[Dec 2007, Volume 4 Quarterly Issue] Pdf File size - The IIPM Think ...

MORE MARKETS, LESS GOVERNMENT
NSSO rounds undertaken up to 1997
(Please refer to the diagram) iv . Though
the rate of decline of rural poverty
picked up again during the subsequent
years (from 1999-2004), the rate of
GDP growth was in fact less during
this phase than during 1993–1999. The
average per-capita expenditure in rural
areas was not even ten percent
higher in 1999-2000 than in 1993-1994,
and rural poverty actually went up in
some of the poorer states, such as Assam
and Orissa. Also, food grain offtake
through the public distribution
system declined from 17 million tonnes
per year in the early nineties to 12 million
tonnes per year around the end of
the decade 5 , endangering the food security
of millions of the poor in the
country at the time when the GDP
growth was unprecedented.
The State vis-à-vis The Poor
The Eleventh Five-Year Plan of India
underscores the challenge of providing
employment to 70 million additional
people by 2011-12. It is also a well-established
fact that the incidence of
It is a well-established fact that the incidence of unemployment
is substantially higher in the ‘below poverty line’
category, and particularly high amongst the Scheduled
Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes(STs)
unemployment is substantially higher
in the ‘Below Poverty Line’ category,
and particularly high amongst the
scheduled castes and tribes therein (as
indicated by successive National Sample
Surveys). A critical question therefore
is: what strategies and preparedness
does the State have to meet this
challenge, which is important to be addressed
to prevent the nation’s slide
into anarchy? Do markets provide a
Trends In The Poverty Ratio (1972 - 1997)
60
55
55.36
Rural
Urban
50
50.6
45
40
35
30
45.67
45.31
40.5
38.81
35.65
34.29
39.23 39.06
36.6
34.3
36.2
33.4
43.47
36.43
33.73
32.76
41.02
36.66
33.5
30.51
37.15
35.78
29.99
25
28.04
Oct 72-Sep 73
Jul 77- Jun 78
Jan 83- Dec 83
Jul 86-Jun 87
Jul 87-Jun 88
Jul 88-Jun 89
Jul 89-Jun 90
Jul 90-Jun 91
Jan 92-Dec 92
Jun 93-Jun 94
Jul 94-Jun 95
Jul 95-Jun 96
Jan 97-Dec 97
Percent Population
(Source: "The Poverty Puzzle" by C.P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh, Macroscon, Feb. 22, 2000)
THE INDIA ECONOMY REVIEW
71