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UPA’s three years : Belated talk of ‘inclusive’ growth |
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B.I. Saini
Into its fourth year, the United Progressive Alliance, which took office on May 22, 2004, has woken up to the need for ‘inclusive’ growth. The Congress-led UPA, which came together after the defeat of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), in the May 2004 Lok Sabha elections, had spoken at the time of working for the betterment of the Aam Admi (common man) and the National Common Minimum Programme, spoke of new initiatives planned to achieve this goal. But some how, over the past three years, the common man was probably lost sight of in the euphoria over record economic growth, said to be now at over eight per cent.
Despite the high growth rate of the economy, there were indications all along the way that things were not rosy for the man in the street. For one, continuing inflation has taken quite a bit of the sheen off the Finance Minister’s claims that the economy was growing fast and India was well on its way to catch up with the other major growing economic power - China.
Another factor from which there is no running away is the continuing agrarian crisis, evidenced by suicides by farmers, not only in Maharashtra, but practically across the country. The faulty world trade regime, where governments of rich industrialised countries like the United States and those in Europe provide huge subsidies and benefits to their farmers and yet talk of the need for the developing countries to open up their markets, may be responsible for a major part of the problems faced by the Indian farmer. But the blame naturally comes to the government in power in New Delhi for not protecting the country’s farmers, as some Western countries are doing. Over the years, prices of agricultural produce have been kept artificially low while the prices of other goods including those used as inputs by the farm sector such as fertilisers and farm equipment, have been going up without check.
On the political front also, the Congress-led UPA’s performance has not been quite up to the mark. The UPA was formed with the objective of keeping fundamentalist forces like the BJP out of power, but the Congress and other UPA constituents have not been particularly successful in check-mating the BJP. The saffron party, though it suffered a humiliating defeat in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, has been staging a come back in some parts of the country like Uttarakhand and Punjab. In Uttar Pradesh also, it was not the Congress which brought about the BJP’s defeat, but Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, which stormed to power after engineering a dalit tie-up with the Brahmins and other upper castes among the Hindus and the Muslim community.
On the Foreign Policy side, the Manmohan Singh Government took two major initiatives during the last three years, building bridges with Pakistan to sort out the long-pending Kashmir issue and the civilian nuclear deal with the United States to end India’s isolation in the nuclear field. On both issues, it is not certain if ultimately the country would be able to achieve its objectives. With Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf getting increasingly embroiled in domestic issues - getting re-elected as President without shedding his uniform as Army Chief and the conflict with the country’s Chief Justice - settlement of the Kashmir issue is no longer his top priority. Musharraf himself admitted recently that he has first to tackle domestic challenges before taking up the Kashmir issue for an amicable and long-lasting settlement with India. The Indo-US civilian nuclear deal is also stuck on the issue of the ‘123’ agreement. With elections approaching in both countries in a couple of years, the scope for making compromises for a settlement has definitely been reduced.
On the security front, the UPA Government has not covered itself with glory. Terrorist incidents have been occurring in different parts of the country at frequent intervals. Security and intelligence agencies have put up a less than optimum show in checking terrorist elements. Even investigations into incidents like the Mumbai train blasts and the Samjhauta Express bombing have not made much headway, with the intelligence agencies clueless about the identity and motives of the terror strikes, apart from routine finger pointing at outfits operating from Pakistan.
With just two years left of its tenure, the UPA coalition is now talking of steps to bring about ‘inclusive’ growth where the common man benefits from the high growth rate of the economy. To this end, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has now started talking to captains of industry to play their role in the empowerment of the common man. He wanted Industry to stop going in for undue profits and payment of huge salaries and benefits to CEOs and other top functionaries of companies. The response of industry to the Prime Minister’s exhortation to share profits with the larger community has been lukewarm.
The Manmohan Singh Government has announced a package for workers in the unorganised sector. Its efficacy is yet to be seen. At the same time, the UPA Government is not very popular with workers even in the organised sector who are exercised over issues such as low return on employees provident fund and pension reforms.
The UPA will have to come out with solid measures to meet the people’s aspirations during the next couple of years. Just pointing to record economic growth will not do. Otherwise, the UPA may meet the same fate as the NDA which attempted to use “India Shining” as the strategy to come back to power.
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