around 8% of GDP- which is quite low as compared to some similar countries. For example, South Africa and Brazil spend double India’s spending, at 16%..One of the notewothy and revealing situation here is that , while nutrition, education, healthcare, decent housing and other public services for the people are being neglected, the Government is over generous in giving away subsidies (tax revenues forgone) of more than Rs 5 lakh crore every year to industry and trade. It is not only just indifference but often active hostility to the disadvantaged people denying them the means for dignified survival. That it is controlled by the rich and the corporate sector and is run for their benefit, is further shown by the nature of the public sector banks’ non-performing assets (NPAs) where the bulk is from the top 30 corporate majors. . According to government own estimates, the gross NPAs rose substantially from Rs.59, 924 crore in 2010 to Rs.1,17,262 crore in 2012. The estimated gross outstanding advances are pegged at Rs.50 lakh crore, putting the restructured debt figure at roughly Rs.5 lakh crore compared to Rs.2 lakh crore as recorded four years ago.That, the neoliberal economic policies are geared to benefit the corporate sector was in full display in rhe recent cabinet decision to double the natural gas prices from $4.2 to $8.4 per million British thermal unit effective from the next financial year beginning April 1, 2014.
Neoliberalism is thus, not merely structural, it is also mental. The Indian government seems to consider wide spread poverty and denial of even elementary necessitiesis not as a tragedy and a disgrace but normal much like other natural phenomenon. Its policies seeek to de-conscientise the people.and at the same time give more power to the rich, On the one hand, it initiates policies to benefit the super rich—I% of the population, and, on the other, it promotes internalization of oppressive cultural norms in the citizens to define their worldview. Thus, working in a reciprocal interaction with structural conditions, it traps large majority of the population in a vicious circle Its neoliberal mentality not only bends policies but also seriously hamper transparency, objectivity and competition. It is so blantantly reflected in the sale of natural resources such as allocation of coal blocks , resulting in a massive loss to the exchequer When critised, the Government of India seeks to normalise unaccetable practices and to legitimise massive corruption and the loot of natural and public resources as policy matters. Though it talks of the need for empowring people it tends to take away from them their right to dignity and qwality of life. Its subjectivity—the neoliberal mindset, prevents it from comprehending and be sensitive to the wide spread disenchangement and public anger against its policies.
Prayag Mehta was university professor and Director of National Labour Institute,. Author of several research papers and books including Psychological Strategy for Alternative Human Development..He can be reached at [email protected]
Copyright, 2013, Prayag Mehta
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