Playing the Blame Game - we need to act more and talk less...[starting with me]

Experts blame state for rise in poverty

Nitin Yeshwantrao I TNN

Mumbai: Research scholars, political leaders and academicians are attributing the rise in the number of urban poor in Maharashtra to the continuing decline in farm production, rising foodgrain prices and neglect of welfare by the state government. They are unanimous in their belief that the economy boom has created wide income disparities.
TOI had last week reported that 21% of the families, which translates into 2.42 lakh families of the 11.52 lakh families in 156 municipal councils are earning less than Rs 591 per month per person. The amount is a cut-off decided by the Union government to identify a BPL family.
The directorate of municipal administration, a state agency, had conducted the survey over the last two years with investigators roped in from the National Service Scheme, voluntary workers, staff from the local bodies among others.
Most research scientists raised doubts about the methodology used in the survey, but said the state was heading towards a “scary situation’’ where more than 40% of its urban population is identified as Below Poverty Line (BPL).
According to Prof K Narayanan from the department of economics at IIT, the rise in the BPL families indicates that, “the income levels of those in the informal sector are not linked to the cost of living. The booming service industry has created new jobs, but those living on the margins have not benefited’’. According to him, the prices of cellular phones and televisions may have declined, but foodgrain prices have shot up. “This is directly affecting those who have moved to mofussil towns and cities in search of employment.’’
He added that small towns are the immediate draw for those living in poverty and deprivation in the villages. “Agriculture growth has been dismal in the last 10 years leading to rise in foodgrain prices. The only way to reduce the food prices is to devise programmes for increasing farm production. This halts migration to cities, creates employment at home and also
reduces the food prices,’’ Prof Narayanan said.
Research scholars of poverty issues also pointed out that the rising BPL numbers at a time when funds are being put into poverty alleviation programmes, are increasingly hinting at the poor implementation of the programme. Is the delivery mechanism failing, they ask.
Under the Swarnajayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojna, which aims to provide employment to the urban poor, Maharashtra has spent Rs 181.71 crore since 2000 up to December 2007. In fact, in the last two years, the Centre has released more funds to Maharashtra than it gave to UP. During 2006-07, the state received Rs 48 crore from the Centre followed by the highest aid of Rs 71 crore from the Centre for this programme, in this fiscal year.
Professor Abhya Pethe from the department of economics, Mumbai University said that if the BPL figures are rising in towns, it is a pointer to the fact that there are not enough
livelihood and employment resources in small and medium towns. “It indicates that growth is driven by the big cities. The growth is not all-pervasive and excludes the poor. Thay is why there is no reduction of poverty,’’ Prof Pethe said.
Deputy chief minister R R Patil who belongs to a poor peasant’s family in Tasgaon, a town in Sangli district, has attributed the rise in BPL figures to the “push factor’’ from rural to urban areas largely due to inadequate infrastructure.
“Presently 80% of the farmers possess less than one hectare of land. The irrigation potential in the state is a minuscule 17% and most farmers are unable to go beyond a single crop in a season. The state’s GDP may have increased, but the BPL statistics reveal that the growth is not all-inclusive. It has only created pockets of prosperity,’’ Patil said indicating that lack of infrastructure development and absence of supplementary income to farming, has contributed to rising poverty figures.
P Sainath, Ramon Magsasay award winner, however, squarely blamed the state government for the rise in the BPL numbers.
“Maharashtra has moved from a manufacturing capital to a speculative economy. This is leading to wide disparities in income, rising joblessness and with the state government neglecting its poor, their conditions are worsening,’’ said Sainath.
He said that while migration of the rural poor to cities is a cause for concern, it is the changing pattern of employment in big towns and cities that has worsened the situation for the poor.
“A city like Mumbai was like a sponge, absorbing any amount of the work force in its mills and industrial units. Now mills have turned into real estate sites and the unskilled migrant is reduced to a status of being neither a worker nor a farmer,’’ Sainath told TOI. “The only sector which is open to him is a construction site. There has been an increase in such footloose migrants who have no permanent destination or assured health care and education for their children,’’ Sainath told TOI.
nitin.yeshwantrao@timesgroup.com