The inequality of opportunity that Nehru wanted to eliminate has only systematically widened
The inequality of opportunity that Nehru wanted to eliminate has only systematically widened
It was a joy to be alive at that dawn, but being young was too heavenly! O Times” -William Wordsworth
Bliss was the night I, along with the hostel students of St. Birchman’s College in Kerala, proudly carrying a Gandhi cap and firecrackers, waited for the ringing on August 15, 1947. With no radio around, we missed out on Jawaharlal Nehru’s historic speech. , who said: “Many years ago, we made an effort with luck and now the time has come when we will redeem our pledge of dedication towards the service of India and its people and for an even greater cause of humanity.. Service to India means serving millions of people who are suffering. It means ending poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity.”
Seventy-five years later, it is instructive to ask how far we have redeemed the promise. Economists in general have not examined this question. But Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen’s three books, written over 18 years, comprehensively examined the transformational process in their freedom-capable perspective, taking into account the wider context of demands for democracy and social justice. This article reviews the pledge to end inequality of opportunity made at the time of independence under three broad headings: gender inequality, social inequality, and the practice of democracy. I is quick to add, I do not downplay India’s achievements as an economic power, its progress in literature, science, technology, knowledge dissemination, innovation achievements, excellence in music, film, market sophistication etc. But the compulsions of our history and public reasoning demand clarity of motives and tools, ends and means.
men, women and equality
At midnight, we raised the slogan ‘Bolo Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ to those who were ignorant of women’s freedom in those days. Today, one would be shocked to know that 456 out of 640 districts have Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) above 140 per lakh live births; In Assam, it is 215. This is noticeably better in the southern states, reflecting not only the huge inequalities in the states’ health systems, but also the loss of freedom for millions of people to live longer. Considering the target of the Global Sustainable Development Goals, the MMR for all countries is expected to be below 70.
Reducing inequality between men and women in access to resources and opportunities is an important measure of civilization. The Global Gender Gap Index, produced by the World Economic Forum, is a snapshot of the place of men and women, with a stable methodology using four sub-indices based on 14 indicators – economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment provides. India stands at the world level. In 2006, India’s rank was 98 against 13 for Sri Lanka and 91 for Bangladesh. India’s position fell to 135 in 2022, while Bangladesh improved its position to 71. Comparison with Pakistan’s 145 or Afghanistan’s 146 can only offer cold comfort. In the sub-index of economic participation, India fell from 110 in 2006 to 151 in 2021. Worse, in health and survival, it fell from 103 in 2006 to 155 in 2021. Indian Penal Code (IPC) offenses against women were reported. As the proportion of total IPC offenses has steadily increased between 1990 and 2019, this is an ominous foreshadowing. It doesn’t tell much about our democracy that it happened when 20 states reserved 50% and a third of local government seats for women in others.
Unless serious public intervention is made, inequality of opportunity will only increase where social inequalities exist across gender, caste and class. Reservations in employment and education have historically been constitutional guarantees for marginalized communities to expand their opportunities, but because these groups have had to contend with powerful groups with great early endowments and early beginnings, These guarantees have proved largely ineffective. Moreover, India has failed to seriously implement land reforms. The loud slogan of the pre-independence struggle ‘plot ko zameen’ has silently disappeared. While the property-owning class has been the winner, the landless Dalits, Adivasis and the poor have not progressed.
In a 2019 paper, Thomas Piketty and Lucas Chancel trace India’s journey from ‘British Raj to Billionaire Raj’ and show that egalitarian achievements have been lost until the early 1980s after the liberalization transition. They estimate that the top 1% of earners accounted for less than 21% of total income in the late 1930s, 6% in the early 1980s, and 22% in more recent times. On the other hand, the bottom 50% held below 14%. This is inevitable as the share of the bottom 50% income group grew by 90% over the period 1980–2015, while the top 10% grew at 435% (Review of Income and Wealth, Series 65, No. S1, 2019). We cannot forget that the number of billionaires in India increased from 102 in 2020 to 142 in 2021, while the share of the lowest 50% in national wealth decreased to 6% in the time of the worst pandemic (Oxfam).
These striking figures clearly prove that the continued benefits of economic growth have not been channeled to broaden access to education, health care, social security, etc. This could have greatly expanded India’s opportunities and independence. The country which once chose a socialist model of society is no longer a good social democratic form either.
practice of democracy
With increasing social and economic inequality, Indian democracy is emerging which Shankar Iyer calls a “gated republic”. Under this phrase his book explains why the privileged classes do not demand key public goods like drinking water, electricity and law and order; This is because they have lots of other things like bottled water, storage tanks, water purifiers, inverters, personal protection and so on. Many avoidable deaths and diseases in India are due to public failure in water, public sanitation, education and the rule of law. It is ironic that India, which successfully launched the Mars Orbiter and Chandrayaan Mission, could not eradicate widespread poverty, especially of tribals, fishermen and Dalits. The Economic Survey 2021 (Chapter 4) claims that economic growth and inequality will converge in terms of their effects on socioeconomic outcomes. The trickle-down thesis is an insult to the poor. Only the wealthy who finance political parties can have their own interests, while social rights are frowned upon. See the campaign for electoral bonds based on ‘donor anonymity’, while the Election Commission and other democratic institutions are strangled? Corruption is rampant and undermines democratic practice. The moral turpitude of the opposition makes adversarial politics toothless and cowardly. Local democracy, which started 30 years ago with great hope of building India at the grassroots based on economic development and social justice, is facing complete neglect. The Mission Antyodaya project to eradicate collective poverty is in limbo.
After 75 years of independence, the inequality of opportunity, which Nehru wanted to eliminate, has systematically widened. When does “soul of a nation, long suppressed” get an “accent”?
MA Oommen is an Honorary Fellow at CDS and Distinguished Fellow at GIFT, Thiruvananthapuram