[Reader-list] Reg: Interview of Jean Dreze on Jharkhand & NREGA

[Rakesh Iyer]

Hello to all of you!

With this article, I come back after a long time to post articles on the
forum, which I hope can lead to constructive discussions on understanding of
issues, rather than fighting amongst each other.

Rakesh

http://www.indiatogether.org/2010/nov/ivw-jeandreze.htm

INTERVIEW: JEAN DREZE
* Jharkhand's "government by fiction" *
 "The main hurdle to the development of Jharkhand is political: the state’s
resources are under the control of this criminal nexus, and people have no
say." Jivesh Singh interviews Jean Dreze on Jharkhand's 10th anniversary.

*30 November 2010* - This month, Jharkhand celebrated the 10th year of its
formation. The state was formed on 15 November 2000 from the southern part
of Bihar. Jivesh Ranjan Singh of the Hindi daily *Prabhat Khabar* caught up
with economist Jean Dreze on the occasion.

 Jean Dreze is an economist and is currently an honorary professor,
department of economics, University of Allahabad. He is considered one of
the main architects of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).
Over the past few years, he has been spending time in Jharkhand to monitor
the implementation of the NREGA and conduct research.

 *Jivesh Singh:* Assess the ten years of formation of Jharkhand.

 *Jean Dreze:* The people of Jharkhand fought for a separate state in the
hope that it would give them more control over their lives. It was supposed
to be a form of liberation. But in fact, the formation of Jharkhand has
given greater control to their oppressors. The formation of a separate state
has consolidated the hold of corrupt politicians, industrialists and
contractors. And even those who were at the forefront of the liberation
movement have turned oppressors. This is a common pattern in the history of
liberation movements.

 *JS:* What are the main hurdles in path of development of Jharkhand?

 *JD:* The main hurdle is political: the state’s resources are under the
control of this criminal nexus, and people have no say. There is no
democracy in any meaningful sense of the term. Therefore, people’s basic
needs are not a political priority, whether it is education, or health, or
nutrition, or protection from harassment and exploitation.

 Another consequence of mafia rule is the breakdown of governance. Jharkhand
has developed a unique system of governance, which might be called
“government by fiction”. That is, what happens on paper has little to do
with the ground realities. The administrative machinery doesn’t work, and
therefore, government officers take refuge in a pretence of action. For
instance, orders are issued in full knowledge of the fact that they are
going to be ignored. False reports are sent to the Central Government.
Meaningless statistics are published. The implementation of NREGA is a prime
example – the official figures and the ground realities are poles apart.

 The breakdown of public services is worse in Jharkhand than in most other
Indian states. A few weeks ago, I visited the district hospital in Latehar,
on a Saturday afternoon. Not a single member of staff was present. The
patients had just been parked there, without any medicines, and left to
their own devices. What is extraordinary is that people accept this without
protesting. This speaks volumes about their disempowerment: it’s not that
they don’t feel like protesting, but they know that if they step out of
line, they expose themselves to harassment.

 *JS:* Do you think that economic liberalisation can help Jharkhand out of
its current predicament?

 *JD:* This idea is based on the belief that market forces in Jharkhand are
held up by excessive controls and government interference. But in fact,
there are very few controls. Here again, we must separate the fiction from
the reality. On paper, yes, there are plenty of controls. But they are
largely fictitious. The reality is that there is no regulation worth the
name - certainly not regulation of a constructive kind.

 In fact, Jharkhand is an interesting example of what happens in an economy
where market principles have already been pushed way beyond their legitimate
domain – an economy where almost anything can be bought and sold without
restriction. It is supposed to be a highly regulated economy, with a large
public sector, but in fact this is not the case. Everything has a price –
licenses can be bought, degrees can be bought, bureaucrats can be bought,
votes can be bought, the police can be bought, NGOs can be bought. There are
regulations, of course, but they can be waived, if you are willing to pay.
Similarly, the public sector in Jharkhand has already been “privatised”. It
is almost entirely run by private contractors and middlemen.

 The result is a living hell – environmental destruction, subversion of
democracy, rampant exploitation, massive inequality, breakdown of public
services, and other ills associated with the private plunder of public
resources. To think of “liberalization” as the answer, in this situation, is
wishful thinking. On the contrary, what is required is a restoration of the
constructive role of the state in the economy.

