[Reader-list] FW: NAREGA

[Rakesh Iyer]

Dear Bipin

Thanks a lot.

Rakesh

On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 12:25 PM, Bipin Trivedi <aliens at dataone.in> wrote:

> Forwarding mail received from Rekesh in reply to my mail but forgot put on
> sarai list simultaneously.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rakesh Iyer [mailto:rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2010 4:53 PM
> To: Bipin Trivedi
> Subject: Re: NAREGA
>
> Dear Bipin
>
> Note (for all including Bipin): This is an extremely long mail. If you lose
> patience while reading this, I apologize, but please read it if you can, as
> I try to explain my points properly.
>
> Let me answer each and every point of yours in detail:
>
> 1) I have not credited Sonia Gandhi for NREGA in the sense you have put. I
> would say that she is the only one in this government setup who had the
> understanding to think about it, probably with the view of winning
> elections.
>
> 2)  You are stating that NDA was right in implementing infrastructure
> projects for the development of a country. I would not completely disagree
> with you. The Golden Quadrilateral scheme is one of the best schemes we
> could have ever conceived of, and one should not forget that it was the NDA
> which had thought of introducing such a scheme not only in roadways, but
> also in railways, which was shelved (though I couldn't find who had shelved
> it, the NDA or the UPA).  You also state that UPA has not thought of
> long-term vision as it has gone for NREGA.
>
> Firstly, I am not against such infrastructure projects like Golden
> Quadrilateral, but infact wholeheartedly support them. Construction of
> highways is an utmost priority for us, so also construction of roads, be it
> in urban or rural areas. Moreover, we do need construction of good quality
> houses, and other kinds of infrastructure like railways and ports as well.
>
> The way you put your point across seems to me like you are claiming that
> the
> way is either MGREGA or highways. That's wrong. Both can go together
> simultaneously. The Golden Quadrilateral should simultaneously go on with
> MGREGA. We need both. The question then comes as per the point raised: why
> both?
>
> You have said that if infrastructure development takes place, then there
> will be a labour boom and therefore we don't need MGREGA. That
> unfortunately
> is belied. It is certainly true that an infrastructure boom will lead to
> demand for labor in India. However, most of the infrastructure boom will
> also employ large no. of machines which are required to ensure quality
> construction. Those works will not be undertaken by laborers simply because
> it requires substantial investment in laborers (in terms of both money and
> time) to ensure they get the required skills to conduct those operations,
> and secondly, many of these operations can't be done by laborers (like
> laborers can't do the work of heavy cranes and bulldozers). Therefore, the
> labor boom being talked about is not going to employ a huge chunk of people
> as being claimed, when compared with labor supply of India. And you won't
> get quality construction if you employ labor at the cost of machines.
>
> Secondly, the history of capitalism across the nations, not just in India,
> tells us that with increase in profits, capital becomes cheaper than labor.
> It's cheaper to invest more money rather than employ more labor. And
> therefore, with time, many companies come to the conclusion that it's
> better
> to invest in labor-saving machines rather than employ labor. Moreover,
> since
> companies prefer not to pay too much in wages to labor (unless absolutely
> necessary) and also fear labor unions (since they would like to pay as low
> wages as possible), there is less requirement for labor. The end result is
> that with increasing economic output, we will see lesser and lesser labor
> being employed. This can be seen in the employment pattern as well.
>
> Therefore, the requirement for such labor will go down over a period of
> time. And the labor which will be required will be specialized labor, whose
> no. as per requirement will also decrease with time. Hence, such unskilled
> workers will be left nowhere. Already this can be seen in the case of our
> IT
> and services sector, where an uneducated person can't do anything, whereas
> at least in industries, an uneducated person can still be doing manual
> labor
> work like in iron and steel industry for transportation.
>
> As demand for labor goes down, and supply is increasing due to increasing
> population, with majority increase among those who are poor and therefore
> uneducated and unskilled, we will see a fall in wages. (Demand-supply
> economics). Therefore, such people have to engage in labor for long hours
> with low wages. They don't get any protection through labor laws, and there
> are no safety nets to fall on in case there are accidents or any mishaps
> during working. They are not given any monetary compensation (companies are
> not legally liable) in case they suffer physically or mentally or both
> during accidents. And the contractors who employ them also don't pay them
> entire salary for the day but keep a part of it with them to ensure that
> the
> laborers don't run away to villages after the work is over and work can be
> done at cheap rates to ensure fatter profits for the contractors
> themselves.
>
>
> To force people to come out of rural areas so that they do manual labor at
> petty wages with no social security nets is against the basic human right
> to
> lead a life with dignity. This should be corrected, and if a MGREGA is
> needed to address this anomaly, so be it. The right path for industries and
> capitalists is not to protest the scheme but increase the wages as well as
> lobby with the govt. to introduce labor laws so that accordingly laborers
> can feel the need to work in these companies.
>
> 3) You have a completely irrational logic of parliamentary democracy. In a
