Critically examine the impact of the new economic policy on working class in India.
Perhaps, it can't be incorrect to define India because the
land of poverty, illiteracy and inequality as many people are without access to
basic necessities of life. it's pathetic to notice that despite poverty level
being measured only on the idea of calorie requirement such huge numbers are
under the clutch of below poverty level (BPL). Critically examine the impact of the new economic policy on working class in India The calorie requirements are
fixed at 2400 k cal per capita for rural India and 2100 k cal per capita for
urban India.
The poverty lines for the year 1993-94 are Rs 229 and Rs 264
per capita per month for rural and concrete areas respectively. However, Rs
228.9 and Rs 264.1 in 1993-94, not correspond to the expenditure norms like
2400 k cal and 2100 k cal as per the definition of poverty level . the worth of
consumption has been changed significantly. In food items its cost is far above
that of non-food items. Secondly, thanks to penetration of urban businessmen or
outsiders into the poor locals the worth of basic essential items has been
increased far more .
Thirdly, due to the crises of availability of cash the
agricultural poor either sell themselves partly or fully to their respective
dominant persons or sell their livelihood to them to migrate to other parts
especially into urban belts for sake of employment as labourers. Critically examine the impact of the new economic policy on working class in India Fourthly, the
relative prices of the essential goods are increased quite proportionately. as
an example , the conditions of housing and transport in urban areas are
deteriorated to the extent of forcing people to measure faraway from their
places of labor and to spend on transport. Similarly, the agricultural labour
force has got to migrate faraway from their village so as to urge work.
In India, poverty is measured only in terms of the calories
intake for survival. It doesn't include other ‘essential expenditures’ of
citizenry , i.e., clothes, shelter, health and medicine. It doesn’t attend see
other ‘necessary expenditures’ of citizenry , i.e., education, housing, healthy
food, etc. It doesn't include expenditures on “necessary of efficiency of
life”, i.e., recreational, sports, and other miscellaneous expenditure for
growing children.
Marx was perhaps right when he said that in capitalist world
the person would be equated with machine (Marx, 1844). He would be given wages
for survival as if the fuel was provided to machine for its survival.
Marx’s contention might not be fully true in
democratic-industrial nations where the standard of opportunity is granted and
where there's much concern about relative deprivation instead of absolutely the
deprivation, but in India where there's mass poverty and inequality Marx’s
viewpoint can't be ignored. Here in India a person isn't even given ‘basic
necessities of life’ for his survival.
He cannot consider ‘necessary expenditures’ as his
capability is insufficient even to the extent of filling up ‘essential
expenditures’ for survival. it's pathetic to notice that albeit the “essential
expenditures” of the existence isn't fully covered while measuring the poverty
level by the govt , many people in India are under the clutches of poverty
level .
According to committee , people under the BPL were reduced
from 25.49 percentage in 1987 to 18.96 per cent in 1993-94 (Government of
India, 1995, Economic Survey, 1995-96: 169). However, as per modified expert
group methodology, Critically examine the impact of the new economic policy on working class in India the design Commission in its Ninth Five-Year Plan states the
figure of BPL as 38.9 per cent for 1987-88 and 36 per cent for 1993-94
(Government of India, 1999, Ninth Five-Year Plan: 29), Hence, in contrary to
its previous claim of reduction of poverty to 19 per cent in 1993-94, the
design Commission agreed that the figure was actually double the previous, that
is, 36 per cent in 1993-94.
The data indicates that despite non-inclusion of the all
‘essential’, ‘necessary’ and ‘efficiency’ expenditures quite 36 crore Indians
are under the BPL. Therefore, if such expenditures were included, perhaps quite
75 crore Indians would are trapped under the poverty level .
This is primarily thanks to the growing inequalities of
wealth and income and concentration of such within the hands of few elites. for
instance , top 10 per cent of rural Indians owned 51 per cent of assets while
bottom 10 per cent population of it owned only 0.1 percent in 1971 (Sixth
Five-Year Plan: 8). The figures of such inequality are still persistent within
the country.
Thus, most of the wealth is being owned by a couple of
sections of society making the remainder go empty stomach. The worst of the
more severe sufferers in India are the people belonging to the SCs, STs and
MBCs of OBCs. Critically examine the impact of the new economic policy on working class in India They not only constitute the lower ladder in terms of class
structure but also in terms of sophistication . In other words, the position of
caste also in most cases signifies the position of sophistication . Hence, the
wide gap between these lower ranked people as compared with others is clear
from the subsequent Table 7.1
The poverty level of total population also includes the SCs
and STs and thus , when the SCs and STs are excluded from such, the poverty
level becomes around 22 per cent. This figure also does include other backward
classes who as per government report comprise around 52 per cent of the entire
population. Thus, the poverty level ratio of SCs, STs and OBCs are deducted
from the overall poverty level ratio, it'll significantly become thinner.
In other words, it are often stated that the BPL comprises
mostly the SC, ST and OBCs but some cases existing at individual levels among
other sections of society can't be ruled out. The new policy has adversely
affected the poorer as has been reported from various studies (Tendulkar and
Jain, 1995; Gupta, 1994; Chandrashekhar and Sen, 1996).