 *JS:* Is NREGA making an impact in rural Jharkhand?

 *JD:* It has an impact, no doubt, but the question is – does NREGA have the
impact it should have? The answer is a resounding “no”.

NREGA has an enormous potential in Jharkhand, almost entirely untapped. In
fact, I wonder whether any other state in India has such a wonderful
potential for NREGA. Jharkhand has an ideal topography for labour-intensive
projects and a vast potential for productive works – ponds, wells,
checkdams, rural roads, tree plantation, land leveling, among many others.
The people of Jharkhand have excellent technical skills and a strong
tradition of collective action, especially in tribal areas. In all these
respects, Jharkhand is a paradise for NREGA. And all this can be done with
Central Government money! The fact that the Jharkhand Government has done so
little to make NREGA work speaks volumes about its contempt for working
people.

 Here again, there is a basic failure of democracy. If political leaders
were accountable to the people, they would try to make NREGA work. But in
fact, they are hand in glove with the contractors and middlemen who are
siphoned off NREGA funds. So the loot continues.

 *JS:* What are the biggest challenges before NREGA?

 *JD:* The biggest challenge is to ensure that the system is accountable to
NREGA workers. The whole idea of NREGA is to give people enforceable
entitlements – to make sure that they are able to claim employment as a
matter of right, and that those who fail to do their duty under the law are
punished. But in fact, this is not happening. All the accountability
provisions of NREGA have been ignored: for instance, the provisions for
unemployment allowance, for compensation in the event of delays in wage
payments, and for penalties on officers who fail to do their duty. It is
only in rare cases, where people have organized and made a lot of noise,
that some of these accountability provisions have been used.

 Aside from this, of course, there are many other challenges: rooting out
corruption, ensuring timely payment of wages, improving the quality of
works, and so on. But most of these problems are rooted in the lack of
accountability of the system. This is the paradox of NREGA: it is a
pro-worker law implemented by an anti-worker system.

 *JS:* Does the NREGA, as a source of livelihood, have the potential to
address malnutrition, considering the fact that implementation of the Act
has been fraught with problems in several states?

 *JD:* The NREGA can certainly help, and it does. In a recent survey of
1,000 NREGA workers conducted in 10 districts of North India, 69 per cent of
the respondents felt that the NREGA had “helped them to avoid hunger”. But
even if the NREGA functioned really well, which is not the case, it would
have a limited impact on the nutrition situation, for many reasons. Some
people are unable to participate in NREGA work because of illness,
disability, old age, and so on. Those who do participate earn a meagre
income at best, even if they work for 100 days in the year. And most
importantly, good nutrition is not a matter of income alone. This applies
especially to child nutrition, which is the foundation of good nutrition for
all. For all these reasons, we cannot rely on NREGA alone to eliminate
undernutrition.

 *JS:* The relation between inequality and rebellion is indeed a close one.
Do you relate Naxal problems in Jharkhand with it?

 *JD:* I am not convinced that inequality is the main reason for the
resurgence of Naxal activity in Jharkhand. There is inequality everywhere in
India, and no obvious correlation with Naxal activity. A more plausible
reason is the high degree of exploitation and state repression – in this
respect Jharkhand is ahead of many other Indian states. When people are
constantly exploited by the forest guard, the police officer and even the
BDO, and the Naxals offer to protect them, what do you expect them to do?

 *JS:* What do you have to say about regional media reporting of hunger and
malnutrition issues?

 *JD:* Media reporting of hunger and malnutrition, at all levels, has a very
important role to play in the realization of the right to food. Media
support has been of great help in the right to food campaign, whether
through high-profile coverage of Supreme Court orders at the national level,
or local coverage of starvation deaths, or in many other ways.

 However, much more can be done. Small-town journalists tend to be part of
the local elite, or at least aspire to be part of it. So they rarely
confront the structures of power or side with the underprivileged. Committed
journalists can make a big difference. *⊕*

 *Jivesh Singh*
<jiveshrsingh at gmail.com,%20editors at indiatogether.org?subject=Feedback:%20Jharkhand%27s>
30 Nov 2010

 * Jivesh Singh is a journalist with Prabhat Khabar, where this report was
originally published as part of a special issue to celebrate 10 years since
the formation of Jharkhand as a separate state. *