[Reader-list] NREGA article

[Rakesh Iyer]

Dear Baruk

I may not be able to answer all your questions, but I think there may be a
possible answer in the history of these states, history of the political and
social movements.

In the case of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the powerful political movements
during pre-independence period, focused on the improvement in the lives of
people, especially those belonging to the lower castes, and classes. This
was done with the aim of improving their position in political, social and
economic terms. Education in particular, as also health were considered
important instruments in helping people become powerful economically,
socially and politically. The pressure of social movements, particularly
those related to backward castes and even Dalits, helped in ensuring that
education and health were prized goods, as also the availability of land and
housing for all.

This ensured that the state, mainly the state governments and the state
executive, had to play an important role in providing education and health
to all, particularly the downtrodden. If they failed to do so, the state
bureaucracy and administration faced a lot of hue and cry, which was also
reported in the media and in the public. Thus, they had to do a lot to
improve the people's lives.

This is very strange considering that politically, in both Kerala and Tamil
Nadu, the parties or coalitions which are in opposition to each other are
bitter opponents. In Kerala, the UDF and LDF are totally at arms against
each other. And in Tamil Nadu, the enemity of the DMK with the AIADMK can
only be matched by that between Mayawati and Mulayam in Uttar Pradesh.

On the other hand, in the case of northern states, particularly Uttar
Pradesh (UP) and Bihar, the question of getting empowered seemed to only
resonate politically. This is the reason one can see the emergence of
caste-based parties in both these states, which are supposedly fighting it
out only for the castes whose leaders head these parties. The SP is fighting
for the Yadavs (and Muslims as Mulayam claims to have saved Babri Masjid in
1990 from getting demolished, which to quite an extent is true). The BSP is
fighting for the Dalits (mainly Jatavs from which Mayawati comes herself),
and also now for Brahmins (from which SC Mishra is included). The RJD is
like the SP in terms of its votebank. And the JD(U) is fighting for the
Kurmi votes and those of other backward castes except the Yadavs.

In these states also, there were political movements for empowerment, and in
most cases, they were directed against the upper castes. But in most of
these movements, education and health were never considered important
instruments in order to achieve power for those who had been shortchanged.
At best, the only requirement was thought to be political power. Those
heading such struggles (even those under Jai Prakash Narayan just before the
Emergency) thought of coming to power and then solving problems of the
people, rather than realizing that in most districts and areas, it's the
local administration which is the major issue, and change in political hands
or governments won't help in changing the situation.

The good thing would have been to focus on reforming district
administrations, for that would have meant that irrespective of any party
being in power, people who are deprived and in bad shape economically and
socially would at least have some security in terms of employment security,
food security, social and emotional security too. But the concentration on
taking away of political power has meant that now it's gunda raj which rules
both these states. And the gundas only change, depending on who is in power.


So under the RJD dispensation in Bihar, the gundas were mostly indulging in
kidnappings of children, looting and killing. Under the JD(U) dispensation,
the crime composition instead changes to crimes against women, which
includes rape, domestic violence and molestation. Similarly, under the SP
dispensation in UP, there were areas where people couldn't venture out once
it was 5-6 o'clock in the evenings. Under the BSP, while that may have
stopped and so also crimes against Dalits somewhat, yet crimes do take
place. And now since Mayawati also is trying to please Brahmin vote bank,
there has been an increase in cases of crime against women as well, which is
generally associated with upper castes. (Interestingly what I have read on
this in the form of articles in newspapers shows that crimes against women
increase with domination of upper caste, and most of these are directed
against women of lower caste. On the other hand, when Dalits and tribals
resort to crimes like Naxalite bombings or killings, or backwards turn to
these, there are more kidnappings and lootings.)

May be I may be wrong or there may have been selective reading in such
articles, but that's the case. And since people who have participated in
political movements and those who have seen them (bringing upheaveal) think
that only gaining power can help in changing the society, they think it's
impossible to change the situation. Whereas in the two southern states I
mentioned, the case is opposite, for the people feel if they don't act then
things won't change.

And it's a cyclic chain then as far as both UP and Bihar go. People feel
things won't improve till they gain power, crime rate increases under the
current dispensation, then further people try to capture power through wrong
means, which further increases crime, and this keeps on increasing.

And that's why Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are two of the (notoriously) most
corrupt states in India, where education and health standards are extremely
poor. Kerala in contrast has very good standards of education and health (it
does better than even China on this count). And Tamil Nadu also has quite
good standards (though not as good as say Kerala) in this case.

By the way, it's not just southern states which are good in this field. The
northern state of Himachal Pradesh is one example of how good involvement of
people in public life and putting pressures can bring about change in lives
of people. May be UP and Bihar need to learn a lot from Himachal Pradesh,
even if they are biased against Kerala and TN on linguistic basis. And of
course, we have Mizoram as a good state to look at, which is even better
than Kerala now, in certain matters.

Regards

Rakesh