> democracy, where the rule is to get a majority to be in power, all parties,
> be it the Congress, BJP, DMK, SP, BSP etc. have to win the trust of people.
> Since most of the parties today can't claim to be universally doing well
> for
> all people, they have to gain trust of certain sections of the society in
> order to win elections. And this they do so on an all-out basis. And by the
> way vote bank politics is practised by all political parties not only in
> India, but also by parties in other countries.
>
> In USA, the Republicans have a vote bank in the form of Christian
> fundamentalists and evangelists who voted against Obama in the 2008
> elections for US president. The Democrats on the other hand always have the
> Blacks (African-Americans) voting for them. This is vote-bank politics.
>
> In Britain, the Labour party generally gets the votes of the migrants
> (those
> from outside England who have become citizens, like Indians and
> Pakistanis),
> while the Conservatives get the votes of those who feel such migration
> should be banned and migrants should be deported to their native countries.
>
> In India, similarly, Muslims don't vote for the BJP. And Congress tries to
> get certain sections of the society behind it. BJP on the other hand tries
> to ensure that all Hindus vote for it en-bloc so that it can win elections.
> The BSP asks Dalits and Brahmans to vote for it. So do the other political
> parties with their sphere of influences and castes.
>
> Vote-bank politics in India is wrong because it ensures that you don't have
> to work to win elections. You just have to be a member of a group or party
> or some set and that ensures you get some votes. I accept that
> wholeheartedly. But to say that vote-bank politics is only played by the
> Congress is a misperception. Everybody does it.
>
> Politics should be developmental, not vote-bank based in the sense it has
> been, because such politics is narrow and pits groups against groups and
> only leads to animosity amongst them. Once this animosity sets in amongst
> people, then it's extremely difficult to break this cycle and feeling. But
> it can be done, as the BSP showed it when they won in 2007 elections by
> bringing Brahmans over to their side. And everybody does it and has done it
> in the past.
>
> But to say that it's only in India or done by Congress which is wrong.
>
> But vote-bank politics is also not wrong necessarily, because if I don't
> know any of the candidates, I will trust the person who is from my group,
> be
> it caste, gender, religion or others since I don't know who is good and who
> is bad. So therefore, the right thing should be greater awareness of the
> candidates and also understanding of their positions and debates. Every
> election in India should be like the US parliamentary election with debates
> amongst all candidates on what they intend to do and questions asked of
> them
> to judge them. That will be a good way to go.
>
> 4) The MGREGA is being used to develop infrastructure in countryside
> indeed.
> Wells are being constructed, as also other ways of irrigation. Moreover,
> work is being done to construct roads, which are then supplemented by
> cement
> road construction with labor work providing better strength to the roads.
> They are also helping in plantation of trees and thus combating both
> climate
> change and environmental degradation, as announced by India at Copenhagen.
>
> Even constructing schools, providing services like Mid-day meal cooking or
> cleaning buildings, goes a long way in providing or maintaining
> infrastructure. And that should be appreciated.
>
> 5) If you don't believe that the standard of living of poor has improved,
> may be you should undertake a rural tour of Andhra Pradesh with P.Sainath.
> This famous journalist writes in the Hindu (the rural areas correspondent
> of
> the Hindu), and is generally spending on an average about 300 days in a
> year
> in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh and also rest of the country. He has
> himself seen accounts of how Telangana, one of the most backward regions of
> the country, has been benefited by NREGA, how people from Karimnagar,
> Adilabad and other backward districts in the region have stopped migrating
> to Mumbai and able to lead lives in their own village and work in nearby
> areas, and thereby being able to send their children to the school so that
> the children can enjoy the Mid-day meal as well as get some education.
>
> Do read him regularly. He is one person you can read in the Hindu, and I
> eagerly wait for his articles. The Hindu may be a Communist newspaper under
> N. Ram, but Sainath is one person who goes to rural areas to know the
> truth.
> And I don't think people commenting on this forum regularly go to rural
> areas at his frequency to know about them.
>
> Yes there is corruption, but as I said, think of implementing transparency
> measures rather than advising what the World Bank said: dismantle the govt.
> machinery. The poor of India have become more deprived of nutrition and
> other basic needs once the govt. has relegated its social responsibilities
> to the market.
>
> 6) This is an interesting point since it comes for discussion regularly.
> Firstly, those who can employ agricultural labor are actually the rich and
> middle farmers, since small farmers don't have the money to employ labor.
> Moreover, you don't have any statistics to back your claim that
> agricultural
> productivity has gone down since the implementation of NREGA. Infact, to
> suppress your point, let me state that in 2007 and 2008 (years in which
> NREGA was being implemented across the nation), the agricultural
> productivity was at record levels for cereals and pulses as well as other
> crops.
>
> It's only in 2009 that the agricultural productivity has gone down, and the
> govt. has claimed that drought is the major reason for this (both in terms
> of climate and lack of availability of water).
>
> If farmers are not able to employ labor, then other methods can be thought
> about. One way could be mechanisation of agriculture or even making
> agriculture cooperatives where farmers can pool resources to use machines
> to
> increase the production. This can be accompanies by sound techniques as
> well
> like intensification of growing crops (used in rice crop in Tamil Nadu).
>
> Instead, you seem to claim that some people should continue to work at
> petty
> wages per day so that the agricultural productivity of India can be high,
> even if it means that they are not able to enjoy 3 sound meals per day. I
> would disagree. What's the use of me working as an agricultural laborer and
> growing grains for others if I can't feed my own family properly?
>
> As for food prices and inflation, this is mainly because the retail prices
> are high compared to the wholesale prices. The farmers are not able to get
> the advantage of these high prices, and it's the middlemen who are
> responsible for such high prices. The correct step is to completely remove
> middlemen and instead set up agricultural cooperatives monitored by the
> govt
> which can buy from the farmers and directly sell food to the consumers.
> That
> will comprehensively bring down inflation. Simple. There is no role of
> agricultural labor reduction in all this.
>
> And what I say here is already there in Outlook and Tehelka magazine as
> well
> as other places.
>
> Plus this capitalist way of opening essential commodities to futures
> trading
> should be banned. That is something you may not agree with, but that's
> essential.
>
> 7) The scheme is meant to ensure that people are provided work by the govt.
> The people will only become lazy if the scheme doesn't provide work to
> people. The schemes for any village are decided upon by the Gram Sabha in a
> publicly organized meeting which has to be well attended and everybody must
> have information about the meeting. Moreover, the schemes are monitored and
> social audits can be undertaken by any organization, or any individual.
> Even
> you can undertake them.
>
> Going further ahead, you can use the RTI to get information about how the
> NREGA is functioning in any village of this country even if you don't
> belong
> to that village. You can ask about the material-labor component and
> construction works done as well as stages in which the works are going on,
> through usage of the RTI.
>
> If you have any proof of people becoming lazy, do put it. Till now, not a
> single instance of such a thing has been stated by anybody who has gone to
> a
> village to study the working of NREGA. I would be most surprised if I were
> to hear anybody finding one.
>
>
> 8) Your final point was about land reforms. Firstly, land reforms are not
> meant to improve agricultural productivity. They are meant to ensure that
> everyone has some land in his/her own name. The question may come: Why?
>
> Simple. Land is an asset, particularly for a rural family. One can fall
> back
> on this rural land resource in times of distress, by renting it or by using
> it to feed fodder to animals so that they can generate some milk or meat
> which could be sold or other ways. That's why land is an asset, and
> everybody wants land.
>
> Land reforms bring about equitable distribution of land so that families
> are
> able to have some land for themselves. West Bengal conducted the Operation
> Barga during Jyoti Basu's CM-ship to bring about partial land reforms.
> There
> were problems in implementation of land reforms and mismanagement and
> corruption were also seen, which is why they were partial finally and not
> as
> effective as required. Full land reforms would have also involved formation
> of cooperatives and bringing together land of all for increasing
> agricultural productivity. This was done in Communist China and it brought
> about huge increases in agricultural productivity there. Here in India it
> was avoided and didn't bring about significant changes.
>
> But Gujarat never brought about land reforms for equitable distribution of
> land. And that ironically led to higher productivity for a certain section
> of farmers who are rich and can afford irrigation facilities and use of
> scientific techniques, whereas for the rest it has brought nothing. Gujarat
> state governments have only concentrated on bringing about more growth in
> the economy rather than also think of redistributing the benefits of
> economic growth, and the result is this:
>
> a) Out of all the BJP-ruled states, Gujarat is the most prosperous and yet,
> it has the highest income-equality of all, since income distribution was
> never a priority for the governments there in general. (as per NFHS - 3,
> 2005-06)
>
> b) The under-five mortality rate of Gujarat is only marginally below Madhya
> Pradesh, while it is above Maharashtra. Also, there is larger
> health-inequality in Gujarat than other states which have lower prosperity.
> And this is primarily because some get rich and the benefits of this
> economic growth don't reach as they should for all sections of the society.
>
> c) Farmer suicides are taking place in Gujarat, and this is as per the
> Gujarat govt's own information. While the farmer suicides are of not the
> level of Vidarbha or Andhra Pradesh or even Kerala, they are increasing.
>
> Now please dont' crib that the data is for 2005-06. The National Family
> Health Survey is undertaken by the Health Ministry after certain intervals,
> and I can't ask the Central Govt. to undertake this survey again.
>
> I don't say that agricultural productivity should not be high. But yes,
> redistribution of income to the poor is something even Modi would not have
> the guts to oppose. That is what is required.
>
> On a further comprehensive article or mail on Gujarat, I would certainly do
> that after reading the necessary resources in the summer as I would be busy
> with exam. But yes, we can do it not only for Gujarat but for other states
> as well (and we should do it I feel).
>
> As for NREGA, I stated what I had to.
>
> Rakesh
>
>
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