Are we on a right track to become a multi-trillion Economy?

 Very often, we tend to see poverty as people’s unwillingness to work. When we see someone beg at a traffic light or in the market, people hard-selling balloons or toys, we tend to think that they are doing so because they choose the easy way out and not willing to work. While it could be right in some instances, it’s not correct to a large extent. There are still many remote villages in many states, where livelihood still depends upon forest collection, birds’ rearing. It’s not that they are unwilling to switch to other occupations but that not enough opportunities are available. We generally see everyone’s environment as the same as ours and become oblivious to the reality behind it.

When any public policy is designed, it is done to help businesses, which also helps create employment opportunities for many. And in many times, the interest of Businesses and native people might differ, but since the Country’s Growth is seen in terms of GDP and lobbying power is available with mainly businessmen, poor people’s interest is often neglected or not given enough thought. If in construction of a highway, some forest is amputated or some shops are dismantled or someone’s agricultural land is taken, not many thoughts are given about the livelihood of people who are affected by this. And, its reason is simple, neither Government has the manpower nor willingness to hear all stakeholders in a job in which it thinks the job will help Businesses. Employment creation opportunities are always considered as a secondary objective.

I come from a village where about one-fourth of the population runs shops, and that’s the only source of earning. Some years back there were rumors of construction of Highway through our village which could led to the demolition of about half the shops and those who got effected were getting remuneration equal to price in Govt book which was abysmal as compared to the market price. This highway construction might help some Businesses save some fuel costs or save some hours of travel, but that could not be compared with the loss of livelihood of many people. Similarly, there are places where people rely on forests for their daily essentials, and that’s the only source of survival. How many thoughts are given in seeing the dependence of resources that are getting destructed in the construction of Highway is the question to ponder upon?

But then the question arises, “what could be the correct way of development”? Highways, Big infrastructure projects, Dams seem as a symbol of the Country’s development. We may construct highways today, which in turn will create employment opportunities for many, and ultimately, some people will come out of poverty, and some will become millionaires. But it could leave many worse off, whose number could be multiple times to those who got better. And since the voice of depressed ones will not be strong enough to roar, they will be forgotten, and this will continue. Sometimes I thought that problem also lies in how we measure Growth. If instead of GDP, growth indicators would be the number of people above the poverty line, decisions could be different. However, the problem lies somewhere else as well. It could be in human nature itself; when one gets power/success in life, one loses basic humility. The quest of being superior to others makes them blind to the realities of life. Those in decision-making seats forget the responsibility/ onus which that seat has put on them. Ignorance, along with pride, makes things worse.

And the system in place has a larger role to play. In a poverty-ridden country, where jobs are abysmal, getting Government jobs were seen as a status symbol. When getting a job was not seen as an opportunity to serve/ work, but a feeling of superiority of intellect over many, the intention of doing that job sincerely enormously decreases. This behavior/process continues the societal hierarchy in jobs and decisions inefficient. Politics at the local level was always based on the power one hold over others, and these jobs continued to serve their purpose.