It is known that the entire consumption of an individual or
household consists of both private consumption and social consumption.
Tendulkar and Jain’s concern in their paper was mainly on private consumption
(Tendulkar and Jain, 1995). it's difficult to urge information of social
consumption at the household level. Critically examine the impact of the new economic policy on working class in India However, many studies have shown that
social sector expenditure declined considerably during the primary few years
of reform period (Gupta, 1994; Guhan, 1995; Prabhu, 1994; Tulsidhar, 1993).
These studies have shown that expenditure on health and education and other
sectors have declined and it might affect the human development indicators.
Decline in expenditure on important sectors like preventive health care was
also noticed.
According to Sen, the structural adjustment acts adversely
on the poor due to the policy induced rise within the relative price of food
and contractionary stabilization policies to scale back inflation will cause
contracting non-agricultural employment and falling wages within the organized
sector (Sen, 1996; Sen, 1997).
Unni has also described the impact of structural adjustment
on poor through review of literatures in his article (Unni, 1998). Martin
Ravallion concludes “that policy reforms which entail a sustained increase in
food prices are a threat to India’s poor within the longer term” (Ravallion,
1998). In another article Ravallion and Datt have studied that though the
output growth within the primary sectors reduced poverty in both rural and
concrete , the secondary sector growth didn't reduce poverty in either
(Ravallion and Datt, 1996).
Jay Mehta has criticized Sukhatme’s assertion that in India
daily calorie intake be reduced to 1800 k cal and lamented on the info released
by 48th Round of NSS (NSS 48th Round, 1994) that only 97.3 per cent in urban
and 92.3 per cent were getting two-square meals each day within the year 1992
(Mehta, 1982; Mehta, 1995). Mehta has narrated the poverty related death and other
miseries from various corners of India like Maharashtra, Orissa etc., while the
reform was fully swing (Mehta, 1995).
The recent poverty related death in various parts of Orissa
especially from Kashipur – where to satisfy hunger, poor had to eat poisonous
mango kernel, should be an eye fixed opener to those that profess that the
economic process Critically examine the impact of the new economic policy on working class in India through new policy only would alleviate poverty. Unless and
until the institutional structure prevailing within the social order is
re-corrected through rigorous socio-legal reform, mere growth of economy isn't
getting to do justice to the poor. due to the rigidity of structure and diverse
inequality that exists within the country, the new policy would rather make
poor more poor and rich more rich and thereby widening the rich-poor gap.
The global economic order, as per the info spelled out by
various studies notably by International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development , isn't bridging the gap between the rich and poor countries,
rather widening it. “The average per capita income of the poorest and middle
thirds of all countries has lost ground steadily over the last several decades
compared with the typical income of the richest third. Average per capita GDP
of the center third has dropped from 12.5 to 11.4 per cent of the richest third
which of the poorer third from 3.1 to 1.9 per cent. In fact, rich countries are
growing faster than poor countries since Industrial Revolution within the
mid-19th century. A recent estimate suggests that the ratio of per capita
income between the richest and therefore the poorest countries increased six
fold between 1870 and 1985” (World Development Report 1999/2000).
According to World Development Indicators, 1998, the amount
of poor people has risen worldwide, and in some regions the proportion of poor
has also increased (World Development Indicators, 1998). By citing the info of
World Development Indicators, 1998, world development report 1999/2000 brought
out figures of individuals under poverty level – that's those living on less
that $1 per day (World Development Report, 1999/2000).
According to such reports, poor people have slightly
declined from 464 million to 446 million from 1987 to 1993 in East Asia and
Pacific region. But during such period, of poverty people has risen in other
parts of the world: from 2 million to fifteen million in Europe and Central
Asia; from 91 million to 110 million in Latin America and therefore the
Caribbean; from 10 million to 11 million in Middle East and North Africa; from
480 million to 515 million in South Asia and from 180 million to 219 million in
Sub-Saharan Africa .
In percentage it declined marginally from 28.8 per cent to
26 per cent in East Asia and Pacific; from 4.7 per cent to 4.1 per cent in
Middle East and North Africa; from 45.4 per cent to 43.1 per cent in South
Asia. However, poverty increased from 0.6 per cent to three .5 per cent in
Europe and Central Asia; From 22 per cent to 23.5 per cent in Latin America and
therefore the Critically examine the impact of the new economic policy on working class in India Caribbean and from 38.5 per cent to 39.1 per cent in 846 Saharan
Africa. Similarly, the document also reported the decline of anticipation from
some countries like Russia , Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Rwanda and Zambia
from 1980 to 1997 (World Development Report, 1999/2000).
The widening of economic disparities and global climate
change are two serious factors impeding progress towards the UN Millennium
Development Goals, as has been noted by the UN Millennium Development Goals
Report 2007, released on 2 July, 2007 at New Critically examine the impact of the new economic policy on working class in India Delhi . consistent with it almost
30 per cent of population of South Asia lead life with a dollar per day. There
are disparities within the countries – rural-urban, women and youngsters and
various groups. there's low progress in child nutrition and highest number of
maternal deaths occurs in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa .