MARCH 10,2012 V o iX L V M N oio

E c o n o m ic &PoliticalwEEKLY
A SAMEEKSHA TRUST PUBLICATION w w w .epw .in

EDITORIALS Mumbai Civic Elections

■ The Real 'Foreign Hand' In spite of an insipid record, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance
■ In Cold Blood was able to triumph again because the Congress ran a
■ Sanitising Caste self-destructive campaign, page 10
COMMENTARY

■ Mumbai Elections Has Growth Been Socially Inclusive?

■ Norway's 'Foster Parents Industry'
An examination of the changes in the incidence of
■ A Water Disaster in the Making?
poverty over nearly two decades, with a focus on the
■ Problems with UAPA Bill 2011
major socio-religious and economic groups in both rural
■ Legal Clinics and Adivasi Rights
and urban India, page 43
■ Girish Sant: Always Two Steps Ahead

BOOK REVIEWS
Impact of State-Level VAT
■ The Battle for Employment Guarantee
A study of the revenue performance of states
■ Ethical Life in South Asia
between 1993-94 and 2008-09 assesses the direct
INSIGHT and indirect impact of the introduction of the
■ Rise and Fall of Calcutta's Group Theatre value-added tax. page 55

SPECIAL ARTICLES

■ Has Growth Been Socially Inclusive Left in Decline: A Further Response

during 1993-94 - 2009-10? A communist party in the 21st century has to engage
■ Revenue Impact of State-Level VAT with democracy, deepen it, and has to devise
■ The Lucknow Pact of 1916: A Second Look strategies based on a "concrete analysis of the concrete
conditions", page 77
NOTES

■ ASHAs and Community Participation

DISCUSSION
Girish Sant
■ The Left in Decline: A Response Girish Sant, coordinator of the Prayas Energy Group,
was able to make searching critiques of energy policies
CURRENT STATISTICS and straddle the two opposing worlds of government
■ Trends in Agricultural Production and people's movements, page 25

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 INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE
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 MARCH 10, 2012 | 10
v o l x lv ii n o
E co n o m ic & P o litica lw E E K L Y
Congress Self-destructs, the Sena-BJP Alliance Triumphs E D IT O R IA L S

10 The lack o f a strong local cadre network and infighting in the Congress Party The Real ‘
Foreign Hand’
........................... 7
lent a helping hand to the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance’ s fourth In Cold B lood...................................... 8
victory in the Mumbai civic elections. Sanitising Caste................................... 8

The 'Foster Parent Industry' F R O M 5 0 Y E A R S A G O ...........................................9

13 Norway’ s much vaunted welfare policies make the State the final arbiter COM M EN TARY
of the interests o f the child, with families and parents having little or no role Mumbai Elections: Congress Self-destructs,
in the matter. the Sena-BJP Alliance Triumphs
—Lina Mathias....................................10
A Water Disaster in the Making? The ‘Foster Parent Industry’ of Norway
15 The cities o f the future should adopt a different m odel from that o f the —Vasanthi Raman ................................13
Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor since these cities cannot otherwise be Delhi-Mumbai Corridor:
sustained without impoverishing the surrounding areas. A Water Disaster in the Making?
—Romi Khosla, Vikram Son i ..................... 15
Need for Review of UAPA Bill 2011 An International Trojan Horse?
Need for Review of UAPA Bill 2011
19 The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill is intended to meet
—SAHRDC........................................ 19
international obligations, but the concern is that it can and will be used
Legal Clinics and Adivasi Rights:
to abuse human rights. The Bill should be referred to a parliamentary Report of a National Workshop
standing committee. —Kalpana Kannabiran, Sam Gundimeda,
Pallavi Gupta, Lakshmi Vivek.................... 21
Legal Clinics and Adivasi Rights Girish Sant: Always Two Steps Ahead
21 A national workshop on adivasi rights and legal clinics concluded that instead —Prayas Energy Group .......................... 25
of conducting only protests, it is important that groups file complaints and
R E F E R E E S C O N S U L T E D IN 2011 ......................... 28
engage with lower courts.

B O O K R E V IE W S
Girish Sant: Always Two Steps Ahead The Battle for Employment Guarantee -
25 A tribute to Girish Sant, energy sector analyst and the coordinator o f the Realising the Right to Work
Prayas Energy Group. —Rob Jenkins .................................... 29
Ethical Life in South Asia -
Rise and Fall of Calcutta's Group Theatre Ethics in Times of Transition in South Asia
36 A corrupt political sphere cannot give rise to an honest theatre movement —Rudolf C Heredia ............................... 34
and, in the same vein, the crisis in the Group Theatre can be viewed as a
I N S IG H T
fallout o f the much bigger crisis in the constitutional left movement
Rise and Fall of Calcutta’
s Group Theatre:
o f the country.
The End of a Political Dream
—Parimal Ghosh ................................. 36
Has Growth Been Socially Inclusive during 1993-94 - 2009-10?
43 An examination o f the changes in poverty incidence and monthly per capita S P E C IA L A R T IC L E S

expenditure in India using the National Sample Survey’ s unit record Has Growth Been Socially Inclusive
data o f three rounds, 1993-94, 2004-05 and 2009-10, with a focus on during 1993-94 - 2009-10?
socio-econom ic and religious groups. —Sukhadeo Thorat, Amaresh Dubey ............ 43
An Assessment of the Revenue Impact
of State-Level VAT in India
Revenue Impact of State-Level VAT in India
—Arindam Das-Gupta............................55
55 The implications o f a study o f the revenue performance of the state
The Lucknow Pact of 1916: A Second Look at
value-added tax for the proposed good s and services v a t are outlined. the Congress-Muslim League Agreement
The study is based on an analysis o f the revenue performance of all states. —AbhayDatar ................................... 65

The Lucknow Pact: A Second Look N OTES

65 The Congress had agreed to the Lucknow Pact o f 1916, presuming that there Healthcare through Community Participation:
was no real chance o f gaining power, but when it realised that pow er could Role of ASHAs
be had without the Muslims, it opposed the pact. — SujayRJoshi, Mathew George................. 70

D IS C U S S IO N
Can ASHAs Engender Community Participation? The Left in Decline: A Response
70 A study of the Accredited Social Health Activist program m e o f the National —Prabhat Patnaik ............................... 7 7
Rural Health Mission in a tribal block in Thane, Maharashtra, shows that in
its current form it has failed to generate community participation. C U R R E N T S T A T I S T I C S ........................................ 8 l

L E T T E R S .............................................................. 4
The Left in Decline: A Response
77 Prabhat Patnaik responds to the many reactions to his article “
The Left S U B S C R I P T IO N R A T E S A N D
in Decline”( e p w , 16 July 2011). N O T E S F O R C O N T R I B U T O R S ................................6

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 LETTERS
Econom ic&PoKticalwEEKLY
i s s n 0012-9976

Ever since the first issue in 1966,

epw has been India’ s premier journal for ‘
Foreign Hand’
and the Anti- units will be phased out as quickly as
comment on current affairs
and research in the social sciences.
Koodankulam Movement possible, and power generated by renew­
It succeeded Economic Weekly (1949-1965), able energy sources. After all, a turbine
which was launched and shepherded
martya Sen’ s felicitous metaphor can be turned to generate electricity by
by S a c h in C h a u d h u r i ,
who was also the founder-editor of e p w .
As editor for thirty-five years (1969-2004)
A which celebrated an aspect of an open
middle class Indian society has been
using either coal, oil, wind or hydropower,
far more safely than with nuclear energy.
Kr is h n a R a j
gave e pw the reputation it n ow enjoys. harshly disproved by no less a person than India has enormous potential in the solar
the mild-mannered Manmohan Singh energy it receives. Megawatt units of
EDITOR
C RAM M ANOHAR REDDY when he followed the practice of Indira solar thermal and photovoltaic systems
Gandhi in seeing a “ foreign hand”behind are being installed in the us, Spain, Greece
DEPUTY e d it o r

BERNARD D ’
M ELLO democratic opposition. Even when the and several other countries. The European
WEB EDITOR
prime minister trumpeted that United Desertec project now on the drawing board
SU BH A SH R A I States (us) and Scandinavian non-govern­ envisages a future when all of Europe
SENIOR ASSISTANT EDITORS mental organisations were behind the will be powered by solar systems set up
L IN A M A T H IA S Koodankulam people’ s agitation against a in the Sahara. But solar energy has never
A N IK E T A L A M
S R IN IV A S A N R A M A N I nuclear facility, a seminar was held in Delhi had the powerful corporate or military
A S H IM A S O O D attended by Admiral Ramdas, former chief backing of nuclear energy.
B H A R A T I BH A R G A V A
of naval staff, and P M Bhargava, former It is not enough that highly placed
COPY EDITORS
vice chairman, Knowledge Commission, experts in an arrogant hierarchical society
P R A B H A P IL L A I
JY O T I SH ETTY who voiced doubts about the safety aspects say that accidents will never happen. It
ASSISTANT EDITOR
of nuclear power installations. It may be is a fundamentalist statement not worth
P S L EE L A remembered that A Gopalakrishnan, re­ arguing about. Further, an open public
PRODUCTION signed as chairman, Atomic Energy Regu­ discussion of the economic viability of
U RAGHUNATHAN latory Board in the 1990s, over his concern nuclear energy, including all costs, has not
S L E S L IN E C O R E R A
S U N E E T H I N A IR about non-satisfactory safety practices been held anywhere. Its plant-load factor
CIRCULATION
in our atomic energy establishments. If record in India is dismal, though techno­
GAURAANG PRA DH AN MANAGER S P Udaykumar, who selflessly leads the crats keep assuring us that it must get bet­
B S SH A R M A
people’ s protest at Koodankulam, is to ter in the future. Many scholars are aware
ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER be falsely accused as an agent of foreign that the American public relations drive in
K A M A L G F A N IB A N D A
interests, the same charge should cover the early 1950s of the concept of ‘Atoms for
GENERAL MANAGER & PUBLISHER
other eminent persons as well. Peace”was really meant to mask its horri­
K V IJA Y A K U M A R
Public protests against nuclear power fic military development. And hawks eve­
EDITORIAL
edit@epw.in stations have intensified all over the world rywhere, including India’ s Raja Ramanna,
CIRCULATION after the disastrous accident at the Fuku- continued to exploit the same theme for
circulation@epw.in
shima power plant. Several grave manage­ military reasons. Even poor illiterate
ADVERTISING
advt@epw.in
ment errors have since then come to light people are aware of the great political,
in that power plant despite the fact that economic, and personal pressure that is
E C O N O M IC A N D PO L IT IC A L W EEKLY
Japan is a rich developed country with a brought to bear on our politicians, bureau­
320-321, A TO Z INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
GANPATRAO KADAM MARG, LOWER PAREL fine record of democratic social concerns. crats and scientists by foreign corporate
MUMBAI 4 0 0 013 And we must not forget Three Mile Island interests who must sell nuclear systems to
phon e: (022) 4 063 8282
fax: (022) 2493 4515 accident in America, or the horrendous third world countries to make a fast buck
fallout of Chernobyl. All these accidents since their own people reject the danger.
E PW R E SE A R C H F O U N D A TIO N occurred in rich countries. Indians nat­ The “ foreign hand”is not supporting the
Research Foundation, established in 1993, conducts
epw
urally fear that similar accidents may humble protesters at Koodankulam; we
research on financial and macro-economic issues in India.
occur in India with its known history of have to look higher up to spot its pressure.
DIRECTOR
K K A N A G A SA B A P A T H Y poor management practices, and the inad­ Vithal Rajan
C 212, AKURLI INDUSTRIAL ESTATE equate training and motivation provided HYDERABAD
KANDIVALI (EAST), MUMBAI 4 0 0 101
p h o n e s : (022) 2887 3038/41 to lower staff. In people’ s minds, it is
f a x : (022) 2887 3038 more a question of when and where a No to Kingfisher Bailout
epwrf@vsnl.com
nuclear accident will occur, rather than if, [Extracts from a letter to Prime Minister
Printed by K Vijayakumar at Modem Arts and Industries,
151, A-Z Industrial Estate, Ganpatrao Kadam Marg,
and that nuclear contamination lasting Manmohan Singh.]
Lower Rarel, Mumbai-400013 and several thousands of years will wreak
published by him on behalf of Sameeksha Tlust
havoc in our densely populated land. tatements from your ministers for
from 320-321, A-Z Industrial Estate,
Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai-400013.
Editor: C Rammanohar Reddy.
The Germans, once votaries of nuclear
power, have now said that their nuclear
S civil aviation and finance seem to
suggest that the Government of India is

m arch 10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o io E9353 Economic & Political w eek l y

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on the verge of succumbing to the scare
tactics of Vijay Mallya, owner of King­
fisher Airlines (k a i r ). The government
seems set to “ persuade”banks to provide
him yet another bailout to fund a com ­
pany that has so far racked up almost
Rs 7,000 crore in losses, entirely funded
by loans. Since most of the money has
been lent by nationalised and public
sector banks, which are repeatedly
capitalised by the government, it would
ultimately mean that this profligate
private enterprise will be bailed out
with public funds.
We express our strong objection to
any further bailout of the flamboyant
billionaire, which will only allow him to
continue to mismanage the airline. We
wish to submit that:
(1) Mismanagement: Vijay Mallya, a
Member of Parliament, famous for his
extraordinarily expensive lifestyle, has
driven this airline to bankruptcy by sheer
mismanagement and bad financial plan­
ning. This is evident from the profits
earned by other airlines (Indigo), which
did not make expensive acquisitions for
foolhardy growth. This expansion and
growth has come only because of the
benevolence of Indian banks.
(2) Indian Banks Complicit: We are sur­
prised that Indian banks have done
nothing since September 2011, when a
report of an independent research firm,
Veritas of Canada, was available to
all large institutional investors. Their
silence amounts to dereliction of duty,
since k a i r ’
s inability to pay endangers
their own profits. As Veritas says, “ we
believe that unless the banking institu­
tions have provisioned judiciously for
the debt provided to k a i r - approxi­
mately Rs 4,567 crore ($986 million) in
loans to Kingfisher in addition to stand­
by letters of credit, etc - it renders the
disclosed capital position of the banks
unreliable.”Even earlier, banks bailed
out the airline by scandalously convert­
ing its debt to equity at higher than
the ruling market price of the day. Such
largesse is unheard of and has never
been extended to smaller and more
deserving entities.
(3) Collateral Destruction of a Public
Asset - Air India: Kingfisher’ s profli­
gacy is not only at the cost of India’
Economic & Political w e e k l y B 2Q m a r c h 10, 2012
nationalised banks but also the national
carrier - Air India. Even a foreign ob­
server like Veritas calls the civil aviation
ministry’ s attitude to Air India “
tous”and observes, “
duplici­
it could be on the
diktat of the regulatory authorities in­
volving various ministries of the Govern­
ment of India that an unviable airline,
k a i r , which is competing against the
incumbent state carrier and siphoning
away its passengers on both the domestic
and international routes, is being sup­
ported via taxpayer-funded financial
institutions” . opposition from privacy advocates. Pro­
(4) Bailout is Unjust, Unfair: In contrast
to the constant injection of public money
into Kingfisher, most Indian citizens
are struggling with spiralling cost of liv­
ing and poor public provision of health­
care and education. The situation is far
more tragic when it comes to our hard­
working and badly indebted farmers.
Between 1995 and 2010, over 2.5 lakh
farmers across the country committed
suicide primarily because they could
not bear the burden of debt they
incurred to meet the growing cost of
agriculture. They prefer death to dis­
honour and do not have the luxury of
defaulting, like the super-rich Vijay
Mallya does.
We suggest the following as a possi­
ble solution to prevent more public
money being pumped into Kingfisher and
end the increasing harassment of the
flying public.
(a) Exercise State Powers: We strongly
suggest that if the state of Indian aviation
is a matter of concern then any conces­
sions to k a i r must come only after a
change in management and with strict
conditions. The Indian Companies Act
has several provisions under which the
government can actively intervene to
force companies to behave or effect a
change in management.
(b) Force Mallya to Pay Up: Even with­
out Mallya in management, there should
be no bailout without forcing him to
liquidate his own personal assets to pay
for the excesses of his airline. Mallya must
be forced to bring in at least Rs 4,000
crore to k a i r .
Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey,
Sucheta Dalai, Debashis Basu
s and others
v o l x l v i i n o 10
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LETTERS
Aadhaar and Civil Society
he Aadhaar project was started in
T 2009 with much fanfare to provide
the poor and marginalised with an iden­
tity. The Unique Identification Authority
of India ( u id a i) chairman Nandan Nile-
kani personally pushed for close interac­
tions with civil society and the authority
held several rounds of consultations to
seek inputs from the grass roots. Unfor­
tunately, those initial efforts were quickly
drowned out by the strong voices of
poor non-governmental organisations
( n g o s) , which might have been expected
to enthusiastically support the project,
chose to remain on the sidelines. This
suited the bureaucrats, who were uncom­
fortable with the notion of civil society
partnerships to begin with, and plans to
reach out to the rn-less were soon put on
the back burner.
Fortunately, there has been a dramat­
ic shift in favour of the project in recent
weeks: The government has reiterated
its strong support for Aadhaar and the
project is expected to find prominent
mention in the upcoming budget speech.
The u i d a i has proven its critics wrong on
several important issues, such as the ac­
curacy of biometric technology and the
cost of the project. Several initiatives are
currently underway to demonstrate the
power of Aadhaar on the ground - e g, as
meeting k y c norms for small accounts;
for e-payments in m g n r e g s , pension
schemes, and student scholarships; rein­
ing in illicit trade in l p g supply, etc.
Will the u i d a i use its renewed man­
date to boldly accelerate its plan for in­
clusion of the rn-less, while at the same
time addressing the “ security concerns”
of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs?
Will pro-poor n g o s break their self-im­
posed silence to support the various
Aadhaar-based initiatives to better man­
age our welfare services, despite the
naysayers in their ranks?
There is a need for a renewed dialogue
between the u i d a i and civil society on
how they can work together to meet
Aadhaar’ s pro-poor mission, while at the
same time addressing the legitimate
concerns regarding data privacy.
Raju Rajagopal
5
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6 m arch io , 2012 v o l x l v ii n o io QBC9 Economic & Political w eek l y

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The Real ‘
Foreign Hand’
The government’
s paranoia about protests against large projects has gone out o f all proportion.
rime Minister Manmohan Singh’ s throwaway remark in
P an interview to Science magazine that non-governmental
organisations ( n g o s ) funded by groups in the United
States and some Scandinavian countries were behind the
sustained opposition of local people to the nuclear plant in
Koodankulam, Tamil Nadu, is not just absurd, it is dangerous
and must be condemned by every democratic-minded person
in the country. It is absurd because there is absolutely no basis
for this accusation. It is dangerous because such a statement
from the prime minister of supposedly a democracy exposes an
undemocratic and intolerant mindset.
For over two decades, people around Koodankulam have been
expressing their opposition to the location of a nuclear power
plant there. Ignored for years, what began as a tiny movement of
a handful of people has steadily grown with every dismissal by
the government and the nuclear establishment as uninformed
opposition. Events exploded last year when, in keeping with
the supercilious attitude of the Indian nuclear establishment, a
casual approach to a mock emergency exercise in the year of
Fukushima caused panic in the area. Since then people living
around the Koodankulam plant, mostly fisherfolk, have been
registering their opposition through non-violent protest. To
allege that these people have done so at the instigation of a
“foreign hand”is an insult not just to the commitment of these
ordinary people but also to all Indians who question the govern­
ment’ s development policies. Do the prime minister and his
government believe that those who oppose them have no
agency? That they are people of a lesser intelligence who can­
not understand the intricacies of nuclear power? That they are
not citizens of this country with the right to decide whether
they want to live in the shadow of a plant that could pose a dan­
ger to their lives in the event of an accident? The prime minister
has claimed that the “ thinking segment”in India supports nu­
clear energy. Does this mean that all those who oppose it are
“unthinking”and brainless? It is clear that having tried every­
thing short of police action to break the protests, the govern­
ment is trying to delegitimise the movement by accusing it of
being funded from abroad.
As part of a ploy of attack by innuendo, the Union Ministry
of Home Affairs suggested that four n g o s working in the region
were diverting funds to the protest but it quickly backtracked
Economic & Political w ee k l y DBBi m arch 10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o
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when asked to provide proof. Now they have set about investi­
gating these organisations (many of which are church-based
and conduct several welfare-related activities) and have also
suspended the registration that allows them to receive funds
from abroad.
It was in 1976 during the Emergency that Indira Gandhi
brought in the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (f c r a )
through an ordinance. Under f c r a , provisions for registration
are stringent, requiring n g o s to demonstrate over three years
that they are working within the areas for which foreign funds
can be sought. Under a further amendment, n g o s have to get
fresh registration every five years. The f c r a has provided the
government with the power to interrogate any n g o receiving
foreign funds and also the discretionary power to suspend its
registration. Given all this monitoring how has the government
suddenly concluded that an agitation of more than two decades
against a nuclear power plant is being funded by n g o s receiving
foreign funds?
The prime minister’ s statement, although made in the con­
text of nuclear energy, exemplifies the government’ s approach
to all genuine opposition or questions raised about its policies.
It has been evident for some time that the government views a
range of protests - from environmental groups objecting to
mining or introduction of genetically modified crops to com­
munities refusing to part with land for thinly-veiled land grab
strategies under the guise of creating special economic zones -
as “ obstructionist”. Whose paths are these groups obstructing?
That of development that would benefit all or that of the real
foreign hand, for whom the welcoming red carpet has been
laid out by the government under the name of foreign direct
investment? The proposed nuclear power parks at Jaitapur or
Koodankulam are only part of the story. The real agenda of
this government, and of many state governments, has been to
push through with projects and policies and then cry “ obstruc­
tion”when people on the ground realise what is happening. In
a real democracy, where the poor and powerless have the same
rights as the powerful, such an approach cannot work. In India,
it is the promise of those rights - and not the ubiquitous foreign
hand - that has fuelled protests in so many parts of the coun­
try. It is the “foreign hand”that this government is holding on
to that is the real problem.
10 7
In Cold Blood
Strict implementation o / n h r c guidelines fo r investigation into fake “
he killing of five suspected bank robbers in Chennai on
T
“
23 February by police officers tasked with apprehending
them looks suspiciously like yet another case of a fake
encounter” . News reports following the killing have brought
out various inconsistencies in the claim of the police that they
fired in self-defence.
After directives from the National Human Rights Commission
(n h r c ), an enquiry into the incident has been initiated by the
Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department of Tamil
Nadu. A public interest litigation filed by a human rights organi­
sation seeking to investigate more than 20 cases of “ encounter
deaths”in the past four years in the state is already pending in
the Madras High Court. Though the police can claim the right to
defend themselves, that they acted in self-defence must be
subsequently clearly established and cannot be based on press
statements of an unavoidable and risky firefight that are more
often than not usually lapped up by an uncritical media.
In 2011, a Supreme Court bench hearing a case about an
alleged fake encounter involving the Rajasthan police said that
police officials involved in fake encounter deaths should be
given the strictest of punishments - the death penalty. The
bench consisting of judges Markandeya Katju and Gyan Sudha
Mishra made this observation while noting that a fake encounter
was no different from cold-blooded murder. While capital
punishment has no place in jurisprudence and a civilised
society, it is welcome that the Supreme Court mentioned the
need for harsh punishment of policemen who are involved in
killing suspected criminals.
Yet, some state governments have even given career promo­
tions and gallantry awards to the policemen involved in
encounter killings. There is the example from Gujarat where
senior policemen who have been subsequently charged with
murder in fake encounters such as the killing of Sohrabuddin
were given promotions. According to n h r c data, 1,502 encoun­
ters had been reported to the body until 2009; 12 cases were
proven as fake and compensation awarded to the families of
victims. What is not clear is how many of the 1,502 cases were
properly investigated.
The n h r c ’ s 1997 guidelines (revised in 2003) - intimation of
all encounter deaths to the n h r c , mandatory magisterial and
Sanitising Caste
Total sanitation cannot be achieved merely by allocating more funds.
I
n early February, Union Rural Development Minister
Jairam Ramesh caused something of a media storm in a
teacup when he said that the country has 700 million
mobile phones and as many people who do not have access to a
8 m a r c h 10, 2012
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encounters”is a must.
independent enquiries, prompt prosecution of and disciplinary
action against those found guilty, no out of turn promotions and
other such instructions - are not adhered to by many state gov­
ernments. In fact, some have been lax in implementing even the
most important of them - as evidenced in the absence of an
independent enquiry by the Government of Andhra Pradesh
into the encounter killing of Maoist leader Cherukuri Rajkumar
“ Azad”and journalist Hemchandra Pandey. The fact remains
that extrajudicial killings and fake encounters enjoy political
patronage as well, especially in cases involving dissidents and
radicals. In February 2009, the Andhra Pradesh High Court in
the apclc vs Government of Andhra Pradesh case had ordered
that independent investigations and the filing of an f i r had to be
ensured in all encounter deaths. But the Andhra Pradesh police
obtained a stay on the judgment from the Supreme Court. An
appeal in 1999 by the People’ s Union for Civil Liberties ( p u c l) to
the Supreme Court in the pucl vs State of Maharashtra case for
stricter follow-up after deaths is still being heard by the apex
court. Police officials argue that stringent guidelines on prevent­
ing and following up on encounters will cramp them in perform­
ing their duty in a potentially dangerous situation! It is implicitly
suggested that tortuous judicial proceedings do not result in
justice and so the killings of “ criminals”by policemen is justi­
fied. Media praise of police officials involved in encounters and
impatient demands for “ instant justice”are also to blame for the
phenomena of encounter killings. The media has simply not
helped with its use of terms such as “ encounter specialists”for
individual policemen who have a number of killings against
their name; such irresponsible media practices glamourise rather
than call to account such police actions.
While the n h r c guidelines mandating enquiries into encounter
deaths and the Supreme Court calling for harsh punishment if
they are proven to be set-up killings are welcome, more substan­
tive reforms in policing need to be effected. A change in the
form of policing - an end to the use of aggressive methods and
the adoption of more humane forms of law enforcement - and
better justice delivery systems should definitely help change
public perceptions about the “ efficacy”of encounter killings.
This will then lead to a decline and eventually complete
elimination of an illegal and inhuman practice.
toilet. That he apparently put the onus of wanting a toilet
on women angered some, others were baffled with the
comparison. Not only were the good minister’s numbers wrong
(India now boasts about 900 million mobile phone subscribers)
v o l x lv ii n o io BBSS Economic & Political w e e k l y
 EDITORIALS

the statement does nothing to illuminate the challenges facing
sanitation in the country.
Last year, speaking at the release of the United Nation’ s 2011
Human Development Report, Jairam Ramesh had pointed out that
while Rs 20,000 crore was being spent annually on providing
drinking water, the expenditure on sanitation was only a tenth
of this amount. Funding for sanitation has indeed been woefully
inadequate, with only Rs 7,890 crore having been spent under
the Total Sanitation Campaign (t s c ) from its inception in 1999
until February this year. In 2010-11, the central government’ s may well be a conservative figure.
allocation under the t s c was Rs 1,529 crore. This is a far more
revealing comparison than looking at the number of mobile
phones and toilets.
In March 2010, nearly two decades after manual scavenging
was outlawed, Union Minister of State for Housing and
Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja accepted in Parliament
that 5.78 crore toilets needed to be constructed to end
open defecation and replace all the “ dry latrines”which are
now manually cleaned by hand. The report of the Planning
Commission’ s working group on rural drinking water and
sanitation for the Twelfth Plan suggests a Central Plan outlay
of Rs 1,22,570 crore for drinking water and Rs 44,116 crore
for sanitation.
How much of a new policy push and funding will come to
pass is an open question. Given the experience of the past,
despite the t s c efforts, only 25,000 out of the more than
6,00,000 villages in India are free from open defecation.
Various statistics point to an unimaginably large number of girl
students missing education due to an absence of toilets in
schools and people falling ill due to poor hygiene. While an
increase in government funding is sorely required, why is it
that sanitation has received so little attention even when, de­
spite all the shortcomings and flaws, the government has
shown some initiatives in areas like drinking water and litera­
cy? The crucial question actually is whether it is merely the
lack of funding which is the reason for India remaining the
world’ s largest open lavatory?
The obvious answer to both the questions is rarely ever
mentioned - caste. Governments find it easy to neglect
sanitation in their budgetary allocations and rare is the
non-governmental organisation which mentions this because
sanitation in India remains the sole concern of just one caste.
Kumari Selja can elide over the fact that each of the dry
latrines which still litter our country need human hands to
clean them and that human beings carry the faeces thus gath­
ered, by the head loads, for disposal. From private homes to
schools, from hospitals to offices, and what is totally bizarre,
even courts of law, in many of them there are over 10 lakh dry
latrines in operation according to government data, which
Apart from dry latrines, much of the garbage collection,
road sweeping and cleaning of drains in Indian cities and
villages are dependent entirely on an “ efficient”functioning
of the caste system. If the millions who are engaged in this
work are truly free to choose their work and lifestyle, our
blessed country will come to a standstill with mountains of
uncollected garbage, blocked sewers and clogged toilets. Every
democratic-minded person would want those trapped in
demeaning caste occupations to be liberated from their shackles.
The trends appear to indicate that among the castes bonded to
sanitation, literacy and aspirations are growing and some of
the younger people are moving out of their caste occupations.
This is entirely welcome and should be encouraged.
However, will throwing large quantities of money on the t s c
and the use of new technology be the solution to our collective
refusal to address the indignity of caste and our collective
culpability of forcing our fellow citizens to clean our shit with
their hands? Despite all the laws and pious statements, in the
cities, the removal of faeces and cleaning of drains which
was traditionally the occupation of one caste has been trans­
ferred to the formal sector where the entire body of govern­
ment and municipal employees which does this work is drawn
from the same caste whose traditional occupation has been
scavenging of this kind.
Ambedkar had argued against Gandhi, “ ...in India a man is
not a scavenger because of his work. He is a scavenger because
of his birth irrespective of the question whether he does scav­
enging or not.”Government policy on sanitation and public
hygiene needs to remember that there can be no sanitation in
India without eradicating caste.

FROM 50 YEARS AGO Whether such a meeting will have better by Russia’ s refusal to consider the US

fhe&onornicWeeWj
fl Journal ol Current economic anb political Affair*
VOL XIV, NO 10, MARCH 10, 1962
EDITORIA LS
En Route to Summit
So Mr Khrushchev has agreed that the
forthcoming eighteen-nation disarmament
conference start at Geneva at the foreign
ministers’ level, and not at the summit as he
had earlier asked. That indeed is heartening...
chances of success than a summit meet as
the USSR suggested remains to be seen.
But Mr Khrushchev’ s readiness to renounce
his earlier insistence augurs well for the
Geneva discussions.
But before we have had time to rejoice
at a seemingly happy prospect for Geneva,
we get a jolt on the important question of
nuclear tests. After a long and patient wait
for years President Kennedy felt compelled
to issue what looked like an ultimatum to
Russia: to sign a pact to ban atomic tests or
let the US go ahead with her own atmos­
pheric tests...
Even if Kennedy’s impatience were justified
ban-with-inspection proposal as anything
but a plan for espionage, his timing it for
Geneva smacks of brinkmanship. The demand
for a treaty within two months on pain of
resumption of tests looks like another U-2
plane the type that gave Khrushchev his
jumping off ground before the Paris summit
meet in May last.
...But the question still remains, now that
the initial level has been agreed upon, whether
the chain reaction of threats and counter­
threats over nuclear tests will help raise
the level to summit or stagnate it at the stage
of the three hundred odd earlier meetings
on disarmament.

Economic & Political w eekly EBSS9 m arch 10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 10 9

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COM M ENTARY
Mumbai Elections
Congress Self-destructs,
the Sena-BJP Alliance Triumphs
LINA MATHIAS______________________________
The Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata
Party alliance triumphed in
the Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation elections for the
fourth consecutive time, in spite
of a dismal performance record.
The Congress Party did its best
to help the alliance win with its
infighting, openly airing
inner-party differences and even
acting on them.
Email: lina@epw.in
10
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latter would eat into the former’ s votes.
Despite this, the Congress ended up with a
lower tally (a decline of 21 seats) than
what it held earlier, while the n c p main­
tained its 14 seats.
With the assembly elections scheduled
for 2014, Chavan had declared this con­
test to be between the United Progressive
Alliance (u p a ) and the Bjp-led National
Democratic Alliance. The party’ s city
f the Congress Party had decided to chief Kripashankar Singh (who has since
I gift the recent Brihanmumbai Munici­ resigned, following a high court directive
pal Corporation (bm c) elections to in a disproportionate assets case) was for
the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party- long at loggerheads with Congress city m p s
Republican Party of India (Athavale) com­ Gurudas Kamat, Priya Dutt, and Sanjay
bine, it could not have done a better job. Nirupam (who is the party’ s north Indian
Along with ally Sharad Pawar’ s Nation­ face and thus Kripa Shankar’ s rival).
alist Congress Party (ncp), it seemed These m p s were unhappy with Kripa
hell-bent on proving that it had learned Shankar’ s choice of candidates, and the
nothing and forgotten everything of its chief minister’ s insistence on allying
experiences in the last three civic elections. with the n c p .
Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan who Mumbai’ s importance to the nation’ s
worked overtime to ensure a tie-up with economy and especially to the hundreds
the n c p showed that his arithmetic was of migrants who pour in daily hardly
flawless when it came to calculating the needs reiteration. And while its residents
combined strength based on the 2007 now complain about how it is coming
elections. But not even he could conjure apart in every way, they are the first to
up the most important factor in local civic proudly propound its uniqueness. Of late,
elections: a strong network of local cadre however, the pride in its being the most
and party workers who are familiar and cosmopolitan city has become muted.
visible to residents throughout the year. The city to which Gerald Aungier (gover­
Neither could he contain the Congress’ nor of Bombay in 1672) invited Parsi ship
perennial sin: infighting and airing every builders, traders from Surat and Hindu
grievance before an obliging media. and Muslim craftsmen from other parts
City Congress Members of Parliament offering them protection and generous
(mps) warned him against going with terms, now has an uneasy relationship
the n c p and sure enough, Congress with the “ outsider” . After the ss toned
hopefuls denied a ticket to accommo­ down its anti-north Indian plank (it is a
date the ally, fought as independents debatable point whether it did so in def­
dividing precious votes. erence to ally b j p ’
s base in north India),
All the signs seemed to portend that its offshoot, the m n s , took it up aggres­
the 16-year reign of the saffron alliance sively. Its violence has been targeted
in the country’ s richest civic body would mostly at the bhaiyyas from Uttar
end. The administration appeared utterly Pradesh and Bihar who are now present
indifferent towards complaints about the in considerable numbers and are visible
city’s near absent civic amenities. Nor did because they do many menial jobs,
the regular media reports detailing the operate fruit and vegetable pushcarts
networking between corrupt contractors, and are the largest number among taxi
corporators and civic officials in almost and autorickshaw drivers.
every area of civic affairs make any dif­
ference. The bitter feud between the The Elusive ‘ Elite’
Thackeray cousins Uddhav (Shiv Sena - Mumbai’ s low turnout in 2012 (45%) was
ss) and Raj (Maharashtra Navnirman in keeping with most other metro cities
Sena - m n s ) continued, indicating that the in India and with its own performance
m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x lv ii n o io DBS! Economic & Political w e e k l y

in 2007. It is rather unclear how the
media and its pundits so blithely
arrived at the conclusion that all the
non-voters are the elite. It is doubtful
whether even the lower middle class
citizen who sends her child to a private
school and accesses private medical
services finds the b m c the most signi­
ficant service provider other than in
water supply. It is mostly in the slums
and chawls where civic services take
on importance that local politics and
politicians matter.
There is another significant issue that
is being debated of late and that is the
very governance structure of the b m c .
The municipal commissioner who has
substantial executive powers is hand­
picked by the state government. Since it
is invariably a loyal government bureau­
crat, he or she is accountable technically
and otherwise, to the state government
and not the elected corporators. In fact,
a new controversy has already taken off
with the civic commissioner Subodh
Kumar insisting that corporators would
not get the Rs 1 crore development fund
they were supposed to (which is separate
from the corporator fund of Rs 35 lakh).
The corporators are now readying for a
battle (Hindustan Times, 27 February).
Besides, it is not as if the slum dweller
is unaware that the b m c is a hotbed of
corruption since she is the one who suf­
fers its effects the most. There are a
number of reasons why the “ mobilisation”
by party workers pans out better in the
poorer areas. Residents not only need
these activists more than their counter­
parts elsewhere, it is also very easy to
determine who did not go out to vote in
these areas. As one of them told this
writer, “Our corporator did not have a
cycle to his name earlier. Today he has
two cars but we vote for him because
when there is a crisis and he says he will
help, he does. He even comes in the
middle of the night if he is called.”
While the state chief minister is clearly
considered to be an “ outsider”foisted on
the state, the major state departments,
including home, are invariably held by
non-Mumbaikars - an aspect that the ss
has harped on repeatedly and success­
fully. Reports like the one that party
president Sonia Gandhi will “ decide the
Economic & Political w e e k l y 13323 m a r c h 10, 2012
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cm ’
s fate”after the polls only reinforce
the perception that local opinion is
not valued.
The Other Congress
To begin with, the n c p does not have
much political influence in the city or
an appreciable local cadre network. It
has one m p , three Members of the Legis­
lative Assembly (m l a s ) and now, 14 cor­
porators. The media has been gleefully
reporting on the bitter wrangling between
the two partners in the state government
including the chief minister’ s verbal
duels with his n c p deputy Ajit Pawar.
While the two parties were allies in four
municipal corporations they were con­
testing separately in the other six that
went to the polls at the same time as
Mumbai. Besides, since both have a
strong rural presence, the campaigning
for the 27 zilla parishads saw some bitter
contests between the two main rivals.
All this of course was relayed by tele­
vision and newspapers to Mumbai voters,
especially by the Marathi media.
Both of Sharad Pawar’ s moves - the
50% reservation for women in local civic
bodies and the praise he heaped on
Raj Thackeray - did not work either
to garner support or eat into the Shiv
Sena’ s votes. Chavan candidly said that
they had expected the m n s ’vote share to
rise which did not happen and it bagged
more seats instead. Congress insiders
attributed the presence of 30 rebel can­
didates to the fact that seats were given
to accommodate the ally. In their strong­
hold in Dharavi (which has six seats and
of which it held five) the party ended up
with just one this time. The n c p also
miserably underestimated the ability
of their long-time dalit ally, Ramdas
Athavale to attract dalit votes. This
meant it ended up not only ignoring
Athavale but also failing to take steps to
contain the situation.
Micromanagement Pays
This time around the s s -b j p took the r p i
(Athavale) on board though the latter
was unhappy with the fact that only 29
seats were allotted to him. With its large
pool of youth workers, the ss could put
up fresh candidates in nearly 90 seats
which might have helped beat the
v o l x l v i i n o 10
COMMENTARY
anti-incumbency factor partially. While
almost all parties faced a problem when
putting up candidates for the seats
reserved for women, the ss was able to
deal with it the best. It has a large female
cadre and its women’ s wing is very
active. Besides, “c e o ”Uddhav Thackeray
allowed the local shakhas to run the
campaign as they saw fit while conduct­
ing an overall supervision. Added to all
this is the Shiv Sena’ s loyal Marathi
voter network which, rain or shine,
faithfully queues up to vote for it, the
allegiance being largely to Thackeray
senior. However, the ss will be left look­
ing over its shoulder more than ever in
the next five years. The m n s is now a
serious rival to contend with.
The m n s won 28 seats (infighting in
Parel and Lalbagh led to a rather poor
performance in these areas) and came
second in almost 30. The party also
reaps the benefits of being a new organi­
sation. As some dalit voters miffed with
Athavale admitted to this writer, “ We
will never vote for the s s -b j p , but we are
willing to give Raj a chance. Let’ s see
what he does” . But the much-talked
about m n s coup is that of winning all
the seats in the Dadar-Mahim belt in­
cluding the area where the Shiv Sena
Bhavan stands. It was in these areas
that some of the ss giants were slain by
young candidates.
While a dedicated team of the local
cadre of the m n s carried out all the
paperwork and other logistical work, the
candidates were left free to campaign
door to door and meet as many of the
potential voters as possible. This is obvi­
ously a strategy that worked well and is
attributed to the thinking of the local
m l a , Nitin Sardesai.
Fair Pound of Flesh?
With 65% of the city’ s population living
in slums or on the street, it does not
require great acumen to know where the
potential voters are. During every civic
election, the media carries reports albeit
with anonymous quotes and sources
detailing the haldi-kunku gifts to women
and distribution of currency to men.
This time was no exception. As one resi­
dent of a slum colony in the eastern
suburbs told this writer on the day of
11
polling, “ No one in our colony slept last
night. All the bhais were there bidding
till nearly 5 am. Our area is very impor­
tant because of redevelopment and the
people know this.”
This time even housing societies were
approached with offers of building roads
in colonies, digging borewells and giving
the buildings a much-needed coat of paint.
Needless to say, these were not unwel­
come. In many areas, senior citizens are
taken on day-long pilgrimages to the
city’s religious shrines, with travel, food
and recreational expenses all paid.
Even more depressing is the admis­
sion by the State Election Commissioner
Neela Satyanarayan that “ fair polls are
not possible as money and liquor flow
freely” ( d n a , 14 February). “ The s e c
cannot do much except demand the
accounts of the parties and ask candi­
dates to disclose how much they spent
on campaigning. What saddens me most
are the demands made by voters from
the candidates - free holidays, goodies
and other favours.”
Selfless Service
The r p i (Athavale) ended up winning
just one seat in the city. However,
the dalit leader proudly said that his
party had helped the s s - b j p attract dalit
and minority votes. How this is sup­
posed to help the party grow is any­
body’ s guess.
In fact, Athavale had lost to the ss
candidate in Shirdi in the 2009 parlia­
mentary elections. Then, he had held
the Congress responsible for his defeat.
Though he was part of the Sharad Pawar
camp, Shirdi had been allotted to the
Congress at that time in seat sharing.
One more proof, if needed, of how the
Ncp-Congress support each other’ s can­
didates during an alliance! Also, the r p i
now seems to be glossing over the fact
that while its dalit votes helped the
s s - b j p , why did not the saffron votes
help its dalit candidates? r p i activists
explain the poor results by saying that
the party’ s symbol was allotted only
four days before the polling and it was
too late to familiarise voters with it!
Older dalit voters were none too happy
about Athavale’ s alliance with the saffron
parties though they were all praise for
12
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the help he had been to the community This happened in the ss too. It put
as transport minister in Pawar’
s govern­ up the 21-year-old engineering student
ment in the state earlier. Anusha Kodam in the Dharavi Transit
Camp seat reserved for o b c women. This
Muslim Vote is a Congress bastion but Kodam won by
The chief minister had announced that 789 votes. While she campaigned aggres­
he was working to “ consolidate the secular sively she admitted that her brother had
vote”and finish off the communal parties been a ss member for 15 years and was
in the b m c elections. When the results instrumental in getting her the ticket.
came in, he said that the Samajwadi No marks for guessing under whose
Party (sp) had split the Congress-Ncp’ s “guidance”she will do her civic work.
secular vote share. This is rather strange Similarly, the s p ’
s Dilshad Ashraf Azmi
logic. Did Chavan expect the s p to abstain won from ward 158 in Kurla with a
from the elections? What were the Muslim margin of 62 votes. Until the elections,
leaders in the Congress and n c p doing she had never done any political work.
to garner these votes? And in any case, Her husband who won from the adjoin­
why did not the Muslims want to vote ing ward told the media that his brother
for the Congress when they have tradi­ had worked hard in the area but it got
tionally done so? Perhaps, this is what reserved for women. The sister-in-law
the promised introspection should also was put up and won and as the proud
focus on. husband said, “ She will be the face of
this ward. However, my brother will
Half the House be handling all the work”(Hindustan
The 50% reservation for women has Times, 24 February).
created a large female presence in the
b m c . But the quota has proved to be a So Far Away
mixed blessing of sorts for many. For, And what of the voters who want the
seats which had sitting women corpora­ b m c to address the problems of water
tors who had nursed their constituencies supply, school education and other prob­
were given to male candidates. lems of the citizen? Tanuja Raool (32),
All parties had to fall back on the Sumitra Dhabade (45), and Shakuntala
kith and kin of male leaders/workers. Kamble (50), all domestic workers and
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will be supported by young economists and lawyers.
The positions involve intensive involvement in research studies, and designing, developing and executing innovative
training/academic programmes.
a) Dean - Academics
b) Senior Fellow/ Fellow - Law
c) Senior Fellow/ Fellow - Economics
The candidate should possess a postgraduate degree or Doctorate in Law, Economics, Business Management, etc.
from an Institute of good repute and proven experience in the related fields of minimum of 5 years (Fellow) and 10
years (Dean and Senior Fellow). For the position of Dean (Academics) prior experience in designing new courses,
running (short and long term) courses for professionals and academic administration is desirable.
The candidate should also possess demonstrated skills and ability to write research reports and course modules;
design innovative capacity building solutions; lead a team of young lawyers and economists, with result orientation
in the focus areas. Proficiency both in written and spoken English with excellent communication skills, and working
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R-75, 1st Floor, Greater Kailash-I, New Delhi-110048, India
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m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l XLV ii n o i o CDS1 Economic & Political w e e k l y

members of the Gharkamgar Molkarni
Sanghatana had also stood for elections
(M id Day, 9 February).
They were put up by the Communist
Party of India and their agenda was
The ‘Foster Parent Industry’
of Norway
VASANTHI RAMAN__________________________
The case of the two Indian
children who have been taken
away in Norway by the welfare
services from their biological
parents is part of a larger
phenomena - the “foster parent
industry”
. The Nordic Committee
for Human Rights, founded by
professionals from Norway,
Denmark, Sweden and Finland
has noted that this is a typical
case of the Norwegian welfare
state’
s policy of breaking up
families and taking children into
care. These children are
invariably traumatised and
become the future clients of an
ever-expanding social welfare
services network.
Vasanthi Raman (yramano6@gmail.com) is
convenor, Forum for Creches and Childcare
Services and visiting fellow, Centre for
Women’ s Development Studies, Delhi.
Economic & Political w e e k l y Q B SI
COMMENTARY
crystal clear: an end to alcohol abuse in each towards the campaign expenses of
their respective wards. After that they these spunky women.
would deal with the problems of domestic They lost, of course, but perhaps at the
workers, and water and education. Their risk of repeating a cliche, they truly em­
fellow members contributed Rs 100 body the spirit of the gritty Mumbaikar.
industry with a network of foster parents
who are paid handsomely for their “ foster­
ing” , and are supported by a large net­
work of psychologists who provide the
required reports. Generally, it is the most
vulnerable families, the poor and the
immigrants who fall easy prey to this
industry. Needless to say, there must be
he case of the Indian children in motivated social workers who are sincerely
T Norway who have been taken committed to the cause of children.
away by the state welfare services The Nordic Committee for Human
from their parents is indeed getting Rights (n c h r ), founded by professionals
curiouser and curiouser. Apparently the from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Fin­
Indian parents are not good parents land in 1996, with the express mandate
according to the standards prevalent in of defending the basic human rights of
Norway and the Child Welfare Services children and families has noted that these
(cws) decided to remove the children countries have a long history of taking
from their custody and hand them over to children into custody. The n c h r ’ s sharp
foster care on grounds of “ emotional dis­ observations in the present Indian case
connect” . The Indian couple has denied are extremely significant. It notes that this
this. They say that the issue is one of cul­ is a typical case of the Norwegian welfare
tural differences regarding norms of state’ s policy of breaking up families and
parenting. However, even the issue of taking children into care. These children
“cultural differences” , simple enough to are invariably traumatised and become
understand, conceals far more than it the future clients of an ever-expanding
explains. The latest in the drama is that the social welfare services network. What is
Norwegian child services will judge the disturbing is the role of the courts and
psychological state of the children’ s uncle their jurisdiction over children who are
and his suitability to be their guardian. Indian nationals, indicating that they are
being covertly adopted by foster parents.
The Malevolent State? Thus they insidiously become part of the
Much has been written about the cw s in foster home “ industry”. The Norwegian
Norway and Sweden and their dubious state’ s policies have come in for serious
reputation in regard to issues of child criticism from international quarters as
protection. The present case of the Indian well, with the United Nations Convention
children is not the first and may not be on the Rights of the Child (u n c r c ) com­
the last. For one, a critical issue that mittee expressing serious concern in 2005
emerges is the role of the State. Is the “ at the number of children being removed
state, in this instance the welfare state, from families and put in foster homes in
one that many saw as essentially progres­ Norway” . The committee has gone on to
sive and which took care of the citizens’ state that Norway must protect the natu­
basic needs of healthcare and education, ral family environment and send chil­
now turning into a nightmare? Is it be­ dren to foster homes only as a last resort
coming a parent and not a very bene­ and in the best interests of the child.
volent one at that? From all accounts, it
appears that parents are terrified of the Miscarriage of Justice
cw s and their personnel. It would seem The assumption underlying the policies
that it is an industry wherein “ work” of the Norwegian welfare state (and
has to be found for the ever-expanding other Nordic countries as well) is that
m arch 10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 10 13
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COMMENTARY

the state is the final arbiter of what is in
the interests of the child, with families
and parents having little or no role in
the matter. The personnel of the cw s
actually decide the fate of children and
families who for a variety of reasons are
life expectancy leading to an ageing
population which has led to an increased
interest in the phenomenon of child­
hood, the fragmentation of the family as
a unit and its increasing existence as just
a coalescence of individuals and the ex­
are overly conscious of the u n c r c and
not enough about the rights enshrined
in the Indian Constitution, some issues
need to be kept in mind.
One of the significant features of the
u n c r c is that it attempts to redefine the

vulnerable, be they the poor or the
migrants. There are a plethora of cases
of parents fighting for the custody of
their children over many years, in most
cases unsuccessfully, and in some cases
leading to suicide and/or nervous break­
down. What is disturbing is that while
the state’ s policies are overzealous in
protecting the interests of children from
abuse on the part of their natural families,
there seems to be little or no protection
of children from abuse by the foster
families. The arbitrariness and impunity
of the state is the issue with there being
little scope for redressal from miscarriage
of justice. Article 8 of the European
Convention of Human Rights guarantees
the right to private and family life and yet
the Nordic welfare states are violating
those very rights. Thus we have on the
one hand social welfare policies that
ensure that basic healthcare and educa­
tion and care of the aged and on the
other, the phenomenon of an extremely
intrusive state, specifically in the case
of children.
We find a strange inversion of norms
wherein the right to family life and pri­
vacy which has been enshrined in the
liberal notions of rights is now being
inverted and the state (the welfare state
at that) is now the repository and arbiter
of rights. Is this a new development? Or
is it that a more benevolent version of
the welfare state (that most of us are
familiar with and would even uphold)
has now given way to this macabre ver­
sion under the impact of the deepening
crisis of late capitalism? For many, par­
ticularly in the third world, the Scandi­
navian welfare state has almost been a
kind of model. But recent developments
following this case surely would initiate
a serious review.
ponential rate of change that is all per­
vasive. What is significant is that this
declining birth rate especially affects the
white populations while the non-white,
immigrant populations, who are gener­
ally the underclass in European societies
do not exhibit these trends. This declin­
ing birth rate of the white European
populations generates anxiety and para­
noia about preserving their “ culture”in
a future that might be dominated by
non-white immigrants. The policies of
these nations towards children of immi­
grants can therefore be viewed partly
from this context. There have also been
debates about the “ cultural reprogram­
ming”of such children. Do these deve­
lopments play a role in undergirding
the policy assumptions of the Nordic
welfare states? Many would argue that
they do and that what we have is a
strange combination of the political
economy of the welfare services industry
and an underlying racism with a strong
anti-poor bias.
What are the implications of all this
for the Indian government and for
Indians in general? There is of course a
clear case of the issue of sovereignty of
the Indian parents and the two children,
which the government is seized of. But
the wider implications of the issue of the
welfare of families and children belong­
ing to the vast underprivileged and vul­
nerable sections of our society need to
be given careful thought. Given that
many of our child rights organisations
For the Attention of Subscribers and
Subscription Agencies Outside India
It has come to our notice that a large number of subscriptions to the
country together with the subscription payments sent to supposed subscription agents in India
have not been forwarded to us.
relationship of the family to the child
and of the family to the public sphere,
specifically the state and government. In
fact, what the u n c r c attempts to do is to
unsettle at a very fundamental level the
complex historically evolved and socio­
culturally specific relationships between
(a) the individual and the group, (b) the
child and the family, and of both to the
wider social structures be it clan, tribe,
caste, or the state. An approach which
bypasses intermediary institutions and
structures and their complex linkages
(i e, that between the child, family, wider
kin-structures, community, wider national
society) can have serious consequences
and will lead to further traumatisation
of children and families.
Those of us in India who are dealing
with increasing sections of the margin­
alised and vulnerable populations have
upheld the responsibility of the state in
the provisioning of the basic services
for both children and families, the
thrust being that families have to be
made viable in the face of the intensify­
ing pauperisation and extreme distress.
Basically, the enabling role of the state
has to be upheld. Fortunately, so far the
Indian government in its policy thrust in
the field of children’ s rights has stated
that institutionalisation of children has
to be the last resort. The fact that the
measures that are part of government
policy have been only insufficiently imple­
mented is another matter and need to be
addressed seriously.
EPW from outside the

Demographic Factor
There is another set of important social
developments in the west that needs to
be considered: the demographic changes,
i e, the declining birth rate and increased
We wish to point out to subscribers and subscription agencies outside India that all foreign
subscriptions, together w ith the appropriate remittances, must be forwarded to us and not to
unauthorised third parties in India.
We take no responsibility whatsoever in respect of subscriptions not registered with us.
M anager

14 m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x lv ii n o io GEE3 Economic & Political w e e k l y

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Delhi-Mumbai Corridor
A Water Disaster in the Making?
ROMI KHOSLA, VIKRAM SONI______________________
Coming out of a key
recommendation of the McKinsey
Global Institute report on India’
urbanisation in the coming
s T
decades, the Delhi-Mumbai
Industrial Corridor project
envisages the establishment of
several new cities, industrial
nodes, ports, airports and
high-speed rail and road lines
over six states. However, as is
typical of such research and
policy vision documents that have
been farmed out to international
corporate consultants, the project
analysis relies on several arguable
assumptions about resource
availability, especially of water in
a severely water-deficit region.
Romi Khosla (romi@rk-ds.com) is an architect
and national consultant on urban planning
issues. Vikram Soni (ysoni@airtelmailcom) is
at the Centre of Theoretical Physics at Jamia
Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
Economic & Political w e e k l y BQQ m arch
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______
he union cabinet has moved a note
to divert $90 billion for the Delhi-
Mumbai Industrial Corridor (d m ic)
project, according to an August 2011 report
in The H indu.1The project will be imple­
mented in collaboration with Japanese
investment. Conceived some five years
ago, the project has been endorsed by the
McKinsey Global Institute in their report
“India’ s Urban Awakening” , which has
recommended the construction of 19 such
industrial corridors in order to fast-track
India’ s urbanisation. One of these 19 cor­
ridors, the d m ic , the subject of another
report by the infrastructure consultant
Scott Wilson India, envisages the estab­
lishment of several new cities, 24 indus­
trial nodes, three ports, six airports and a
1,500 km high-speed rail and road line.
The project footprint stretches across six
states. The population in the region is ex­
pected to grow from 231 million in 2009
to 320 million in 2019 and 524 million in
2039 (Scott Wilson India 2009).
This is first of the mega-projects that
McKinsey has predicted India will need
in the coming decades. For the first time
in history, consolidated global census data
shows that a majority of people around
the world now live in cities. If the trend
continues, by 2050, some 55% of the entire
Indian population could be urban dwellers
(United Nations 2009). Urban research
institutions, corporate entities and govern­
ments have received this as “ fate foretold”
. investment by 2030. We do not, in this
For governments facing the immediate
pressures of this urban onslaught, it is
clearly a nightmare. For the corporate
sector, on the other hand, this is exciting
news since it promises vast new opportu­
nities for investments and returns and they
have provided us with the answers to our
impending urbanisation disasters in two
reports-from McKinsey and Scott Wilson.
Urban Research and Its Problems
In India, due to the complexity of the
current political situation, the government
10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 10
COMMENTARY
has found it convenient to farm out re­
search and policy projects to project
managers or global policy institutions.
In this article, we will review the “ fate
foretold”in the research publications of
some of these institutions and analyse
the consequences of the proposed urbani­
sation policies of the government. The
emphasis is on the role of the private
sector and could possibly lead to damage
to the environment, if the approach is not
transparently managed and discussed in
the public realm. Some of these proposals,
after all, are going to decide the politi­
cal, economic and social fate of India in
the coming century.
In order to find out just how hopeless
the situation is in our metropolitan
cities, we can conveniently turn to the
findings of the McKinsey Global Insti­
tute, an arm of McKinsey and Company,
a global management firm. The report’ s
database is derived from 2,000 metro­
politan areas. This exhaustive report has
become something of a bible for govern­
ment policymakers and is leading to
some highly questionable planning pro­
posals, as we show later.
Using 2001 Census data, the McKinsey
report proposes that the urban popula­
tion of India will rise from 340 million in
2008 to 590 million in 2030. The report
proposes that while urban India contri­
buted to 58% of g d p in 2008, this figure
should rise to 70% by 2030. In order
to evaluate the quality of life of urban
India, the report considers six key indi­
cators - water supply, sewage treated,
solid waste collected, slum population,
private and public transport and parks
and open spaces. It concludes that India
needs $1.2 trillion of additional capital
article, question the outdated criteria for
the sole selection of indicators for g d p ,
prosperity and the quality of life. Instead,
by remaining within the parameters
set by the report, we can observe the
consequences of these projections on
government policies.
Two of the 34 McKinsey recommenda­
tions concern us here (2010: 35):
•Facilitate 20 to 25 new cities near the
largest 20 metropolitan areas by providing
adequate infrastructure such as water,
electricity and transportation links.
15
COMMENTARY
•Seed future urbanisation by building
19 transportation corridors linking Tier 1
and Tier 2 cities.
It is our contention that of the six indi­
cators selected by the report to evaluate
quality of life, it is water supply that is
most crucial since it is a natural resource
whose supply cannot be increased by
technology, except at enormous cost.
The entire available supply of water in
the d m i c region is already being shared
between farmers who use 83%, industry
that uses 10% and cities that use the
balance (Vyas 2003).
For the purposes of our analysis, we
have chosen the d m i c as the testing
ground for the conclusions of the McKin-
sey Global Institute report. The d m i c is a
direct outcome of the second recommen­
dation above. Both recommendations
seem implausible, and yet their untena­
ble conclusions are likely to guide gov­
ernment policies and investments in the
next decade.
The Delhi-Mumbai
Industrial Corridor
The most critical resource for industrial
or urban development is the availability
of water. The two sources for inland
water are rivers and underground aqui­
fers. The ambitious urbanisation and
industrialisation project of the d m i c
being planned for the future will have to
extract two-thirds of the total water need
from rivers and the rest from severely
stressed groundwater aquifers, which
are already polluted and overexploited.
The Scott Wilson d m i c report has a
listing of total flows and extractable uti-
lisable flows in each state in the d m i c re­
gion. In order to evaluate the real situa­
tion of water availability, we shall use
the criterion used in the Scott Wilson
d m i c document - an ecological flow im­
perative of allowing 50% of the river
water to remain in the river to enable it
to live and clean itself.
The data implies that the d m i c can
share and extract water from this 50%
utilisable flow. Unfortunately this is not
the case, since all the “ utilisable flow”in
the rivers of the region is already fully
utilised by current users. Developing the
d m i c will overdraw the water and im­
pact the health of the rivers.
16
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All the rivers in the d m i c region al­
ready have multiple barrages and dams
to divert their flow. Clearly there is no
possibility of building more dams with­
out seriously disturbing the ecological
flow. The Chambal, for instance, already
has four dams that divert almost half the
river flow. The international norm for
ideal utilisation laid down by the Inter­
national Centre for Water Technology
(i c w t ) is 25%. Even accepting the higher
utilisation of 50% of total flow, we find
the region is already water deficit.
Table 1: Water Resource Potential of Rivers Passing through DMIC Region (W a te r V o lu m e
M e tre s (BCM )) ________________________________________________________________________________
RiverBasin Total Flow
Y a m un a (till E taw ah) 13
C h a m b a l (till E taw ah) 31.4*
M ahi 11
S a b a rm a ti 3.8
N a rm a d a 45.6
Tapi 14.9
Seasonal w e s t flo w in g rivers o f K u tch and
S a ura shtra in c lu d in g Luni 15
Total 134.7
Data from the Central Water Commission archives.
* From P KJha, V Subramanian and R Sitasawad (1988). * * Based on only storage capacities of the dams Gandhi Sagar, Rana
Pratap Sagar, Jawahar Sagar and Kota Barrage. Does not include the 150 small-scale irrigation projects on the Chambal.
Table 1 shows that there is no water
left for diversion in the rivers that fall in
the region of the d m i c . This should be an
overriding concern for any large-scale
project. The Scott Wilson report implies
that further diversion of these rivers is
necessary as the area faces a ground-
water deficit. This would result in ir­
reversible damage to these rivers lead­
ing finally to their demise. Unfortunately,
this is the likely scenario in most of the
country, except for the water-surplus
north-eastern states and the ghats.
If we consider the data in the d m i c
report in further detail and look at
Haryana, for example, we discover that
out of the total flow of 5.88 b c m in the
Yamuna, 4.05 b c m in the Beas, 4.94 b c m
in the Ravi and Sutlej, the flow available
for diversion (50%) is already totally
utilised. There is no water available for
further diversion. In reality, the condi­
tions of these rivers is not unlike that of
the Yamuna where the quantum of water
being diverted is closer to 70% and hence
already much above permissible limits.
There is thus a danger that the data
being used in the d m i c report does not
coincide with the data from established
MARCH 10, 2012
national water monitoring research insti­
tutes such as the Central Water Com­
mission. The justifications for these enor­
mous projects in the future may be com­
ing through a subterfuge of language,
suggesting the utilisable flow is available
flow. It is highly questionable to how such
multimillion urbanisation and industrial
projects are being proposed on the basis
of interpretation of unreliable data.
The International Water Management
Institute (i w m i ), to which India is a
donor, has categorised India as a “ water
in B illio n C u bic
MinimumFlow50% AlreadyUtilised BalanceAvailable
forUtilisation
6.5 9 - 2 .5
15.7 1 5 ** + 0 .7
5.5 5 + 0 .5
1.9 1.4 + 0 .5
22.8 23.6 -0 .8
7.5 10.3 -2.75
7.5 6 + 1 .5
67.4 70.3 -2 .8 5
stress zone”(Figure 1, p 17). In addition,
the i w m i has indicated that 33% of In­
dia’s rivers are severely or moderately
polluted across their entire lengths, that
69 districts in 14 of our states have high
fluoride levels in the groundwater, and
that 40 districts in 13 of our states have
high heavy metal pollution levels in
the groundwater.
IWMI Data
The authors of the Scott Wilson d m i c
report have further assumed that east­
flowing rivers outside of the d m i c region
also provide water for the d m i c . They
suggest that if and when an engineering
solution becomes available, the water of
these east-flowing rivers be transferred
large distances by lifting waters over
heights of 600 metres across the Western
Ghats. The less said about this proposal
the better.
The water of Godavari and Krishna
Rivers that flow east is shared between
Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, where
there is intense interstate conflict over
river water sharing and where agriculture
demands have already prompted farmer
suicides. It is unlikely that these states
v o l x l v i i n o 10 BEES Economic & Political w e e k l y

Figure 1: By2000, Water Scarcity Had Spread to Many Large and Donsaly Populated Countries in Asia
Global Per Capita Water Availability (2000)
Source: Reproduced from IWMI Water Policy Briefing Volume 15 on Environment Flows.
will surrender any of their precious
river waters to the d m i c as the d m i c
document assumes.
Precautionary Principle
It is therefore apparent that before this
enormous investment of billions of dol­
lars is made across the terrain of the
d m i c , a proper evaluation o f the avail­
ability of water should be completed.
Going by announcements in the finan­
cial press, it would seem that investment
in the project is awaiting government
willingness to undertake the necessary
infrastructural investment. Private inves­
tors contend that the government should
invest in power, roads, water, land acqui­
sition, etc, since these give no direct
returns but facilitate other investment.
Of all the infrastructure requirements,
water and land are the most critical
because they are finite resources. The
d m i c project cannot proceed without
usurping the water that the farmers
need for growing precious food and
having an adverse impact on villages in
the area. Such land and river acquisition
will only create conflict.
It is our contention that the urbanisa­
tion process being planned in the wake
of the McKinsey and Scott Wilson re­
ports for the next decade, indeed for the
rest of this century, is based on mistaken
assumptions. The enormous footprint
and mega presence of new projects does
not address the critical factor of ecological
Economic & Political w e e k l y B D
Extreme Scarcity Stress Adequate Abundent Surplus No Data
scarcity 500-1,000
<500
1,000- 1,700-
1,700 4,000
4,000- >10,000
10,000
'0 0 0 lite rs /p e rs o n /y e a r
balance through self-sufficiency in a glo­
bal environment which is struggling to
fight climate change. The implementa­
tion of these projects in the form
planned in these reports will destroy
precious natural environmental resources,
while at the same time snatching what
remains from existing users by impover­
ishing villages and farms. The resource
use, data and assumptions outlined in
the d m i c report need careful scientific
scrutiny and public awareness which
can only be done if an independent
water commission is established for the
regions of the d m i c across the six states.
No aspect of this mega project should
proceed without the authorisation of
this commission and without all due
unified environmental clearances. In the
absence of such a unified authority, each
state could randomly clear proposals.
It is not too late to learn from the
Chinese experience, where a chronic
drought is destroying farmland in North
China as the Gobi Desert expands
southwards (Wong 2011):
The Yellow River, the so-called birth place
of Chinese civilisation, is so polluted it can
no longer supply drinking water. The rapid
growth of mega-cities - 22 million in Beijing
and 12 m illion in Tianjin alone - has drained
underground aquifers that took thousands
ofyearstofill.
Environmentally sustainable cities in
the future should adopt a different model
from the one championed by the d m i c .
m arch 10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 10
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COMMENTARY
The metropolises of today cannot be sus­
tained without preying on the natural
resources of the surrounding region,
and impoverishing these neighbour­
hoods. The cities of the future need to be
radically different: significantly reduced
in size and ecological footprint and in­
creased in absolute numbers so as to be­
come self-sufficient units. As decentral­
ised democratically governed cities of
the future, such “ natural cities”could
secure prosperity for the economic, social
and political fabric o f India.2
n o t e s ________________________________________
1 See for example, Mehdudia (2011).
2 Preliminary blueprints for such natural cities,
with populations ranging up to one million were
presented by the authors at the Future World
Council (Telegraph Special Correspondent 2011).
These cities would be relatively self-sufficient
in their requirements of watei; power and food.
REFERENCES_________________________________
Jha, P K, V Subramanian and R Sitasawad (1988):
“Chemical and Mass Transfer in the Yamuna
River - A Tributary of the Ganges System” ,
Journal of Hydrology, 104:237-46.
McKinsey Global Institute (2010): “ India’ s Global
Awakening - Building Inclusive Cities, Sustain­
ing Economic Growth” , McKinsey & Company,
India.
Mehdudia, Sujoy (2011): “ Cabinet Note Moved on
$90 Billion DMIC Project” , The Hindu, 21 Au­
gust, accessed on 13February 2012: http://www.
thehindu.com/business/article2376647.ece
Scott Wilson India (2009): “ Delhi Mumbai Indus­
trial Corridor Final Report” , Volume 1, Scott
Wilson India, New Delhi.
Special Correspondent (2011): “ Inspiration for Fu­
ture Cities in Past Civilisations” , Telegraph, 5
April, accessed on 8 February 2012: http://
www.telegraphindia.com/1110405/jsp/na-
tion/story_i38ii5o8.jsp.
United Nations (2009): World Urbanisation Prospects:
2009 Revision, Population Division, Depart­
ment of Economic and Social Affairs, New York.
Was, V S (2003): India’s Agrarian Structure, Economic
Policies and Sustainable Development (New
Delhi: Academic Foundation Publishers).
Wong, Edward (2011): “ Plan for China’ s Water
Crisis Spurs Concern” ,New York Times, 1June.
EPW Index
An author-title index for EPW has been
prepared for the years from 1968 to 2010.
The PDFs of the Index have been uploaded,
year-wise, on the EPW web site. Visitors can
download the Index for all the years from the
site. (The Index for a few years is yet to be
prepared and will be uploaded when ready.)
EPW would
like to acknowledge the help of
the staff of the library of the Indira Gandhi
Institute for Development Research, Mumbai,
in preparing the index under a project
supported by the RD Tata Trust.
17
 Environment, Technology and Developm ent:
Critical and Subversive Essays
Essays from the Econom ic and Political Weekly
Edited By

R ohan D 'S ouza

Many political battles, policy initiatives, academic debates and our understanding of the world in general
have been shaped by the ideas that have developed around the concepts of environment, technology
and development.
How do these concepts influence each other? How have they subverted established ideas and dogmas?
How have they developed over time and what are its varied meaning? This volume brings together
writings across disciplines, perspectives and ideologies that answer these questions, map the main
conceptual lines and identify the points where they converge and diverge.
The articles have appeared over the past four decades in the Economic and Political Weekly.
Pp x + 394 Rs 495 The introduction provides a brief chronological overview of the theoretical underpinnings that led to the
ISBN 978-81 -250-4506-9 emergence of the current notion of environmental development.The chapters are selected and arranged
2012
in a non-linear manner that allows the reader to get a sense of the wide-ranging debates.
The essays see the progress of technology in its political context and in relation to the social and environmental consequences it
engenders. They show how technology is meshed with politics as is environment with development, and how agriculture is woven
with ecology.The transfer of resources from the marginalised to the empowered groups and the crucial issue of spatial politics where
space is constituted, assembled and forged by the economically powerful are also discussed. This volume will provoke, educate,
stimulate and inform the lay reader and specialist alike.

Authors include
T R Thankappan Achari • Manshi Asher • P A Azeez • Jayanta Bandyopadhyay • Charul Bharwada • Philippe Cullet • Mahasveta Devi
• Sumita Gupta Gangopadhyay • Hiren Gohain • Rahul Gupta • Barbara Harriss-White • L C Jain • Annu Jalais • Ashwin Kumar • John
Kurien • Vinay M ahajan • Arjun M akhijani • Dinesh M ohan • Dipti M ukherji • Chandrika Parmar • K Krishna Prasad
• P P Nikhil Raj • M V Ramana • C H Hanumantha Rao • Amulya Kumar N Reddy • Sunali Rohra • Vandana Shiva • Nigel Singh
• Sudha Srivastava • Geetam Tiwari • G Vijay • Gregor Meerganz von Medeazza • Shiv Visvanathan • Arundhuti Roy Choudhury.

Readings on the Economy, Polity and Society

This series is being published as part of a University Grants Commission project to promote teaching and
research in the social sciences in India.The project (2010-12) is being jointly executed by the Tata Institute
of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and the Economic and Political Weekly.The series is meant to introduce university [ Economic Reforms .
students and research scholars to important research that has been published in EPW in specific areas. Growth in India

Also published
Economic Reforms and Growth in India ed. P Balakrishnan
This vo lum e investigates th e n ature o f econom ic g ro w th in India, its pace over tim e,
its relationship to changes in th e policy re g im e and th e role o f th e external sector. The
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late 1990s and 2008.
It is an im p o rta n t addition to th e literatu re on post-liberalisation econom ic g ro w th in
Pp xiv + 454 Rs 445
India. It will be useful to students and scholars o f econom ics and m a n a g e m e n t.
ISBN 978-81-250-4271-6
Forthcoming titles 2011

Village Society, ed. Surinder S Jodhka • Decentralisation and Local Government, ed. T Raghunandan
Adivasis and Rights to Forests, ed. Indra Munshi • Gender and Employment, ed. Padmini Swaminathan and more

Orient Blackswan Pvt Ltd

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 COMMENTARY

An International Trojan Horse? groups, without judicial review, from two

to five years.3This allows the government’
s
assumption of guilt to go unchecked for
Need for Review of UAPA BUI 2011 longer, multiplying the harmful effects
of flawed anti-terrorism legislation by
furthering the risk of punishing the
SAHRDC_______________________________________ innocent. The assumption of guilt before
a conviction is a violation of the funda­
The Unlawful Activities he Unlawful Activities (Prevention) mental human rights principle of the
(Prevention) Amendment
Bill has been drafted to meet
India’
s obligations to the inter­
T Amendment Bill, 2011 seeks to
amend India’ s Unlawful Activities
presumption of innocence.

Prevention Act (u apa ) of 1967, a contro­ Prosecution o f Legal Persons: Originally,

versial Act that bans organisations deemed the 1967 Act targeted individuals and
governmental Financial Action to be involved with illegal activities, with group associations, whereas the Bill ex­
Task Force on combating amendments targeted at terrorism pre­ tends the u a p a ’ s jurisdiction to cover com­

vention. The original 1967 Act empow­ panies, n g o s , intergovernmental organi­

money-laundering and terrorist
ered Parliament to restrict certain rights sations and all members and associates of
financing. However, the powers and freedoms in order to protect India’ s such entities.4 The Bill also replaces the
it will confer on the government “sovereignty and integrity” , u a p a directly text of the original Section 17with a clause
could be easily abused to permit curtails the rights to peaceful assembly, criminalising directly or indirectly collect­
to form associations or unions, and the ing or raising funds that can be associated
prosecution of mass organisations
freedom of speech and expression. with terrorism, and in 17(c) clarifies that
or non-governmental These fundamental rights guaranteed in providing funds, “ in any manner for the
organisations working in domestic and international laws are benefit o f ’a person or organisation
communities allegedly associated now at risk of being constricted in new deemed to be terrorist, “ /or the purpose
and more drastic ways. not specifically covered under Section 15
with banned groups. There are
In June 2010, India joined the Financial shall also be construed as an offence”
many other concerns and it is Action Task Force (f a t f ), an intergovern­ (emphasis added).5 Although meant to
essential that the Bill be referred mental body seeking to fight money­ cover prosecution of everyone involved or
to a standing committee of laundering and terrorist financing.1 As associated with terrorism, these changes
part of its membership, India agreed to effectively could allow prosecution of or­
Parliament before it is considered
adopt legislation to implement these goals ganisations for their work in communi­
for enactment. by 15 March 2012. The Bill was intro­ ties allegedly accused of terrorist activity,
duced in the Lok Sabha on 29 December or for their work protecting the rights of
2011 to ostensibly comply with f a t f ’ s people falsely accused of association
policy.2 While it achieves the goal of with banned groups.
making money-laundering and terrorism The dangers of this are illustrated by the
finance a criminal act, it does so at grave recent defamation of civil society groups
expense to a range of fundamental working in Naxal-hit states. In Decem­
rights of Indian citizens. In particular, ber 2011, for example, the union home
the Bill amends the u a p a to lengthen the ministry announced the identities of
period in which a group may be banned 23 insurgent “ front organisations” , many
before judicial review and it permits the of which are legitimate and reputable,
government to deprive individuals of including the Committee for the Release
property without conviction for any of of Political Prisoners (c r p p ).6 The c r p p
these crimes. Further, it could be easily works for the unconditional release of
abused to permit prosecution of mass or­ political prisoners, regardless of their
ganisations or non-governmental organ­ beliefs, on the basis of the rights to freedom
isations (n g o s ) working in communities of expression and belief.7Minister of the
allegedly associated with banned groups. State for Home Affairs Jitendra Singh
The flaws in this Bill are too grave to be called the c r p p a “ Maoist front” , while
ignored in the name of security. the police accused c r p p of sheltering
those associated with banned groups
Banning o f Groups for Five Years before and providing them with medical aid.8
SAHRDC is the South Asia Human Rights Judicial Review: A primary concern is The c r p p and its members would be at
Documentation Centre, New Delhi.
that the Bill extends the ban of unlawful risk for prosecution and could be subject

Economic & Political w e e k l y 15353 m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 10 19

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COMMENTARY
to a five-year ban under the uapa
amendments simply for fighting for the
rights of people living in tense locations.
Prosecution for association with a
banned organisation, rather than for an
illegal activity, will criminalise the exer­
cise of key human rights such as freedom
of expression and association and the
right to presumption of innocence.9 The
Bill will expand the court’ s powers to
prosecute within the membership or staff
of the organisations by including, in Sub­
section 22a, the right to proceed against
“every person (including promoters of
the company)”unless “ he proves that
the offence was committed without his
knowledge or that he had exercised all
due diligence to prevent the commission
of such offence” . When one is presumed
guilty, proving innocence of any know­
ledge of a crime or having attempted to
prevent such crimes would put the ac­
cused at an unjust disadvantage. Further,
the amendment to Article 2 2 A (2) per­
mits convictions for an illegal activity
found to be “ attributable to any neglect
on the part of (the) said legal person(s)” .
This can lead to difficulties proving in­
nocence, as the dubious wording could
allow conviction on the premise that the
crime committed was “ attributable to”
negligence. Overall, the amendment
appears to be designed to guarantee a
finding of guilt by association, as inno­
cence and lack of association are hard to
prove concretely.
Violations o f the Right to Property:
The Bill further grants the government
the right to confiscate property without
due process and regardless of whether
the owner has been convicted of an un­
lawful activity under the uapa. Consist­
ent with the Bill’ s overarching assump­
tion of guilt, a person not yet convicted
or considered a terrorist can be forced to
forfeit his/her property, whether mone­
tary or otherwise. Section 2 4 A (2) allows
the confiscation of “Proceeds of terrorism,
whether held by a terrorist organisation
or terrorist gang or by any other person
and whether or not such terrorist or other
person is prosecuted or convicted fo r any
offence (emphasis added)”The Bill fur­
ther violates the right to presumption of
innocence by allowing “ attachment or
20
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forfeiture...of property equivalent to, or, the accused” . Although the government
the value of the proceeds of terrorism claims this power is necessary for pro­
involved in the offence”merely on the tecting state security,11it is an arbitrary
commencement of prosecution. The Bill and unfounded violation of rights to
also contains no explanation of, or refer­ presumption of innocence and the right
ence to, legal guidelines on how confis­ not to have property taken without due
cated property is to be used by the govern­ process. Not only does this provision
ment. If a person’ s, or a whole company’ s deprive without trial the decedent’ s ben­
or organisation’ s property can be confis­ eficiary of property now belonging to
cated without a conviction, there must them, it is an open door for grave human
be regulations on the use or allocation of rights violations. In a country, notorious
the property, as well as guidelines on for extrajudicial killings, euphemistically
how to return the property if the person, called encounter killings, it is not hard
organisation or company, can prove their to imagine a staged custodial death to
innocence. India should adhere to the allow for property to be freely confiscated.
United Nations best practices by establish­ There must be provisions for determin­
ing a review procedure for removing sanc­ ing the property is material evidence,
tions on the accused, where assets frozen detailing how the property may be
or seized can be returned through due used,12 and explaining what happens to
process. The accused should be afforded any income it generates and how it will
a “ timely procedure for appealing the be determined whether the property is,
sanctions at their own will, as well as a in fact, a proceed or somehow involved
periodic review mechanism to deter­ with an unlawful activity. Without such
mine if the accused still meets the criteria provisions, the deprivation of property
of the designation.10 As this Bill will would be arbitrary.
change the current review mechanism to
once in every five years, this is unaccept­ Recommendations
able and cannot be considered “ timely”. While acknowledging that the Bill is
In Section 2 4 A (5), the Bill further intended to bring Indian legislation in line
confers to the Indian court the power to with international obligations, the concern
confiscate property as material evidence and worry is that this Bill can and will be
“where the trial under the Act cannot used to abuse human rights. It is essential
be concluded on account of the death of that the Bill now referred to a standing
The Department of Political Science and Development Administration,
Gandhigram Rural Institute - Deemed University invites application
for Project Fellows for UGC - Special Assistance Programme. The
salary for the above Fellows is Rs.14,000 per month for Non-NET
candidates and Rs.16,000/ per month for NET candidates. They
can pursue Ph.D programme also. Interested candidates have to
send their CV to gpgri_rgc@yahoo.com. CV has to come on or
before 14th March, 2012.
Prof.G.Palanithurai
Coordinator
UGC - SAP
Department of Political Science and Development Administration,
Gandhigram Rural Institute - Deemed University,
Gandhigram - 624302
Dindigul District
Mobile: 09159099809
m arch 10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o io BEES Economic & Political WEEKLY
 COMMENTARY

committee of Members of Parliament be­ the Financing of Terrorism: India”, indiatimes.com/2011-12-16/delhi/30524488_1_

fore consideration for enactment be sub­
jected to close scrutiny. Any further legis­
lation on preventing and punishing finan­
cial terrorism should be introduced to the
Lok Sabha as a temporary emergency leg­
islation. Anti-terrorism provisions should
always be categoried as “ emergency leg­
islation” , under the thumb of judicial
review every three to five years, so as not to
ingrain curtailments of civil and political
rights into normal jurisprudence. This
Bill should not be added to the 1967
u a p a , permanent legislation, and should
safeguard the rights of the innocent and
not place them in further danger.13
n o tes ________________________________________________
1 Financial Action Task Force and Asia/Pacific
Group on Money-Laundering, Mutual Evaluation
Report “
Anti-Money Laundering and Combating
25 June 2010. At: http: //www.fatf-gafi.org/
dataoecd/6o/56/45746i43.pdf
2 PRS Legislative Research. The Unlawful Acti­
vities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2011.
At: http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-unlaw-
ful-activities-prevention-amendment-bill-2011-
2159/
3 The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment
Bill, 2011, At: http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/
media/Unlawful%2o/Unlawful%2oActivities%
2oAmendment%2oBill%202on.pdf
4 Refer note 3.
5 Refer note 3.
6 Vishwa Mohan, “ Names of Maoist Fronts in Delhi
Unveiled” , The Time of India, 8 December 2011.
At: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
2on-i2-o8/india/30489763_i_maoists-sashastra-
people-s-morcha-naxal-violence
7 “Committee for the Release of Political Prison­
ers (CRPP) appeal for support and solidarity”
NCHRO News at: http://nchro.org/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=6999
:committee-for-the-release-of-political-prison-
ers-crpp-appeal-for-support-and-solidarity-8c
catid=i7:campaigns &Itemid=27
8 Dwaipayan Ghosh 2011, “ Geelani ‘
Front’under
Scanner, Cops Throw Net” , Times of India,
16 December, at: http://articles.timesofindia.
maoist-front-crpp-intelligence-agencies
9 Human Rights Council, “ General Comment No 32
- Article 14: Right to equality before courts and
tribunals and to a fair trial”(23 August 2007) UN
Doc CCPR/C/GC/32 (2007), paragraph 30.
10 FATF Guidance Document, International Best
Practices Paper - Freezing o f Terrorist Assets
(23 June 2009), Section II. In accordance with
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373
(2001) Paragraph i(b) At: http://www.fatf-
gafi.0rg/data0ecd/30/43/34242709.pdf
11 Namrata Biji Ahuja, “ Government Plans to De­
fine Word ‘ Terrorist”
’, Asian Age, 13 October 2011.
At: http://www.asianage.com/india/govt-plans-
define-word-terrorist-366
12 FATF Guidance Document, International Best
Practices Paper - Freezing o f Terrorist Assets
(23 June 2009), Section II. In accordance with
United Nations Security Council Resolution
1373 (2001) Paragraph i(b).
13 As UAPA is an already flawed act that makes
allowances for human rights abuses, it should,
rather than be revised, be repealed. Ravi Nair,
“The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amend­
ment Act 2008: Repeating Past Mistakes” , 24
January, Economic & Political Weekly. Found
in: National Judicial Academy, National Judi­
cial Seminar: Terrorism, Safety and Security,
Vol 1, pp 287-91.

Legal Clinics and Adivasi Rights
Report of a National Workshop
KALPANA KANNABIRAN, SAM GUNDIMEDA,
A national workshop in
Hyderabad deliberated on adivasi
rights and the organisation of
legal clinics, addressing the
issues faced by the vulnerable
communities among them.
The authors are grateful to the participants of
the workshop and the Council for Social
Development Hyderabad team for making this
workshop possible. We acknowledge the
contribution of N Vasanthi, D Sunder Raj and
B Ramesh of CSD in organising this workshop.
Kalpana Kannabiran (kalpana.kannabiran@
gmail.com) and Sam Gundimeda
(sambaiahgundimeda@googlemail.com) are
with the Council for Social Development,
Hyderabad; Pallavi Gupta and Lakshmi Vivek
(1
asmita.programmes@gmail.com) are with
Asmita Collective, Secunderabad.
and B N Yugandhar, and lawyers Seema
Misra and Abha Joshi from Delhi to
mention a few. The participation of
young lawyers from adivasi communi­
ties in Andhra Pradesh was particularly
noteworthy.
PALLAVI GUPTA, LAKSHMI VIVEK______________ The workshop had twin objectives -
pedagogical and interventionist: first,
he Council for Social Development addressing a gap in legal education that
“
T ( c sd ) , Hyderabad, organised a hitherto had no focus on the situation
two-day national workshop on of adivasis, despite their presence in
Legal Clinics and Adivasi Rights” Schedules v and vi of the Indian Consti­
between 31 January and 1February 2012 tution, and a voluminous record of con­
as part of its long-term programme on stitutional derogations that speak directly
adivasi rights. The workshop brought to law in its breach; second, focusing on
together a group of people from diverse building strategies and skills for youth
backgrounds - academicians, advocates/ within these communities, especially
lawyers, activists - with over half the those who had studied law and those
participants coming from adivasi commu­ with a tertiary education that would
nities. Participants included M Raman- enable effective intervention through
amma, who runs a “ bridge”school for courts and adjudicatory spaces. While
internally displaced Gutti Koya children all the participants had either exposure
from Chhattisgarh in Bhadrachalam, to rights advocacy or were rights educa­
Joseph Bara from Jawaharlal Nehru tors themselves, this was the first time
University, Baharul Islam from n e f Col­ several of them were thinking of the
lege of Law, Guwahati, Rajendra Sail, possibility of community-based clinics
activist with the People's Union for or even of influencing the curriculum of
Civil Liberties and lawyer from Raipur, clinical legal education in their respec­
Bineet Mundu, activist from Jharkhand, tive areas. Or bringing a focus on adivasi
Mallavarpu Rambabu, Smita Nayak from rights to bear on law schools and build­
Utkal University, Tokala Guruvaiah from ing strategies to draw law students into
the Chenchu village Appapur, former community-based clinics through intern­
distinguished bureaucrats K B Saxena ship programmes and placements.

Economic & Political w e e k ly D 39 m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 10 21

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COMMENTARY
The representation of adivasis in public
discourse historically has been responsi­
ble for policy thrusts that have either
been assimilationist, integrationist or
exclusionary. The perspectives of the
communities in question therefore have
not shaped law or policy in any substantial
way, even while the latter were meant to
uplift these communities. The absence of
adivasis from the framework of legal ed­
ucation in India is particularly troubling.
Joseph Bara dwelt at length on the diffi­
culties of reorienting the development
discourse to speak to adivasi lifeworlds.
Freezing adivasis into static moulds, the
liberal focus on the individual as the
bearer of rights obstructs the conceptu­
alisation of adivasi rights and therefore
their actualisation, argued Bineet Mun-
du. While adivasi history has been one of
struggle, there has been a gap in trans­
lating this into legal victories.
One of the key issues/problems that dis­
cussed at length in the workshop was that
of forest and land rights of the adivasis. Of
the many points that were discussed
around this issue, four points are note­
worthy. First, and one that Guruvaiah
stated succinctly, was that the forest is
central to the very existence of the adivasis.
Livelihoods, religion, spirituality, culture
and kinship are closely interwoven around
the forest and its inhabitants. Far from
being a negative reaction to imminent
displacement or eviction, this is a positive
statement of the right to liberty as being
about the right to occupy the land of
their ancestors undisturbed.
The second aspect concerns the en­
counters with the State over the forest and
land rights - Joseph Bara pointed to the
frequency with which enabling legislations
like Panchayats Extension to Scheduled
Areas (p e s a ) are watered down through
counterproductive rules or non-imple­
mentation; and the efforts by communi­
ties to protect, regenerate and conserve
forest resources, often in conflict with
forest mafias, have led to their being la­
belled as encroachers in their homelands.
The right to land and forest therefore was
one that could only be asserted with the
greatest difficulty, but as an indispensa­
ble first step to building legal strategies.
Third, the experiences of north-eastern
states show that land is central to most
22
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conflicts between and among the adivasi encounters with development. Also tell­
communities. What is significant about ing is the destruction of biodiversity in
these conflicts, Baharul Islam noted, is adivasi areas of Chhattisgarh - which is
that they are the direct consequence now an embattled state - and has his­
of development policies pursued by torically been a rice bowl with 22,742 va­
the state. rieties of indigenous paddy.
The fourth aspect concerns the negative Forced migration has led to the aggra­
impact of the nexus between the state vated marginalisation of adivasi women
and the corporate sector. While corpo­ and their exploitation by labour contrac­
rate law is taught in fair detail to stu­ tors, especially in urban environments.
dents of law, corporate irresponsibility Smita Nayak detailed the condition of
and wilful negligence especially with adivasi migrants in Bhubaneswar.
respect to communities under constitu­ In all areas adivasis are caught in the
tional protection finds no mention at all crossfire between the police-paramilitary-
in mainstream curricula. And if there is military forces on the one side, and Maoist/
a mention at all, it is confined to courses on other armed movements on the other.
law and poverty. Bineet Mundu quoting Ramanamma’ s question, “ when people
the example of Chhattisgarh pointed to from all communities migrate all over the
the dilution of the Chhattisgarh Tenancy country, why are only adivasis singled
Act to the advantage of corporate firms out by the police?”needs an answer.
owned by the Jindals and the Tatas.
Many participants pointed out rather Adivasi Rights’
Clinics
forcefully some of the negative effects The discussion on displacement and
upon the adivasis due to the developmental resettlement threw up a very interesting
policies and programmes pursued by account of positive strategies for clinics.
states across India. The present pattern Mallavarapu Rambabu highlighted issues
of development is promoting a new form involved in development-induced displace­
of dictatorship and is really only barely ment and inadequacies in the imple­
disguised deprivation for adivasis, who mentation of rehabilitation and resettle­
want justice and dignity. The Narmada ment measures for the welfare of the
Bachao Andolan slogan, vikas nahi vinash project-affected persons (pa p ) of Kowada
hai yeh (this is not development but Reservoir. He stated that most of the p a p
destruction) tells the story of adivasi were unaware about the construction of
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m a r c h io , 2012 v o l x lv ii n o io B 2Q Economic & Political w e e k l y

the dam and it was so unprepared to ad­
dress the resettlement and rehabilitation.
He had organised the pa p and started a
campaign/agitation at the entrance of
the Kowada dam reservoir. In the end,
after several rounds of negotiations, they
managed to get land for land, and hous­
ing colonies with complete infrastructure
- with homes and public facilities. The
involvement of adivasi communities in
the process of rehabilitation is critical.
The diversity within the category of
scheduled tribes (s t s ) gives rise to con­
tentious claims for reservation, which
must be politically resolved, as we are
already witnessing in the case of Malas
and Madigas. There are two issues that
are interrelated but distinct. The first has
to do with inclusion of certain tribes in
their schedule, which is prepared state-
wise. Here, despite the fact that the Koyas
from Bhadrachalam working in settle­
ments of internally displaced people (i d p ),
like Ramanamma, may not see a difference
between Gutti Koyas of Chhattisgarh
and themselves, and while we need to
recognise that boundaries of tribes are
different from boundaries of states, con­
crete legal and administrative strategies
need to be developed in close consulta­
tion with communities. There are instances
where village revenue officers took a
benevolent view of i d p families and issued
them residence certificates if they had
settled in the village, but there is little
documentation of the creative use of
powers by local-level officers and admini­
strators who belong to these communities
themselves. The second issue has to do
with the gross under-representation of
forest and primitive tribes and over­
representation of lambadas in education
and public employment in Andhra
Pradesh. This debate on internal cate­
gorisation is a political debate that has
yet to gain momentum among the s t s .
The targeting of adivasis by Naxalites
and police give rise to a high volume of
cases related to compensation, murder of
“ informants,” arbitrary arrest, “ bind
over”cases, and random searches, that
go completely unaddressed and have no
legal redress.
The procedures and structures of the
Indian legal system and the process of
delivery of justice are entirely alien to the
Economic & Political w e e k l y QBQ m arch
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traditional and customary justice delivery
system, which relies on an oral culture.
This is one aspect of legal pluralism. The
second aspect is that while law is used to
deliver rights, the adivasis have been de­
prived of rights. The adversarial system
is, according to K B Saxena, a disaster
where adivasis are concerned as it is
only used to deliver injustice to them.
Adivasis appear in law and before courts
mostly as the accused. They are mostly
unaware of the law and its ifs and buts.
Therefore when they appear before the
justice delivery authority, they have limited
information to share, which is mostly
restricted to their knowledge of their
land and forests. This is where their
ethos come into direct conflict with the
written, rule bound systems of formal
courts, putting them at a disadvantage.
To cite a concrete example, if an adivasi
wants to report about a crime, she would
prefer an oral complaint, which only states
that a crime has been committed - adivasis
who submit complaints will not get into
the facts of the case but only state that such
a crime has been committed. This infor­
mation has to be translated into a written
complaint. This is a critical exercise where
the immediate injustice has to be turned
into a complaint that should contain in­
gredients of violence and violations per­
petrated against them. This is a task that
a skilled and proactive legal clinic can
accomplish. Given a situation where the
interface between the adivasis and the
non-adivasis continues to be exploitative
of the adivasi, the latter’ s thresholds as
far as formal justice systems go, are very
low. It is this that needs strengthening.
In general, the strategies used by non-
adivasis in alienating land from the
adivasis are by maintaining a friendly
ambience and striking at the adivasis when
they are most vulnerable and unaware,
observed K B Saxena, drawing on his
long experience. The non-adivasi will lie
low during the limitation period of 12
years and collect all documents required.
Once he has collected all documents and
the period of 12 years is over the non-
adivasi interpolates his name in all the
records systematically and fraudulently.
Once the revenue records are changed
then there is very little the adivasi can
do. It is important to identify the areas
10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 10
COMMENTARY
of vulnerability - such as where there is
huge alienation of land, where there is
mining in particular and where there
are issues related to migrant workers.
It is important that the persons who
are involved in legal clinics have a deep
understanding of the issues concerning
adivasis and also able to deal with the
external world. Legal clinics should run as
multiple assistance clinics that are com­
pletely transparent and accountable with
maximum participation from the adivasi
communities in each area. The gram sabha
is an institution uniquely poised to be the
watchdog and custodian of community
rights. But processes of transparency and
accountability need to be strengthened. It
is important to train adivasi youth who are
able to speak the language of the adivasis
and also understand their issues as para­
legal workers who will pursue cases
with the various agencies including the
government officials and help in restora­
tion of the land to the adivasis. The legal
clinic can serve as a resource centre which
provides information to lawyers and the
adivasis and help them with the various
court processes - and supports adivasi
lawyers as far as possible in this ende­
avour. The appointment of adivasi law­
yers as legal counsel in the Integrated
Tribal Development Agencies in Andhra
Pradesh has been tardy, despite the offi­
cial recognition that they must be able to
represent themselves.
There are 26 s t s , B N Yugandhar
pointed out, among whom there are no
literate generations. Education should be
given importance in the schedule areas.
The state must ensure that the directive
principles of state policy that promotes
educational and economic interests of
the weaker sections of the society espe­
cially the s t s are upheld and they are
protected from social injustice and ex­
ploitation. The community-based clinics
will be in a position to audit disentitle-
ments especially to education and health,
and seek redress.
Legislations
The Forest Rights Act (f r a ) has created
a moral legitimacy and has protected
the rights and interests of the adivasis.
Similarly the p e s a has been instrumental
in conferring self-rule and original rights to
23
the adivasis in a traditional and customary
manner. But the problem is that the p e s a
talks about the village. With more and
more states recognising revenue villages,
which are coordinated by the panchayat,
the various state legislations including
Andhra Pradesh under the p e s a rules has
divested all powers of the gram sabha,
thereby distorting the tenets of the Act.
Even while the debate on redrafting
p e s a rules rages, an alternate mechanism
for justice delivery is required. One pos­
sibility is to develop the gram nyayalayas,
located in the scheduled areas, which ad­
dress issues of land and water to go beyond
this and work towards realising a range
of rights and entitlements to adivasis. The
participation of community members is
critical for effective and sustainable
development. The saying “ nothing about
us without us”should be applicable to all
policies regarding adivasis. There is
need to shift from a framework of social
upliftment to the framework of rights.
Bineet Mundu anticipated the future
contribution of adivasi rights clinics in
developing a cadre of barefoot lawyers,
who could, in his view, play a critical
role when land distribution camps are
being conducted within communities by
addressing not just land rights but issues
around it like inheritance, common
property resources, accessing pattas and
retrieving records from courts.
It is important to bridge the gap between
law and practice, observed Abha Joshi,
and also to be part of the processes of the
government towards self-actualisation of
the adivasis. In the areas where admini­
strative processes are involved they must
enhance quality and awareness in a pro­
grammatic way. Adivasi rights are dynamic
and involved in a process of constant
change in this fast changing world. This
dynamism guides the search for legal
solutions and establishing legal clinics. It
is a fact that no one can actually be repre­
sented by another. In litigation the lawyer
is a link between the court, legal system
and the client. A departure, therefore,
from the usual practice where a litigant
abdicates everything to the lawyer, is
indispensable to this effort, and litigants
must have a voice in the representation of
their case. While designing any programme
it is important to remember few issues/
benchmarks and more importantly that
choices are a right of every human being.
Although issues of land and forest are
central, Seema Misra underscored the
importance of recognising adivasis as citi­
zens who bear the entire spectrum of
rights under the Constitution. The focus of
the legal clinics therefore need not only
be on land and forest rights. The largest
number o f people in Chhatdsgarh jails,
for instance, belong to adivasi communi­
ties. The state remains the largest viola­
tor of rights here. Legal empowerment is
a tool. Holding people accountable in the
process is very important. Rather than re­
stricting ourselves to protest alone, it is
important that groups file complaints and
push them even though it is a long pro­
cess. There is a need for stronger engage­
ments with lower courts. In the process
those involved are empowered and this
leads to sustainable change.

School of Life Skills Education and Social Harmony

Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD)
Under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Gol
Sriperumbudur - 60 2105, Tamil Nadu

Research Proposals Invited

Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD) is inviting research proposals from lecturers and young
researchers those who have qualified M.Phil. or UGC NET.
Preference will be given to studies pertaining to Life Skills Education, Reproductive Sexual Health, Media and related
topics of Adolescents and Youth.
Research proposals will be screened by a review committee and selected scholars will be invited for a four day preliminary
workshop conducted by experts from prestigious research institutions on research methodology for enriching the critical
mass of the research proposal. A grant of Rs. 20000/- will be awarded to each selected proposal for the research work.
The final research work will be screened by research committee and published in an edited book. Interested scholars can
send their proposals before 20th March 2012. The selection of research papers will be intimated by 30th March 2012.
The tentative presentation of papers and research methodology workshop will be first week of April 2012. Then the final
research findings will be presented before the research committee and published. The entire process of research work
will be over by 30th November 2012. Travel Allowance, boarding and lodging will be provided to all selected participants
as per the norms of RGNIYD.

Director of the Workshop

Dr. A. Radhakrishnan Nair
Faculty Head
School of Life Skills Education and Social Harmony
Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development
Beemanthangal, Sriperumbudur - 602105, Tamil Nadu

Co-ordinator of the Workshop

Mr. Joseph Thiyagarajan, lse.rgniyd@gmail.com
Mobile No. 9843973970
www.rgniyd.gov.in
The deadline for receiving the research proposal is 20th March 2012

24 m a r c h i o , 2012 v o l XLVii n o i o DBS Economic & Political WEEKLY

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 COMMENTARY

Girish Sant pro-poor regulatory and policy interven­

tions, developing innovations in end-use
efficiency implementation and promoting
Always Two Steps Ahead the interest of developing countries in
climate change negotiations.

PRAYAS ENERGY GROUP What Was Special about Girish

Many remember Girish as an enthusiastic

W
Girish Sant, a leading energy mountaineer. Like all seasoned moun­
e find it very difficult to write
sector analyst and the coordinator this article about our close taineers, he enjoyed climbing with friends
friend and long-time colleague as much as reaching the summit. He was
of the Prayas Energy Group - a
who left us suddenly on 2 February. This no different at work - a constant dreamer
Pune-based voluntary organisation is a personal and professional loss be­ and a creative innovator, a man who was
working on policy analysis and yond words - not only for us, but for the always two steps ahead. Seeing much
advocacy in the energy sector - energy sector. We are still in a state of further and much more than most of us, he
shock, disbelief and gloom. We wish to kept hurrying us to start many new things
died in New Delhi on 2 February
remain frozen in time, going about with and drop doing some. Having a good
after a cardiac arrest. a fond though irrational hope that he pulse of the energy sector and its key
A tribute by his colleagues. would appear in the office tomorrow. actors, he was a conscience keeper, with
Writing this article would put an end to whom many of us could test our ideas.
this fantasy. But write we must, and All those who met Girish remember him
more important, get on with the work. as a warm, sensitive person full of laughter.
Before we begin, we acknowledge that He was a perfect blend of rationality and
this is a consolidation of thoughts in the emotion. His humility made him a lifetime
group and of his many friends.1 learner. Girish was excellent in creating
Girish, bom in 1966, was so young and and cultivating friends cutting across
at the peak of his career when he left us. ages, ideological shades and roles. Many
He obtained a bachelor’ s degree in chem­ sector leaders respected him and young­
ical engineering (1986) and a master’ s sters flocked to him for inspiration and
degree in Energy Systems Engineering guidance. It was interesting to see many
(1988) from iiT-Bombay. Since then he well-meaning friends belonging to varied
has been involved in research, training, groups - grass-root organisations, trade
and advocacy on techno-economic and unions, political parties, policy institu­
policy issues in the energy sector. He was tions, research organisations, utilities,
one of the founder trustees of Prayas, the financial institutions and regulators -
Pune-based not-for-profit, non-govem- who saw him as on their side. Even when
mental voluntary organisation known for they disagreed with him, none doubted
its public interest-oriented policy analy­ his good intentions.
sis in the areas of health, energy and live­
lihood. Girish was the coordinator of the Journey in Energy
Energy Group. Before that, he worked in Girish started with excellent degrees in
different organisations: as a consultant energy systems. Blended with this were
in the areas of industrial energy audit and his skills in critical enquiry and engage­
performance review of renewable energy ment in social issues, sensitivity to issues
sources; with the System Research Insti­ of the poor, spirit of innovation and
tute researching the changing energy use teamwork. He went on a two-and-a-half
and appliance usage with urbanisation; decade-long journey in the energy policy
and teaching chemical engineering at land with many fellow travellers. It is in­
Bharati Vidyapeeth College, Pune. teresting to trace this journey, which
Prayas Energy Group (p e g ) is well along the way saw changes in focus, fel­
known for its pioneering work analysing low travellers as well as achievements.2
the controversial Enron power project, A change in focus, linked to the external
making analytical contributions to the environment and a growing under­
Narmada movement, building on the standing of the sector could be captured
work of Amulya K N Reddy on integrated in five phases, which have some over­
Email: energy@prayaspune.org
resource planning, making numerous laps. Fellow travellers kept changing,

Economic & Political w e e k l y DBQ m arch 10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 10 25

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COMMENTARY
except some of us at Prayas who cele­
brated the journey for a longer time, and
Girish was often the major partner.
The form ative phase spans from 1986-
1994, from the final years at iiT-Bombay
till the beginning of activities that led to
the formation of Prayas. As a student,
Girish was a keen mountaineer and loved
spending time in the Himalayas. Trekking
in remote areas gave him a glimpse of the
harsh reality of the outside world. After
his MTech, Girish worked on renewable
energy, energy conservation and taught
in an engineering college. Reading and
collective reflection on ways to engage
with social issues continued. This led him
to arenas such as hazards of industrial
pollution (like the Bhopal disaster), de­
bates on economic, social and gender
inequities as well as struggles like the
Narmada movement. Girish was involved
in serious reading and discussions with
friends like Sanjeevani, Vinay and Shripad
who shared common values and had the
idea of setting up a formal organisation
for social engagement.
Girish’ s firm belief that professional
skills should be used to address pressing
social questions led him along with his
doctor and engineer friends to establish
Prayas in 1994. The word “ Prayas”
means “ focused effort”. The members of
Prayas are professionals working to pro­
tect and promote the public interest, in
general, and interests of the disadvan­
taged sections of the society, in particular.
The second phase (1992-97) saw Girish
working with Shantanu on field surveys
on energy conservation and understand­
ing the work of Amulya K N Reddy, the
Bangalore-based pioneer of the alternate
paradigm on “ energy for sustainable
development” . Amulya Reddy’ s work on
least cost planning showed the importance
of putting forth an alternate comprehen­
sive plan to challenge the mainstream
paradigm, which was promoting many
power generation projects across the
country.3 Girish and Shantanu adapted
Amulya Reddy’ s work on Karnataka to
Maharashtra and prepared an alternate
power plan. Compared to the mainstream
plan, this alternative least cost plan inte­
grated end-use efficiency and renewable
systems. It needed only half the genera­
tion capacity and cost only 60% of the
26
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mainstream plan.4 Working on this and
presenting this to a variety of audiences
gave them an excellent grounding on the
technical, policy and governance land­
scape of electricity sector planning.
Seeds of the third phase (1995-98) were
sown while developing and presenting
the Maharashtra least cost plan. The power
sector actors appreciated the plan, but
were keen to go ahead with massive gen­
eration projects. Girish realised that the
gross inefficiencies in the sector needed
to be tackled head on, even while strength­
ening the case for alternatives. This led to
analyses of power supply to agriculture
and the power purchase contract with
Enron, the first multinational private
power project in India. In the area of agri­
culture, the study brought out important
issues: the high potential available to
increase pumping efficiency, problems
with estimating agriculture consumption
and the skewed distribution of agriculture
subsidy with the rich farmers cornering
the maximum subsidy. Detailed techno-
economic analysis of the Enron contract
exposed many problems such as high
capital cost, unwarranted incentives and
unfair contract terms. Girish not only con­
tributed to preparing an insightful analysis
of these complex issues, but was also at
the forefront in communicating this to a
varied audience - policymakers, funding
agencies, trade unions, farmer associations,
academic and project-affected community.
The growing opposition to the Enron
project, the scrapping of the contract, re­
view by a state appointed commission and
its reinstatement are well known.5Based
on the experience of analysing the Enron
project, similar studies were conducted
for the Narmada Bachao Andolan and for
a project in Uganda. All these showed how
public interest was being neglected in the
name of attracting private investment.
The fo u rth phase (1996-2004) marked
a shift from project or issue-based analy­
sis to a sector-based approach. Power
was one of the first sectors to undertake
market-oriented reforms from the early
1990s, when private players were wel­
comed in the generation sector. This was
followed by reforms in the state electri­
city boards (s e b s ) supported by the World
Bank and Asian Development Bank,
beginning in Orissa in 1996. The Orissa
m a r c h 10, 2012
reforms involving unbundling the s e b
into generation, transmission and distri­
bution companies, setting up a regulatory
commission and gradually privatising the
companies were presented as the solution
to all problems in the power sector. Prayas
was the first to prepare a public interest
critique of Orissa reforms in 1998.6 This
was followed by a comprehensive analysis
of the intervention of multilateral deve­
lopment banks in the Indian power sector.
The key argument of Prayas was that
the crisis in the power sector has three
dimensions, namely, the performance cri­
sis flow technical and managerial efficien­
cy), financial crisis (increasing losses,
lack of capital) and governance crisis
(control by vested interests, lack of de­
mocracy) . All these dimensions are impor­
tant, but the preoccupation of the main­
stream actors was with the financial crisis.
Prayas argued that democratising gov­
ernance is the key to addressing the sec­
tor crisis, rather than focusing only on
infusing capital or changing ownership.
Engagement with Public Policy
In this phase the p e g engaged with the
newly formed electricity regulatory com­
missions by setting up democratic proce­
dures and raising many public interest
issues like high transmission and distri­
bution losses. With a view to increasing
informed participation in sector govern­
ance, Prayas organised activities focused
on civil society organisations. Workshops
were organised at the state, national and
south-east Asian levels. This catalysed
strengthening or formation of civil society
groups in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, which took
up regulatory interventions and citizen’ s
awareness programmes. Publications like
“Know Your Power: A Citizen’ s Primer
on the Electricity Sector” ,“ A Good Be­
ginning But Challenges Galore - A Survey
Based Study on Electricity Regulatory
Commissions”were the first of their kind
in the Indian electricity sector.
By the end of this phase, p e g had slowly
grown in strength, having 10 committed
researchers. Subodh, one of the key mem­
bers branched out to form the resources
and livelihood group of Prayas. Girish
was a key contributor to this growth and
also to the setting up of the new group.
v o l x lv ii n o io Q 2Q Economic & Political w e e k l y

The fifth phase (2003) marked many
changes. The Electricity Act of 2003 was
a turning point in the Indian power sec­
tor. Prayas analysed the impact of the
Act on consumers (and future consum­
ers) and gave many inputs for national
electricity and tariff policies that were
formulated as a follow-up to the Act. In
addition to regulation and governance
of the electricity sector, Prayas branched
out to related energy issues like end-use
efficiency, governance in natural gas
and coal sectors, energy use in trans­
port, policy issues in renewables and
equity issues in climate change.
Based on the lessons in electricity gov­
ernance, p e g participated in an interna­
tional initiative covering governments
and civil society groups from eight deve­
loping countries (India, Indonesia, the
Philippines, Thailand, Brazil, South Africa,
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) to develop an
assessment toolkit for electricity govern­
ance. The joint analytical work (with
researchers inside and outside p e g ) pro­
duced a unique report on Indian energy
trends, which highlighted many important
aspects of India’ s energy sector, which
were different from developing countries
like China and, of course, the developed
countries. This work contributed to chang­
ing the discourse in the climate debate by
way of bringing climate equity into the
forefront. Innovative and strategic inter­
vention in the demand side management
helped to break the deadlock in up-
scaling the implementation. This covered
policy, technology, manufacturing, markets
and governance aspects. An early critique
of the national solar mission helped to
introduce competitive bidding and in­
crease attention on small off-grid systems.
Girish was one of the pioneers of the
“ Triple-E”approach in the energy sector
that insisted that social equity and envi­
ronmental sustainability were as impor­
tant as economic viability in policymak­
ing. Through his work he effectively
demonstrated that such an approach is
practically feasible.
In this phase, p e g grew into a stable
group with 20 full-time researchers and
networked with many others. Inspired
by the dream of “ energy becoming a de­
velopment tool”and guided by the goal
of “ democratising energy governance
Economic & Political w e e k ly B 2Q m a r c h 10, 2012
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for furthering the public interest” , peg
came to be known for its innovative,
multidisciplinary, comprehensive, groun­
ded policy analysis and advocacy. A rela­
tively small organisation outside the main­
stream, p e g gained the recognition of
civil society as well as state institutions.
Taking the Work Forward
With mounting fuel, climate and gov­
ernance challenges, the crisis in the en­
ergy sector is as overwhelming as ever.
The mainstream response is limited this
time also. In an article that appeared in
H indu Business Line on 30 January 2012,
Girish had written:
Limits to available energy resources are
hurting economies and curtailing develop­
ment in poorer countries. India, being more
vulnerable to energy shortages than most
other countries, needs to urgently imple­
ment a multi-dimensional solution to avoid
a crisis... To avert economic hardship and
work towards mitigating climate change,
we must find answers to the energy conun­
drum soon. This is possible through a three­
pronged strategy to ‘ replace, improve, and
reduce’ . [What he meant was, replace fossil
fuel-based energy sources with renewable,
improve end-use efficiency and reduce con­
sumption, especially of the rich.]
This is very characteristic of Girish -
to pose the problem from a fresh angle
and then suggest an innovative solution,
workable within the existing frame­
work. With his unique ability to analyse
a given situation critically and construc­
tively engage with multiple parties who
may not necessarily agree with him, he
was instrumental in creating a new
niche for civil society organisations - to
engage with policymakers on their own
terms but still retain the independence
and integrity to think outside of the
mainstream. As someone put it, Girish
was a class apart with his “ insightful
analysis, gentle advocacy and brilliant
articulation” .7
All of us have enjoyed working with
Girish, analysing issues and developing
solutions. He played a pivotal role and
there is no way of replacing him. How­
ever, he has also motivated and built a
network of committed and competent
individuals, within and outside Prayas,
who are working on many pressing issues
in the energy sector, with the rigour and
values that he strived for.
v o l x l v i i n o 10
COMMENTARY
We are touched by the words of conso­
lation as well as appreciation for Girish’ s
work that have poured in through per­
sonal visits, phone calls, emails and the
memorials. We are inspired by the ex­
pression of faith in Prayas to continue
the work and affirmation of support.
That these have come from people of
varied backgrounds and ages, research
and practice, government and non­
government, Indian and international,
public and private, left and not-so-left, is
the wonder that is Girish.
In a short life, Girish earned the cred­
ibility and respect from a wide spectrum
of people. He has left an indelible mark
in the Indian and international energy
sectors.8 The vibrant environment we
have together created and the support
reaffirmed by our numerous friends give
us the confidence to face the future chal­
lenges without him.
n o t e s ________________________________________
1 Please see comments posted by Girish’ s friends
at the Prayas website: http://www.prayas pune.
org/peg/component/content/article/35.html.
2 This is based on conversations with Girish, inputs
from friends, Girish’ s autobiographical article
“I , We and Our Work”in the 2005 Diwali issue
of Mauj - a Marathi magazine and the doctoral
thesis “ Sense-making in TUrbulent Times - Every­
day Strategic Changing by Indian NGDOs”by
Wenny Ho, University of Amsterdam, 2007,
available at: http://dare.uva.nl/document/54538
3 “A Development-Focused End-Use-oriented Elec­
tricity Scenario for Karnataka”, Amulya KN Reddy,
et al, Economic & Political Weekly, 6 April 1991.
4 This report and all of Prayas Energy Group’ s
publications are available at www.prayaspune.
org/peg. Amulya Reddy’ s work is available at
www.amulya-reddy.org.in.
5 This has been covered through many articles in
EPW including some by Prayas - Dabhol project
PPA - 17 June 1995, Enron renegotiations -
9 December 1995, Godbole Committee on Enron
project - 9 June 2001, Restarting Dabhol -
18 June 2005.
6 “ World Bank-Orissa Model o f Power Sector Re­
forms: Cure Worse Than Disease” , Economic &
Political Weekly, 1May 1998.
7 To quote from another message: “ The combina­
tion of his relentless commitment to the poor
and his wisdom in questioning power struc­
tures, shaping the debate made him unique. I
will remember Girish as a tiger: gentle in his
manners, with soft paws, but absolutely sure
and confident about using it when needed, in
defence of public good.”
8 For example, see this message: “ Girish, your
contribution to the work in the BASIC expert
group gave us the opportunity to get to know
you. I was struck by how your inputs into the
complexities of multilateral climate talks were
so firmly rooted in the realities of working at
community level through Prayas...You will be
much missed, also in South Africa. I will treas­
ure the memory of the time we had together,
and we will take forward the work” , Harald
Winkler, University of Cape Town.
27
 Referees Consulted in 2011
1 A RVasavi 29 KVRamaswamy 57 Ramachandra Guha

2 AVJose 30 Kalpana Kannabiran 58 Raman Kutty

3 Alok Rai 31 Karen Coelho 59 Ramesh Chand

4 Amita Baviskar 32 Latha Gangadharan 60 Ravi Nair

5 Anant Maringanti 33 M H Suryanarayana 61 Reetika Khera

6 Arindam Dasgupta 34 Madhav Prasad 62 Rinku Murgai

7 Asad Sayeed 35 Mary John 63 Ritu Dewan

8 Ashwini Deshpande 36 Mathias Pandian 64 Samita Sen

9 Avinash Kumar 37 Mausami Das 65 Sanjay Reddy

10 Banikanta Misra 38 Mekhala Krishnamurty 66 Sharad Chari

11 Biswamoy Pati 39 Modhumita Roy 67 Sharmila Rege

12 CRavi 40 N Krishnaji 68 Sudhir Chella Rajan

13 CVeeramani 41 Nalini Rajan 69 SudipChaudhuri

14 Chandan Mukherjee 42 Navdeep Mathur 70 Sugata Marjit

15 Chandrika Sharma 43 Nirupama Subramanian 71 Sukumar Muralidharan

16 CPChandrasekhar 44 Nitya Ramakrishnan 72 Sunil Mani

17 D N Reddy 45 PS Vijayshankar 73 SurinderJodhka

18 EA SSarma 46 Padmini Swaminathan 74 TKSundari

19 Gita Sen 47 Pallavi Chavan 75 TTRammohan

20 H Srikanth 48 Partha Ray 76 Thomas George

21 Haris Gazdar 49 Parthapratim Pal 77 Thomas Weisskopf

22 Himanshu 50 Parthasarathi Mondal 78 TushaarShah

23 J Devika 51 Pinaki Chakraborty 79 Uday Kumar

24 Janaki Nair 52 Poornima Chikarmane 80 V Nagi Reddy

25 Jean Dreze 53 Pulapre Balakrishnan 81 Veronique Dupont

26 Joe Lobo 54 RNagaraj 82 Vidya Rao

27 Jonathan Shapiro Anjaria 55 Raghuram Raju 83 VinayGidwani

28 KLKrishna 56 Rama Baru 84 Viswanathan Iyer

(The list includes editors/reviewers of the Review of Rural Affairs, Review of Urban Affairs and
the Review of Women's Studies)

28 m arch 10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o io 0259 Economic & Political weekly

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Realising the Right to Work
ROB JENKINS
fhe Battle fo r Employment Guar­
T antee is a collection of first-rate
essays skilfully selected, organised,
analysed and edited by Reetika Khera.
The volume is an excellent resource for
anyone seeking to understand the ori­
gins of the National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act ( n r e g a ) 2005, how it has
fared during its first five years in opera­
tion, and the larger significance of this
gigantic, ambitious, unwieldy, and ulti­
mately worthwhile experiment in realis­
ing the right to work.
The book draws mainly on previously
published work. Several chapters first
appeared in e p w and Frontline - lengthy
analytical pieces built around findings
from the various (mainly survey-based)
research projects overseen by Khera
and the other main intellectual force
behind this volume, noted economist
Jean Dreze. Dreze did not serve as co ­
editor, but his presence suffuses the
book nonetheless. Like Khera, he wrote
or co-wrote eight of the book’ s 20 chap­
ters. Only six chapters credit neither
Dreze nor Khera as author or co-author.
Some chapters originated as academic
conference papers, and thus incorporate
more sophisticated concepts and quan­
titative methodologies. For the most
part, however, the questions posed are
of general interest, and the findings
rendered in terms comprehensible to
non-specialists.
Tracking NREGA’
s Progress
Most of the additional contributors have
participated in the research and advocacy
networks established to track n r e g a ’ s
progress and to “ battle” for its full
implementation. Khera and Dreze have
been central figures in these impressive
demonstrations of “ engaged scholar­
ship”, or “academic activism” , or what­
ever you want to call it. A few authors
draw on first-hand observations gleaned
during their participation in quasi-official
Economic & Political w e e k l y DEBS m a r c h 10, 2012
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B O O K R EV IEW
The Battle for Employment Guarantee edited by
Reetika Khera (New Delhi: Oxford University Press), 2011;
pp 264, hardback, Rs 595.
“social audits”of n r e g a implementation
in various parts of India.
As most people by now know, social
audits attempt to hold officials who
implement n r e g a accountable for their
actions. Typically conducted in partner­
ship with a local “ people’ s organisation”
, formation, and to education. This concep­
a social audit involves the systematic
review of documents related to n r e g a
works in a given locality. Files are
scoured by teams of volunteer-auditors
trained and overseen by facilitators with
experience of similar audits elsewhere.
Forms containing administrative clear­
ances and technical sanctions are revie­
wed for procedural lapses. Financial
records (muster rolls, job cards, material
vouchers, expense ledgers, bank state­
ments) are examined for inconsistencies.
The audits culminate in public meet­
ings where local people (particularly
n r e g a workers) are invited to comment
orally on specific issues raised by the au­
dit teams. Testimonies are based on their
direct experience as workers or super­
visors on n r e g a projects or suppliers to
particular worksites. Discrepancies bet­
ween government records and oral acco­
unts are scrutinised. Officials are asked
to offer explanations for apparent viola­
tions of procedural norms. These meet­
ings are held either as an extension to -
or, where local authorities are uncoop­
erative, in lieu of - the gram sabha. The
requirement that such social audits take
place regularly and in conformity with
specified procedures is a central pillar
of the transparency and accountability
architecture around which n r e g a 2005
was constructed. And, yet, in most places
nothing like a genuine social audit ever
takes place. The same record-keeping
v o l x l v i i n o 10
legerdemain that so effectively obscures
systematic theft from n r e g a projects
can easily conjure a bogus paper trail
showing fastidious adherence to the
social audit requirements set forth in
the Act.
Khera’ s editorial introduction pro­
vides a useful synthesis of the various
authors’ findings and a compelling acco­
unt of n r e g a ’ s significance amidst an
upsurge of demands for social justice in
India and elsewhere. The campaign to
realise n r e g a ’
s promise - itself part of a
broader “ right to work”movement - is but
one example of a larger trend towards
seeking recognition for, and institution­
alised fulfilment of such basic human
entitlements as the rights to food, to in­
tual reorientation - towards what might
be called “ development rights”- collaps­
es the distinction between, on the one
hand, civil and political rights, and, on
the other, economic, social and cultural
rights. Just as importantly, however, the
development rights discourse blurs the
line between the legal recognition of
rights and programmatic interventions
designed to ensure their realisation.
While India has been at the forefront of
this reinvention of rights, other emerg­
ing democratic powers (e d p s ) in the de­
veloping world, such as Brazil and South
Africa, have been pursuing similar initi­
atives with equal vigour.
Early Days
Part One of the book (“ Early Days”) con­
sists of two chapters - one outlining the
Act’ s origins, the other analysing the
official statistics. Together they establish
basic facts about n r e g a and the machinery
for operationalising it. In the opening
chapter, Dreze provides an illuminating
account, drawn from a piece first published
in another o u p volume, of how n r e g a
came into being, including an enumera­
tion of the improbable array of enabling
factors that came together during 2004-
o s to aid its passage into law. Dreze sub­
scribes to the widely held view that, had
the Congress thought it possessed even a
remote chance of winning the 2004
general election, it never would have
29
 committed - in its election manifesto, no
less - to passing employment-guarantee
legislation of such far-reaching political
(and fiscal) significance. When the Con­
gress did, unexpectedly, stumble into
power - following an election result that
was widely, if misleadingly, attributed to
a revolt by the rural poor against the Na­
tional Democratic Alliance government’ s Information and with the Right to Food
callous economic policies - what could it
do except fulfil this commitment?
But even this stupendous piece of
good fortune was not enough to ensure
s enactment. Leadership variables
n r eg a ’
played a role as well. For instance, Sonia
Gandhi’ s decision, after renouncing her
claim to the prime ministership in 2004,
to ensconce herself in the National Advi­
sory Council (n a c ) was a key factor. The
and others. Among Sonia Gandhi’ s early
recruits were the activists and former
officials in Rajasthan whose demands
for state-level employment-guarantee
legislation she had found so impressive
while campaigning in Jaipur just months
earlier. People associated with the Na­
tional Campaign for People’ s Right to
campaign were drawn into the n a c and
its deliberations. These included Jean
Dreze himself, as well as former ia s
officers Harsh Mander, N C Saxena and
Aruna Roy. Roy, along with fellow acti­
vist Nikhil Dey, has made the Mazdoor
Kisan Shakti Sangathan (m k ss ), the m o­
tor o f this movement, operating at multi­
ple levels and across diverse domains of
political action.
who warned of budgetary ruin. He shows
admirable self-restraint when gently
deflating the bombast of corporate econo­
mist Suxjit Bhalla, who (arguing against
s passage) had insisted that rural
n r eg a ’
unemployment in India was much lower
than what almost every other economist
had calculated (and what basic common
sense clearly indicated). Dreze responds
to the irrational outbursts of anti-NREGA
extremists with a steady stream of subtie
sarcasm. When one incensed critic
lashed out against the jholawala (shoulder-
bag-carrying) economists involved in
promoting n r e g a , Dreze (known himself,
on occasion, to sport ajhola) asks whether
it would make a difference if they all
carried barrister’ s briefcases instead.
In recounting the story of n r eg a ’
s for­

n a c was designed to Sonia Gandhi’ s Dreze’ s deep knowledge, sharp eye mulation and passage, Dreze drops clues
specifications as a strategically placed and deft pen combine to paint an unfor­ about (but stops short o f pulling back
policy development unit. She conceived gettable picture o f the debates that the curtain on) the protracted negotia­
o f the n a c as a body into which she could dominated n r eg a ’ s passage. Dreze syste­ tions between advocates for a universal,
- and did - invite intellectuals, politi­ matically rebuts the pre-emptive strikes entitlement-based n r e g a and the Act’ s
cians (from Congress and its allies), civic levelled by n r e g a ’
s m ost virulent opp o­ opponents, who worked assiduously to
leaders, iconoclastic former bureaucrats nents, including fiscal fundamentalists water dow n various drafts o f the Bill

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30 m a rch 10, 2012 v o l x lv ii n o io D D Economic 8cPolitical w eek ly

 BOOK REVIEW

after failing to kill it outright. Dreze struggle to make its promise a reality for eventually to more employment days,
credits the left parties, at the time poor people. Here we find - again from higher wages, and improved worksite
cohabiting with the Congress in an ill- the 2008 survey - that 81% of n r e g a conditions in Pati block. These positive
tempered quasi-alliance, with providing workers live in kaccha houses; that 73% results contrasted sharply with poor
crucial final impetus to bring n r e g a are scheduled castes (scs) or scheduled n r e g a performance in the neighbouring
over the legislative finish line. How much tribes (s t s ); that 61% are illiterate; and block, where no JADS-like force for social
“credit”to assign to different actors has that 72% have no electricity at home. and political change existed.
been a topic of considerable disagree­ More than two-thirds of workers report I have observed similar effects in
ment to date, a trend that seems likely that n r e g a wages help them to avoid research conducted jointly with James
to persist. hunger; more than half (57%) say the Manor. Our surveys in both Rajasthan
For many civic leaders, the experience same about avoiding distress-induced and Madhya Pradesh showed more
of pushing and prodding for n r e g a ’ sseasonal migration. These grim statistics worker awareness, increased assertive­
passage in a form they could live with are a powerful reminder that n r e g a is ness, and better outcomes in “ movement-
reinforced a nascent belief that engage­ reaching its intended beneficiaries on a endowed”than in “ movement-deprived”
ment with formal deliberative processes massive scale. The surveys do not of blocks.1 Unfortunately, as Khera notes,
could, in fact, produce better legislation. course capture “ ghost workers” , whose strong, adaptable people’ s organisations
Aruna Roy, a leading voice in the stru­ “ wages”flow to the powerful. Disagree­ are thin on the ground.2 She points out
ggle for n r e g a ’
s passage, specifically ments persist over the extent and distri­ that “j a d s has fully imbibed the spirit of
invoked this lesson in mid-2011 amidst bution of such “ leakages” . But even if n r e g a , looked upon as an opportunity

disagreements with Anna Hazare’ s innerthe losses are considerable, the benefits to promote the overall development of
circle over how to obtain the best possi­ that n r e g a provides to some of India’ s the village as well as to alter the balance
ble Lokpal Bill. Working with parliamen­ most destitute people cannot be denied. of power in the village society” . Why
tary committees is not fruitless, Roy and These real gains are too vital to aban­ some people’ s organisations in rural
others insisted. As the Lokpal Bill wend­ don in the name of combating - as they India prioritise mobilisation around
ed its way through the legislative laby­ say in the United States - “ waste, fraud n r e g a workers’ rights while others do
rinth in late 2011, this “ proceduralist”and abuse” . not is a mystery waiting to be unravelled.
stance appeared to have been vindicated. A depressing feature of the n r e g a ’ s

Committee scrutiny, debate, hearings, early years was workers’general lack of Longitudinal Perspective
and (ultimately) textual revision yielded awareness concerning their rights under One of the advantages of having Khera
substantial improvements over initial the Act. Hopes that understanding and Dreze as guides to the realities of
drafts, though not on every contested would spread and increase naturally n r e g a implementation is their long en­

provision. Then again, it is likely that
Roy and others working the committee
rooms for a strong (but not omnipotent)
Lokpal had their negotiating leverage
with Members of Parliament (m p s ) and
party leaders strengthened - subtly
but significantly - by the muffled yet
still-audible cries of the Anna Hazare
over time were not always borne out. gagement, as researchers and activists,
One place where people’ s mindsets did with similar employment programmes.
undergo a fairly dramatic transforma­ This longitudinal perspective aids com­
tion was Pati block of Badwani district, parison between n r e g a and predeces­
in Madhya Pradesh. Khera’ s chapter sors such as the Employment Assurance
(“ Empowerment Guarantee Act?” ) sen­ Scheme (e a s ), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana
sitively analyses the work of the Jagrut (j r y ) and National Food for Work
Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (j a d s ), a people’s Programme, n r e g a ’ s functioning can

hardliners outside on the streets. Just organisation that has for many years thus be assessed alongside employment
because “ good cop, bad cop”is a crime- sought to mobilise people in the region programmes that once actually existed,
drama cliche does not mean it cannot be to assert and protect their land rights. or still do, rather than against theoreti­
an effective negotiating tactic. j a d s ’ decision in 2006 to expand its cal alternatives that, in practice, would
agenda to include n r e g a workers’ rights face the same (if not worse) implemen­
Ground Realities has paid off handsomely in terms of tation problems than n r e g a does.
Part Two of the book is titled “ Ground increased awareness.
Realities” . The seven chapters cover key As Khera’ s survey results from 2006 Contrasting Experiences
elements of n r e g a ’ s design: women’ s and 2008 indicate, n r e g a workers in Part Three of the book (“ Contrasting
participation (e g, a quota of at least 30% j a d s ’ catchment area became know­ Experiences” ) consists of four state case
of employment days created), mandated ledgeable about not only general entitle­ study chapters - on Orissa, Himachal
worksite conditions (e g, water provi­ ments, but also specific implementation Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu.
sion, childcare facilities), payment moda­ procedures. This translated into demands Even from this relatively small sample, the
lities (e g, bank account transfers). The for more timely provision of employment vast differences between states’n r e g a
title of the scene-setting chapter, “ The and for the payment of NREGA-mandated experiences are evident. Orissa emerges
Battle for Employment Guarantee”by unemployment stipends. A prolonged as a textbook example of how not to
Dreze and Khera, refers to the ongoing period of agitation and negotiation led implement a rights-based development

Economic & Political w e e k ly EBSS9 m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 10 31

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BOOK REVIEW
initiative. The state government’ s utter
failure to deliver consistent employment
at the minimum wage was made worse
by ill-conceived projects disconnected
from local priorities. These were all too
often executed by ruthless and wily con­
tractors, who are banned under n r e g a
from undertaking works, but flourish in
Orissa nonetheless. Quite why the con­
tractor culture should be so entrenched in
Orissa compared to other states - some
run by equally unaccountable govern­
ments - is not something the volume’ s other hand, Tamil Nadu has produced
authors have been able to determine.
Tamil Nadu stands near the other end
of the n r e g a performance spectrum.
Despite patchy implementation in many
respects, the state developed a robust
system of administrative monitoring to
track day-to-day operations all the
way down to the worksite level. The
Tamil Nadu government deviated sub­
stantially from the procedures stipu­
lated by the Ministry of Rural Develop­
ment in Delhi. (States routinely get
away with seemingly statute-defying
practices by asserting vague claims to
provincial autonomy; frequently the
central government has little interest in
protecting its constitutional turf, and
even less capacity to do so.) And yet,
Tamil Nadu’ s political and bureaucratic
leadership committed itself to making
n r e g a function creditably.
Tamil Nadu’ s top-down approach to
administrative oversight notwithstanding,
the state may have generated something
more precious than popular awareness:
a (subculture of accountability within the
civil service. This has not been institu­
tionalised to the degree found in Andhra
Pradesh, nor have citizens and civic organ­
isations been incorporated with the same
gusto. Andhra Pradesh has the most im­
pressive record of any Indian state in
terms of implementing n r e g a ’ s trans­
parency and accountability provisions:
guilty officials sometimes actually get
dismissed, pay fines, return stolen funds,
or go to jail. Tamil Nadu has nevertheless
established a foundation - a rejection of
official impunity as the default setting -
that can be built upon over time.
Tamil Nadu is a good example of how
the studies in this volume highlight the
idiosyncrasies of particular states, as
32
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expressed through the peculiar idiom
of n r e g a implementation. Tamil Nadu’
mixed performance on n r e g a is consist­
ent with the state’ s Jekyll- and- Hyde
pattern of governance over the past three
decades. The state government has, on
the one hand, been able to institute
complex regulatory reforms, execute
major infrastructure projects, and de­
vise innovative social programmes such
as its mid-day school meal scheme, now
a model for the rest of India. On the
some of the country’ s most stunning
examples of venality and misgovern-
ance. Both the current chief minister
and her predecessor - not to mention
their more flamboyant family members
- have become national symbols of cor­
ruption. Fiscally speaking, the state’
ability to keep budget deficits under con­
trol has alternated with, and sometimes
coexisted alongside, bouts of extreme
competitive populism.3
Somewhere in between these two
extremes are the book’ s two other cases
of n r e g a “ ground realities”: Himachal
Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Himachal
Pradesh has displayed some promising
signs. In other respects, however, the
state government has abdicated its
responsibilities. Chhattisgarh as a whole
is not covered. Dreze instead brings us
along on a brief journey he took into
the borderlands adjoining the state’
Maoist-controlled areas. Even in these
seemingly inhospitable circumstances,
Dreze argues, far more could be done to
make n r e g a a positive influence on the
lives of poor people. One can sense his
discomfort at the prospect of “ securitis­
ing”n r e g a , of making the pacification
of restive populations its overriding ob­
jective. But the possibility of enhancing
people’ s well-being leads Dreze to call
for a continued extension of n r e g a ’
reach - all the way to the most remote
locations, where Dreze discovers extre­
mely marginalised people using n r e g a
employment to combat acute economic
and physical insecurity.
Trouble Spots
Part Four of the book, consisting of six
chapters, is entitled “
Trouble Spots”, as
if most of the preceding accounts of
m arch 10, 2012
nrega’ s difficult birth and harrowing
s infancy were relatively problem-free. One
of the chapters, a thought-provoking
comparison between official n r e g a sta­
tistics and National Sample Survey (n s s )
data, seemed rather out of place here.
The other chapters - all authored or co­
authored by the members of the core
group of Khera, Dreze, Roy and Dey- offer
further glimpses of n r e g a “in action”
, as
well “ inaction”by the officials charged
with n r e g a implementation. Were this
part of the book more forward-looking,
it might hold together better. Instead,
some of the chapters send us even fur­
ther back in time. Among these is D reze’ s
2007 account of a muster-roll verifica­
tion exercise conducted in Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand and Orissa.
s Other chapters, such as Roy and Dey’ s
very brief piece - “ The Wages of Discon­
tent” , originally published as an op-ed in
October 2010 - bring us much closer to
the present. The central governm ent’ s
hypocrisy in refusing to pay the legal
minimum wage to labourers working
under the ruling party’ s flagship anti­
poverty programme is ably exposed. The
role of centre-state buck-passing is also
nicely illustrated, both here and else­
where in the volume. Yet, we are no
nearer to knowing why this government
acts so small-mindedly in some instances
- demonstrating what Roy and Dey call
s “ the capacity of India’ s policymakers to
turn a progressive piece of legislation
upside down”- while at other times (for
instance, when introducing the National
Food Security Bill) it manages to do
more or less the right thing.
Permission for Reproduction of
Articles Published in EPW
s No article published in epw or part thereof
should be reproduced in any form w ithou t
prior permission o f the author(s).
A soft/hardcopyoftheauthor(s)'sapproval
should be sent to epw .
In cases where the email address o f the
au thor has not been published along
w ith the articles, epw can be contacted
for help.
v o l x l v ii n o io 1332] Economic & Political w e e k l y

Khera’ s chapter (“ Wage Payments:
Live without Pay?” ) in this part of the
book is a good example of the qualities
that allow this at times unkempt bundle
of essays to cohere so nicely. Khera uses
quantitative evidence to generate esti­
mates for the extent of non-payment,
under-payment and delayed payment of
n r e g a wages. She then employs qualita­
tive methods to analyse the underlying
accountability-thwarting mechanisms at
work. This is undertaken through a com­
prehensive disassembly of the wage-
payment process, which also highlights
distinctions of analytical relevance to
researchers working in allied fields. For
instance, Khera contrasts forms of cor­
ruption in which officials can obtain
rents unilaterally (and largely invisibly)
with forms of corruption that require
officials to collude with other actors.
Khera argues that the shift to paying
n r e g a wages directly into workers’bank
accounts led to a shift away from a uni­
lateral form of corruption to one neces­
sitating collusion (with workers, bank
managers, etc). The sophistication with
which Khera advances these claims, and
the subtlety of the policy advice to which
they give rise, are of rare quality.
Conclusions
My only serious gripe with this volume is
what is not included. In particular, one
might have expected a book entitled The
Battle fo r Employment Guarantee to
contain a more systematic analysis of
n rega’ s many political dimensions.
Little effort has been made to articulate
a model of how political influence is
brought to bear at the various stages of
approving, implementing, and auditing
an n r e g a works project. Political analy­
sis, where it can be found, is fleeting at
best. At one point we learn that n r e g a
rules permit local officials to have their
pet projects approved even when they
lack clout at higher levels of the political
system, and that this is indeed happen­
ing. As this phenomenon is at odds with
reported behaviour among political
actors in so many places, one might have
expected a more explicit recognition of
the novelty involved, perhaps even a
preliminary analysis of the factors ena­
bling these new practices to take root in
Economic & Political w e e k l y IBSB3 m a r c h i o , 2012
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the face of rather daunting obstacles, not
least opposition from erstwhile patrons
now bypassed by their former clients.
This diachronic comparative perspective
was not adopted, unfortunately. Instead,
the subject was changed.
Electoral politics gets equally short
shrift. Though one of the book’ s central
contentions in this regard is that, increas­
ingly, there has been an “ unhealthy poli­
ticisation of n r e g a ”, very little evidence
is adduced to support this claim. Khera
and Dreze cite the United Progressive
Alliance ( u p a ) government’ s inept deci­
sion to add the Mahatma Gandhi prefix
to the n r e g a brand name as an indicator
of declining political health. But surely
this was a minor, garden-variety sin, one
of taste more than anything - at most an
indicator of declining political judgment.
After all, was not Gandhi more than just
a Congress politician?
Khera and Dreze also mention in this
connection rule changes permitting
n r e g a funds to be used to construct
“Rajiv Gandhi”community centres. Is
this tacky and brazen? Absolutely. Will it
win Congress extra votes? Hard to be­
lieve. Given the litany of abuses docu­
mented in the rest of the book - almost
all of which are ultimately traceable to
politics of one sort or another - are we
really supposed to find this tangential
association between n r e g a and Rahul
Gandhi’ s father’s name, especially omi­
nous for the future of Indian democracy,
or even the political sustainability of
n r e g a ? The answers are no and no.
Indian democracy is stronger than that,
and India’ s politicians too astute to
discard a useful symbol of state compas­
sion, particularly one that chief minis­
ters of almost every political persuasion
have proven capable of turning to their
electoral advantage. The effort to “ own”
n r e g a should be seen as a sign of its
political vitality rather than decrepitude.
For all its strengths, the book may
leave some readers haunted by a sense
that important parts of the n r e g a story
have been omitted. This is not necessarily
the fault of the editor or the book’ s con­
tributors, though the sense of dissatis­
faction may in practice be inseparable
from who they are. The ground-break­
ing social action research Khera, Dreze
v o l x l v i i n o 10
BOOK REVIEW
and their colleagues have been conduct­
ing over the past several years has
brought them into sustained contact
with policymakers, politicians, street-
level bureaucrats, and segments of the
activist community from across India.
Dreze has been a member of both the
n a c and the Central Employment Guar­
antee Council ( c e g c ) . But apart from the
odd lament at the c e g c ’ s dysfunctionality
- indeed, the u p a government’ s unwill­
ingness to let it work - Dreze’ s various
sole and co-authored chapters do not
closely analyse the full range of political
conflicts that have attended n r e g a ’ s
early years. Considering the unparal­
leled insider-outsider perspective that
Khera, Dreze and other contributors
could potentially bring to bear, this is a
real shame. Perhaps, Dreze’ s memoir, if
one day he can be persuaded to write
one, will narrate the high politics of
n r e g a implementation before they are
lost to history.
If, as Dreze once stated, the idea for
employment guarantee legislation first
arrived on the national policy agenda
like “ a wet dog at a glamorous party” ,
this volume, under Khera’ s able editorial
guidance, is very much the opposite: a
highly welcome contribution to a set of
policy debates that increasingly focus on
everything except the people for whom
n r e g a is as close to a safety net as they
are likely to get any time soon.*1 3
2
R ob Jenkins (rjenk@hunter.cuny.edu )
teach es politica l scien ce at Hunter College,
City U niversity o f N ew York (CUNY), and
is a lso w ith the Ralph Bunche Institute for
International Studies, CUNY Graduate Center.
N O T E S ____________________________________________
1 The survey research was conducted in conjunc­
tion with the Institute of Development Studies,
Jaipur, under the guidance of Surjit Singh.
2 The MKSS in Rajasthan, with which Khera and
Dreze have long been associated, is the classic
case. It is worth noting that the Rajasthan-
based survey research mentioned above (on
movement-endowed versus movement-deprived
blocks) was conducted outside the MKSS’ main
area of operations.
3 Perhaps the purest expression of clientelism,
Tamil Nadu style, was the public ceremony
staged by the state’ s previous chief minister,
in which he personally handed out colour tele­
vision sets to supplicant-supporters who queued
up to his throne to receive this dollop o f state
largesse. The proceedings were broadcast live
on television.
33
BOOK REVIEW

volume has three related aims. First, to

Ethics in Times of Transition “recast history of ethics in South Asia”
from moral rules and laws “ to changing
in South Asia practice of self-fashioning and collective
conduct”(p 9);1 second, to view these
“ethical traditions in their historical and
RUDOLF C HEREDIA contextual specificity”(p 11);2 third, to
call “attention to the complex and multi­
he encounter between tradition Ethical Life in South Asia edited by Anand Pandian ple ties that bind moral and ethical chal­

T and modernity in the multicul­ and Daud Ali (New Delhi: Oxford University Press), 2011;
tural, pluri-religious Indie socie­ ppviii+290,R s695.
ties of south Asia produces multiple
lenges in South Asia to the legacies,
burdens and expectations of the past”
(p 12). The editors’introduction to the
modernities that differ across geogra­ right. Otherwise the act is not truly collection promises a rewarding engage­
phies, histories and specific sociocultural moral because it would be extrinsically ment with the chapters of this book,
contexts. In the transition to multiple motivated and not intrinsically free. But which is divided into three parts. The
modernities, the transmission of tradi­ this remains a formalistic ethic and its brief overview here is meant as an invi­
tional ethical practices and established content remains problematic, for what is tation to the reader to get to them.
moral relations is reoriented. Traditional “ right”must refer to a specific context in The first part focuses on ethical “ Tradi­
ethics has not been static. There have a particular society. Even Kant’ s universal tions in Transmission” . In the first chapter,
been historical moments and move­ norms begin to strain in cross-cultural Daud Ali starts with a study of “ The
ments of development and displace­ application. Treating every person as an Subhashita as an Artefact of Ethical Life
ment, which can become models for an end, never a means, or universalising the in Medieval India”(p 21). These “ well-
adaptive discourse in times of change. norms for action becomes tenuous when spoken”(p 23) or “ beautifully said”(p 28)
Often change brings alienation and ascribed status rigidly stratifies and com­ collections of Sanskrit verses float around
anomie, troubling cultural exclusion and partmentalises society, and assigns some in oral traditions and get modified, impro­
religious taboos. In an insecure and fluid to subhuman domains, i e, castes, slaves, vised, expanded and so survive to become
situation, these easily spill over into en­ women. In other societies, equality is a a lived moral knowledge, collectively ar­
demic intolerance and horrific violence. fundamental value; in some, animal rights ticulated and highly dialogical. The Tamil
Rising standards of living were thought are privileged. Hence anthropologists Tinnai (or verandah) school, studied by
to contain and release these tensions and and other social scientists have stressed Bhavani Raman in the second chapter,
contradictions, but have often resulted in that the development of the ethical hap­ emphasises “ Disciplining the Senses and
the opposite outcome. Understanding pens in a concrete sociocultural context. Schooling the Mind”through memorised
and addressing such anomalies can push Moral arguments must be embodied or poems and a complex pedagogy (p 43).
us to the limits of ethical language and rather embedded in these contexts. According to James Ladislaw, in the third
moral practice, bringing us back to the chapter, the encounter of “ Diaspora Jain­
ancient question articulated by Paul Origin of ‘ Ethics’ ism”with “ Environmental and Animal
Ricoeur (1994): “ how ought one to live?” The word “ ethics”is derived from the Rights Movements”has led to an eco-Jain-
This involves one’ s relation to others Greek “ ethos”or character; “ morality” ism that is reinterpreting Jain customs, for
as also to the self. Thus for Foucault, ethics derives from the Latin “ mores”or cus­ instance veganism and its taboo on milk
is premised on a reflective “ Practice of toms. Based on this, a further distinction and milk products (p 61).
Freedom”(Foucault 1997) and concerns is useful (Williams 1985) between ethics The second part examines “ Ethics and
“technologies of the self’ in the moral life. as concerning the “ ought”of how we Modernity” . Here Ritu Birla looks at
In situations of rapid and radical change, ought to live, and morality as concern­ “ Vernacular Capitalists” , where duty
new and enabling ways of closing the gap ing the “ is”or decisions we take with re­ and community seem to be at the heart
between the “ ought”and the “ is”must be gard to right and wrong. Though both of the business ethic, while the “ Modern
found. If ethics is the practice of remaking are necessarily contextual, the first is Subject in India”is formed by “ Law,
oneself freely as a moral being, it cannot, more general and value-premised, and Culture, and Market Ethics”with new
must not be enforced by policing. Thus the second more specific and norm- ethico-political discourses emerging there
all the diverse, ethical discourses in south ruled. In other words, basic human ethi­ (p 83). The consequent proliferating ten­
Asia attempt to motivate and discipline cal values are more universal, whereas sions must be accommodated with an
for a more desirable way of being. tradition-specific norms are contextual. extensive negotiability between the
Philosophers like Immanuel Kant Normative horizons emerge under given norms of bazaar commerce, on the one
have proposed an interiorised universal, historical social conditions, but funda­ hand, and colonial jurisprudence and
altruistic ethic (1964, first published in mental values can transcend these. contemporary business practices, on the
1785): the moral imperative of freely Ranging across large spans of time other. In a chapter on “ The Ethics of
choosing what is right solely because it is and space within the subcontinent, this Textuality” , Bernard Bate analyses “ The
34 m arch 10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 10 13321 Economic & Political w e e k l y

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Protestant Sermon in the Tamil Public
Square”(p 101). And concluding this sec­
tion is Dipesh Chakrabarty’ s “Empire,
Ethics and the Calling of History” , which
he understands as “ the struggle to re­
main open to someone else’ s reasoned
scepticism”(p 133).
“Practices of the Self”in their diverse
modes of cultivating moral selfhood, is
the topic of part three. In the distinction
“Between Intuition and Judgment” , Ajay Skaria the paradox of “
Charles Hallisey discovers the “ Moral
Creativity in Theravada Buddhist Ethics”
(p 141). “ Young Manliness”is explored
by Emma Flatt in the “ Ethical Cultures
in the Gymnasiums of the Medieval Dec-
can”(p 153), where wrestling as charac­
ter training was privileged by medieval
texts of the Persianate world. Leela Pras­
ad’s study of “ Ethical Subjects”in terms
of “Time, Telling and Tellability”exam­
ines the relationship between past and
present (p 174). Memory provides the
context for interpreting the “ text” of
present narration. The lived contradic­
tions between ethical concerns and ma­
terial interests can bring “ Demoralising
Acharya, Shankar (2012); India after the Global Crisis
(New Delhi: Orient Blackswan); pp xiii + 226,
Rs 425 .
Allen, Charles (2012); Ashoka (Hachette India and
Little Brown); pp xv + 460, Rs 750.
Avery, William H (2012); China’
s Nightmare, America’s
Dream: India as the Next Global Power, Amaryllis
(New Delhi: Manjul Publishing House); pp xxviii
+ 244, Rs 595-
Barry, Kathleen (2012); Unmaking War, Remaking
Men (New Delhi: Women Unlimited); pp x + 235,
Rs 550.
Basu, Kaushik and Annemie Maertens, ed. (2012);
The New Oxford Companion to Economics in India
(Vol I & II) (New Delhi: Oxford University
Press); pp xvi + 750, Rs 4,500 per set.
Bhavani, T A and N R Bhanumurthy (2012); Finan­
cial Access in Post-reform India (New Delhi:
Oxford University Press); pp xvi + 176, Rs 575.
Brock, Lothar, Hans-Henrik Holm, Georg Sorensen and
Michael Stohl (2012); Fragile States (Cambridge:
Polity Press); pp 194, price not indicated.
Chawla, Muhammad Iqbal (2011); Wavell and the
Dying Days of the Raj: Britain’ s Penultimate
Viceroy in India (New Delhi: Oxford University
Press); pp xii + 293, Rs 725.
Cohen, Stephen P and others (2011); The Future of
Pakistan (New Delhi: Oxford University Press);
pp xv + 311, Rs 695.
D’
Souza, Barnabe (2012); From Ecstasy to Agony and
Back: Journeying with Adolescents on the Street
(New Delhi: Sage Publications); pp xiv + 226,
Rs 350.
Economic & Political weekly 13323 m a r c h 10, 2012
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Developments” . Craig Jeffrey shows how
the need for ethical congruence is met
by compartmentalising two different
forms of ethico-political action to ac­
commodate the demands of each in sep­
arate ethical lifestyles (p 192).
The concluding section broadens the
field by showcasing the “ Ethical Lives of
Others” . The Gandhian satyagrahi’ s ans and moral philosophers.1 2
fearlessness in the face of death is for
Living by
Dying”(p 211). This of course is but Gan­
dhi’ s rearticulation of the ancient spirit­
uality of renunciation, of unselfing the
self to attain moksha, of total detach­
ment for nirvana, of dying for the self to
be raised to eternal life. The “ Moral and
Spiritual Striving in Everyday Life”in
order “ To be a Muslim in Contemporary
India”is sensitively illustrated by Veena
Das with her ethnographic description
of life in a mixed neighbourhood in Old
Delhi (p 232). Finally, Lawrence Cohen’ s physics o f Morals, Paton, H J (trans) (New York:
essay on “ Ethical Publicity”deals with
our capacity to recognise the wounds of
the other as the precondition for the im­
perative to act (p 253).
Books Received
Dalai, Ajit K and Girishwar Misra, ed. (2012); New
Directions in Health Psychology (New Delhi:
Sage Publications); pp xviii + 484, Rs 995.
Datta, Sankar, Orlanda Ruthven and Vipin Sharma,
ed. (2012); State o f India’
s Livelihoods Report
2011 (New Delhi: Sage Publications); pp xx +
152, Rs 895.
Foner, Philip S, ed. (2012); Clara Zetkin: Selected
Writings (Delhi: Aakar Books); pp 206, Rs 250.
Globalisation and Emerging Economies: Brazil, Russia,
India, Indonesia, China and South Africa (2011);
Bookwell, New Delhi, in association with OECD,
PP 453, Rs 1,595-
Gopal, Sarvepalli (2012); Jawaharlal Nehru: A Bio­
graphy (Volume one - 1889-1947) (New Delhi:
Oxford University Press); pp 398, Rs 2,250 for
three volume set.
- (2012); Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography (Volume
Two - 1947-1956) (New Delhi: Oxford University
Press); pp 346, Rs 2,250 for three volume set.
- (2012); Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography (Volume
Three - 1956-1964) (New Delhi: Oxford University
Press); pp 336, Rs 2,250 for three volume set.
Hedlund, Roger E, Jesudas M Athyal, Joshua Kalapati,
Jessica Richard, ed. (2012); Oxford Encyclo­
paedia of South Asian Christianity (Vol I & II)
(New Delhi: Oxford University Press); pp xxiv
+ 762, Rs 2,950 per set.
Herath, Tamara (2012); Women in Terrorism: Case
of the LTTE (New Delhi: Sage Publications);
pp xii + 242, Rs 595.
India Infrastructure Report 2011 (2011); Water: Policy
and Performance for Sustainable Development
v o l x l v i i n o 10
BOOK REVIEW
This book is a competent and credible
illustration of the richness of south
Asian ethical traditions and the resourc­
es to be found there for a reorientation
and renewal of our ethical sensitivity in
changing times. It will be valuable book
for anyone studying ethics in the south
Asian context, and especially for histori­
Rudolf C Heredia (rudiheredia@gmail.com) is
an independent researcher based in Mumbai.
n o t e s ________________________________________
1 Unless otherwise noted, all page numbers are
from the 2010 Indiana University Press edition,
available on G oogle Scholar.
2 From the Oxford University Press edition un­
der review.
REFERENCES_________________________________
Foucault, Michel (1997): “ Ethics of the Concern for
the Self as a Practice of Freedom”in P Rabinow
(ed.), Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth (New York:
New Press), pp 32-50.
Kant, Immanuel (1964): Groundwork of the Meta­
Harper Torchbooks).
Ricoeur, Paul (1994): Oneself as Another (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press).
Williams, Bernard (1985): Ethics and the Limits of
Philosophy (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Har­
vard University Press).
(New Delhi: IDFC and Oxford University Press);
pp xxxix + 396, Rs 695.
Ingham, Geoffrey (2011); Capitalism (Cambridge:
Polity Press); pp 331, £ 60 (hb).
Jaffrelot, Christophe, ed. (2012); India since 1950:
Society, Politics, Economy and Culture (New Delhi:
Yatra Books and Foundation Books); pp xix + 911,
Rs 995 .
Jalan, Bimal (2012); Emerging India: Economics,
Politics & Reforms (New Delhi: Penguin Books);
pp xxviii + 305, Rs 599.
Jones, Justin (2012); Shi’
a Islam in Colonial India:
Religion, Community and Sectarianism (New Delhi:
Cambridge University Press), pp xxv+276, Rs 795.
Kaushik, Kshama V and Kaushik Dutta (2012); India
Means Business, How the Elephant Earned Its
Stripes (New Delhi: Oxford University Press);
pp xviii + 366, Rs 695.
Lo, Die (2012); Alternatives to Neoliberal Globalisa­
tion: Studies in the Political Economy of Institu­
tions and Late Development (England and New
York: Palgrave Macmillan); pp ix + 197, price
not indicated.
Locke, John L (2012); Duels and Duets: Why Men
and Women Talk So Differently (New Delhi:
Cambridge University Press); pp x + 241, Rs 295.
Mallampalli, Chandra (2012); Race, Religion and
Law in Colonial India: Trials of an Interracial
Family (New Delhi: Cambridge University Press);
pp xviii 4- 268, Rs 895.
Mehra, Parshotam (2012); Tibet: Writings on History
and Politics (New Delhi: Oxford University Press);
pp xii + 382, Rs 795.
35
IN S IG H T
Rise and Fall of Calcutta’
s all that. For the first time in its history,
Group Theatre
The End of a Political Dream
P A R IM A L G H O S H
There is good reason to believe
that there were telltale signs
in West Bengal even in the late
1970s, at the moment of the left’
s what went wrong after 34 years of appar­
greatest triumph, that there was
something intrinsically wrong
in the process through which
the left had come to power and
retained it. This article attempts
to establish this through a brief
examination of Calcutta’ s Group
Theatre movement, which since
its inception was largely driven by
left-democratic ideals. A strong
movement in the 1960s, by the
1980s it had begun to fade away.
It is possible to see the crisis in
the Group Theatre movement as a
fallout of the much bigger crisis in
the constitutional left movement
of the country.
I am grateful to Arun Nag, Debraj Bhattacharyya,
Rajat Sur and to the late Anjan Ghosh for their
comments on earlier drafts of this essay.
Regretfully, Anjan did not get to see the
present version. I am also indebted to
Natyasodh Sanstha, Kolkata, for crucial archival
assistance. Needless to add, I remain responsible
for all the shortcomings of this essay.
Parimal Ghosh (parimalghosh52@gmail.com)
is with the department of South and South
Asian Studies, University of Calcutta, Kolkata.
36
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Prologue
T
he 2011 defeat of the Left Front in
West Bengal has predictably trig­
gered a spate of enquiries as to
ently popular rule. This has been traced
to different reasons, but observers are
generally agreed that the slide became
unstoppable when the left began to
move away from “ the basic classes” . This
is obviously true, but it is also important
to realise that things did not begin to go
wrong only in recent times. There is
good reason to believe that there were
telltale signs even in the late 1970s, at
the moment of the left’ s greatest triumph,
that there was something intrinsically
wrong, a weakness in the process through
which the left came to power and
retained it. We shall try to establish this
through a brief examination of Calcut­
ta’s Group Theatre movement, which
since its inception was largely driven by
left-democratic ideals.
The Group Theatre movement was
born in the aftermath of Nabanna , pro­
duced by the Indian People’ s Theatre
Association ( i p t a ) in October 1944.
Until then Bengali theatre on the pro­
fessional stage or when performed pri­
vately, generally dealt with mythology,
overly Hindu nationalistic themes drawn
from history, besides romance based on
anecdotes about the Mughals or the
Rajput princes. Social themes with con­
temporary relevance occurred some­
times through adaptation of novels of
Rabindranath Tagore and Saratchandra
Chattopadhyay, and there had been
occasional brilliant interventions by
powerful authors such as Dinabandhu
Mitra and Madhusudan Dutta, but the
productions generally aimed at enter­
taining the audience. Nabanna changed
m arch 10, 2012
Bengali theatre became a vehicle for
expressing the angst of Bengalis, in this
case arising from the second world war,
and the devastating famine of 1943-44.
Bengali theatre was now firmly situated
as a component of civil society, a space
in which political battles would be
reflected and a future dreamt of. In the
process theatre became different, and
was no longer just an aspect of Bengali
community life lived in the city’ s neigh­
bourhoods. In this article we shall see
that the public sphere that was thereby
constituted carried within it its own
compulsions. And when circumstances
inhibited its fruition, the theatre move­
ment became the victim.
The Sisir Years
It is customary to consider that the first
step away from the conventional ambi­
ence of Bengali theatre was taken when
Sisir Bhaduri joined the professional stage
in 1921. It is, however, probable that the
context in the early 1920s was set by the
massive political transformation that
the city of (what was then) Calcutta, and
India, were experiencing around the
time. Those years witnessed the first all-
India nationalist movement under the
leadership of the Congress. Gandhi had
appeared on the scene. The 1920s also
saw the emergence of two other major
trends which have left their mark on
Indian history - the arrival of hard line
communal political practices and the
emergence of an organised left move­
ment. It seems likely that all these
upheavals left their imprint on the cul­
tural scene in Bengal. In Bengali thea­
tre, the noticeable change was that the
stage now became an acceptable voca­
tion for at least some sections of the edu­
cated middle class. In Santiniketan,
Rabindranath Tagore had already started
experimenting with his plays and dance
dramas in which students of his school
took part.
Sisir Bhaduri, the doyen of modern
Bengali theatre, had been a lecturer in
English in the Metropolitan College. He
made his first appearance on profes­
sional stage in A lam gir (1921), written
v o l x l v ii n o io BBSS Economic & Political w ee k l y

by Kshirodeprasad, yet another college
teacher of chemistry who had resigned
from Scottish Church College. A year
after, Bhaduri’ s friend Naresh Chandra
Mitra, a Calcutta University law graduate,
joined the Minerva theatre along with
Radhikananda Mukheijee. Mukherjee
belonged to a respectable bhadra family
and had been a central government
employee who again had resigned his
job. A host of bright young men followed:
Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri, Monoranjan
Bhattacharya, Tulsi Charan Banerjee,
Rabindramohan Roy, Sailen Chaudhuri,
Lalitmohan Lahiri, Amitabha Basu,
Jiban Ganguly, and Sisir’ s own brothers
- Biswanath and Tarakumar. Ahindra
Chowdhury, from whose writings we
have cited above, Durgadas Banerjee,
Nirmalendu Lahiri joined around the
same time.1
This was also the time when there were
noticeable changes in other respects, mark­
ing the departure from previous practices.
The structure of the auditorium began to
change, transforming the theatre houses
into more formal places. The galleries
gave way to rows and balconies. Women
sat with men, seats were numbered and
the lowest ticket was priced at Re 1which
obviously was aimed at keeping out the
rowdier elements.2
No less important were the changes in
theatre craft. Much later, in the 1960s,
another master of modem Bengali theatre,
Sambhu Mitra, recalled that he first real­
ised the significance of the role of the
director by watching Sisir Bhaduri in
D igvijayi (The World Conqueror; based
on Nadir Shah’ s invasion of India in the
twilight years of the Mughal empire).
In that production, the w ay in w hich Nadir’
s Recalling the times, Sambhu Mitra
com m ands, spoken in an ordinary voice,
w ere ob eyed by others w ith respectfu l atten­
tion, the alertness and the m ilitary sm art­
ness that exu ded from the m ovem en ts o f the
actors, all this w as alm ost u n im agin able to
me. There cou ld b e n o com pa rison at all
w ith the typical lazy style o f the B engali
h eroes in m y th ologica l plays. In contrast,
the in telligen ce and bravery o f Nadir Shah
seem ed to find expression in his quick tiger­
like movem ents. That w as w hen I first real­
ised that in theatre p rodu ction there is n eed
for som eon e w h o w ou ld k eep in m in d all the
details o f every character.3
Mitra also acknowledged that it was
from the third act of the same play that
Economic & Political w e e k l y Q 39 m a r c h 10, 2012
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he got his inspiration for the first scene
of Nabanna.4
Civil Society in Theatre
The process of transformation was
further accentuated from 1939-40. The
impending war, the growing appeal of
leftist ideology, and subsequently the
devastating Bengal famine of 1943, all
came together to bring this about.
By the 1930s Calcutta had become the
seat of an influential Marxist literary
circle, which functioned around Porichoy,
a journal started by the avant garde poet
Sudhindranath Dutta. To start with, it
was a meeting point for liberal-minded
Bengali intellectuals, and by the early
1940s, especially of those with a Marxist
leaning. Jyotirindra Moitra, the well-
known poet and composer of Nabajibaner
Gaan (Songs for the New Life), published
in 1945, was among those who were
involved in the production of Nabanna.
He recalled afterwards that the gathering
at Porichoys office was attended among
others by Hiren Mukherji, the Communist
Party of India ( c p i) , Susobhan Sarkar, the
legendary history professor from Presi­
dency College, Bhupen Dutta, the well-
known leftist thinker and a brother of
Swami Vivekananda and Bishnu Dey,
who later matured into one of the fore­
most poets of Bengal in the post-Tagore
age. Among the committed Marxists and
party whole-timers, Sudhi Pradhan and
Chinmohon Sehanobis were there. Moitra
himself became a party member from
1942, and was involved in the cultural
cell along with Pradhan, Sehanobis,
Bijon Bhattacharya, Sambhu Mitra and
some others.5
would later write:
It all h appen ed som e 16 years ago. But lon g
b efore that there w as the feelin g that things
shou ld change. ...We felt all the tim e that
the story to relate and see w as the one in w hich
hum an beings w ere involved in gigantic strug­
gles in the context o f the entire society.6
Thus, the ground was ready for a
new kind of experimentation in Bengali
theatre in which the conscious objective
would be to go beyond the present situa­
tion, and to consider the prospect of
social change. Nor was this confined to
Bengal. All over India, generally, the
v o l x l v i i n o 10
INSIGHT
left-minded thinkers, writers and art­
ists, increasingly came to feel a need to
identify themselves with the political
project of transformation. On 10 April
1936, the first conference of the Progres­
sive Writers’ Association, which included
notable litterateurs like Mulk Raj Anand,
Prem Chand, Sajjid Zahar and others
was held in Lucknow. Some years later,
when towards the end of 1943, the first
open session of c p i was held in Bombay,
and a conference of progressive writers
and artists was also convened. Thus, the
i p t a was born.
In Bengali theatre, the process was
triggered when a group of young men
and women, all from outside the world
of theatre, decided to do something
different. In 1939-40 some of them had
just returned from England after their
higher education - Jyoti Bose, Nikhil
Chakraborty, Manindralal Biswas, Mohit
Bandyopadhyay, and in 1940, along with
a group of postgraduate students of
Calcutta University, they were instru­
mental in setting up the Youth Cultural
Institute in Kent House on Mission Row.
To begin with, the activities were limited
to debates and discussions, very interest­
ingly in English, on international issues.
Gradually, others joined in, many of whom
later came to dominate Bengal politics
and culture: Debabrata Biswas, Chin­
mohon Sehanobis, Uma Chakraborty
(later Sehanobis), Ramkrishna Mukheiji,
Ambika Ghosh, Sanat Lahiri, Saroj Dutta,
Kamal Bose and Subrata Sengupta. It
was decided that if the institute was to
become broader based, then it should
widen its activities - and produce plays.7
Thus, a new practice of political plays
was initiated, which achieved a certain
peak with the i p t a , and more specifi­
cally, with the production of Nabanna
in 1944.
The subsequent history of i p t a , the
sordid tale of its break-up, the deve­
lopments which finally produced its
present-day futile existence, is well-
known and does not bear repetition.8
We shall only recall the initial objective
that i p t a had set for itself, as it has a
bearing on our later discussion. Rustom
Bharucha notes:
The m od el o f the ip ta w as the folk theatre o f
India, that rich and diverse field o f prim itive
37
INSIGHT
theatrical form s in clu din g the jatras, the
tam ashas , the kathakals , the burrakathas ,
and the ja rig a n s that flourished in the rural
areas o f India. The m em b ers o f the i p t a had
n oble intentions o f lea rn in g the art o f
theatre from the p e op le but th ey faced
m any problem s.9
Bharucha mentions in particular the
alienation of middle class intellectuals
from the realities of village life. Besides,
there was the barrier of languages across
the length and breadth of the subconti­
nent. Most of their early plays had there­
fore an urban perspective, though there
were exceptions.
s finest achievement, at least so
ip ta ’
far as Bengali theatre is concerned, was
of course, Nabanna. It was first staged in
end-October 1944 at the Sri Rangam
Hall (later renamed Biswaroopa) in
north Calcutta and immediately created
excitement among the Bengali intelli­
gentsia, especially the theatre workers.
This was a tale of a group of destitute
villagers, devastated by famine and flood,
fleeced by moneylenders, land sharks,
profiteers and corrupt officials, who
come to Calcutta to somehow survive,
and who at the end, finding the city
totally indifferent to their plight, return
to their village to rediscover their inner
strength, symbolised through Nabanna
or the harvest festival. Representing the
reality of Bengal then, nothing of the
sort had been seen before on stage. The
theme was light years away from what
was on offer on the professional stage,
and nobody had ever thought that such a
representation was at all possible. A new
mentality was coming to be associated
with theatre. Gangapada Bose, one of
the actors, would later write, “ When we
worked for Nabanna , it never seemed to
us that we were doing just theatre” .10
Bijon Bhattacharya, who along with
Sambhu Mitra had scripted and directed
Nabanna , later remembered:
I w as shaken by the (Quit India) m ovem ent
in 1942 and the fam ine in 1943.1 saw y ou n g
boy s trying to cut telegraph w ires b ein g
shot, and d rop p in g like a stone. I m y self w as
badly assaulted on e day. Then cam e the fam ­
ine. I did not have the pow er to express the
depth o f the tragedy and its origin. Then I
thought, if only they (i e, the ordinary, c o m ­
m on people) cou ld tell their ow n stories... I
knew h ow they spoke, h ow they recog n ised
and u n derstood things. If I based m y self on
that I w ou ld b e able to d o som ething.11
We are not going to devote too much
attention to Nabanna , much already
has been written on it, on the excite­
ment it created, the changes it signified
in Bengali theatre, and even on its
shortcomings. It is now a legend in
Bengali culture, almost a yardstick by
which to measure the excellence of pro­
duction and political honesty. The Bijon
Bhattacharya-Sambhu Mitra duo estab­
lished themselves as an epitome of these
virtues for all time to come. What is
perhaps more important is that a new
discourse was founded which proposed
an alternative to the old style of theatre.
It brought about a near permanent split
in the theatre world of Calcutta - there
would be on the one hand, the profes­
sional stage located generally in the
theatre houses in the north of the city, in
which the staple diet would be middle

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38 m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 10 Q 2Q Economic & Political w e e k l y

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class family dramas for which there was
always a sufficient audience before the
advent of t v serials; and on the other,
located in the halls to the south, a more
experimental, politically aware theatre,
which would somehow get the name of
Group Theatre. Initially, the idea was
perhaps to break away from the star
system of yesteryears when actors like
Sisir Bhaduri, Ahindra Chowdhury and
others had been considered the main
draw for the audience. Now the empha­
sis was supposedly on the group. But
as we shall see this attempt at a more
politically correct approach did not
survive for long.
Nabanna , thus, created a new genre of
theatre in Bengal, Gononatya (people’ s though that Dutt, in spite of his differ­
theatre), which gradually would give way
to another expression of the new under­
standing of Bengali theatre, Nabanatya
or the new theatre, to distinguish it from
the common fare available in the halls in
the north. An important distinction that
was often made forcefully was that this
theatre was by non-professionals, people
who came to do theatre out of love for
it, and not in order to make money. It
would be thus free from market compul­
sions. Indeed, for a long time to come
actors or directors only rarely accepted
payment, most being engaged elsewhere
for their living.
At the same time, the nomenclature
also suggested a new twist in the tale, a
certain conscious distancing from i p t a ’s
Gononatya. It is difficult to identify when
this new name came into use, but it
is clear that even openly left leaning
theatre workers after a time came to
believe that theatre under the direct
control of a political party was not such
a good idea. Utpal Dutt, the noted actor,
director and an avowed Marxist, who
joined the i p t a in 1951-52, stayed on for
only 10 months.
It should also be mentioned here, that
while the division between the common
north Calcutta theatre and the south
Calcutta Nabanatya was always cherished
by the cognoscenti, for the Group Theatre
artistes and the playwrights this was not
a particularly satisfactory arrangement.
It does seem that there was always a
lurking suspicion among some of them at
least, that the real audience, larger and
Economic & Political weekly ODQ m arch
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in their flesh and blood, were out there.
Sambhu Mitra once lamented - “ With
the advent of western education, the
language of the 90% of the people and
that of the artistes has gradually drifted
apart” .12He believed that Rabindranath
Tagore alone could have brought about a
proper mix:
With his extraordinary creative powers he
could have introduced in his plays tech­
niques to bring together the ideal and the
popular, and thereby sustain the Bengali
stage for many years.13
Utpal Dutt, in his turn, took the north
Calcutta hall, Minerva, on lease in 1959,
and for long continued to produce his
plays from there. It has to be admitted
ences with the i p t a , was always a
darling of the party faithful and his
theatre substantially benefited from
their support.
But having said that, let us move on to
the late 1970s and early 1980s to try and
find out about the end results of the dis­
course that Nabanna founded.
What Happened After?
It is possible to agree that the journey
that started with Nabanna established
Bengali theatre as one of the finest in the
subcontinent in the 1950s and 1960s.
There were many instances of brilliant
stagecraft and intense depth of produc­
tion in the subsequent decades, that had
the right mix of democratic politics -
with certain groups drifting towards a
revolutionary rhetoric - and humane
ideals, based on literature drawn from
the world over. The notion of a theatre
movement, natya andolon , derived from
Nabanna , held the activists and theatre
workers together, as if they were all on a
mission. Over time this became delight­
fully vague, undecided as to whom or
what the movement was directed against,
or where the mission was headed, but
perhaps at that time it did not really
matter. Sambhu Mitra was once reported
to have said the movement was aimed
at, or should aim at, doing the right kind
of theatre in the right way. Imprecise as
this may have sounded, perhaps this was
one common mark which identified the
Nabanatya. This was the bhadra theatre
at its best. There were political differences
10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 10
INSIGHT
and bitter infighting between various
groups, and also within individual groups,
but that took nothing away from the
vigour of different productions and the
interest of the audience.
However, gradually, and perhaps inevi­
tably, things began to change. The demo­
cratic ideal, Nehruvian, and sometimes
boldly left, and reflecting the political
ambience of the decades after Independ­
ence, carried within it its own compul­
sions. The rhetoric of the theatre drew
its sustenance from politics, and it was
this relationship which at a certain point
of time forced theatre workers to ques­
tion their trajectory.
It should be appreciated that the over­
whelming majority of the theatre workers
came from the educated middle class,
and were idealistic and left leaning,
fundamentally the bhadralok.14 After the
split in 1964, it appears that at least to
begin with, the majority of the intellec­
tuals within the party, the litterateurs,
the artists and theatre workers, tended
to side more with the c p i than with the
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
(c p i (m )). Gradually, however, the rheto­
ric of the c p i (m ) came to have an appeal
which was only strengthened with the
growing electoral successes of the party,
and the evident pragmatism of the party
so far as actually conducting a revolu­
tion was concerned. In 1967, for the first
time since Independence, a left-oriented
government came to be instituted in
West Bengal, and after a decade-long
interregnum, and in the post-Emergency
resurgence, this dispensation was recon­
firmed through the establishment of the
Left Front government led by the c p i (m )
in 1977. Apart from other things, this
was in a way a fruition of the long-
drawn cultural struggle since the days of
Nabanna of the majority of art activists in
West Bengal - theatre and film workers,
musicians, writers and poets. There was
an idealistic belief in the need for a
revolution, and a simultaneous hatred
for the Indian National Congress, which
was held responsible for everything that
had gone wrong. Perhaps inevitably there
was also a tendency to see - the ever-
receding prospect of the revolution being
replaced by the goal of ousting the
Congress government through elections.
39
INSIGHT
And when this was achieved finally in
1977, a kind of ennui set in. The question
was what the role of the theatre workers
should then be.
We can recall here Bharucha’ s experi­
ence with Utpal Dutt’ s Barricade, which
dealt with the rise of the Nazis in
Germany. Bharucha saw it when it was
first produced in 1972, and then again in
1979, i e, after the Left Front government
had come to power. In 1972, Bharucha
recognised, that there was an immediacy
to it because of the murder of Hemanta
Basu, a prominent leader of the Forward
Bloc Party, and also the rigging of state
elections by the Congress Party. This was
paralleled on the stage by the murder of
judge Zauritz by the Nazis and their sub­
sequent rigging of the 1933 elections
in Germany. The allusions were well-
appreciated by the audience; the produc­
tion was excellent and everything went
like clockwork. By 1979, Bharucha noticed,
things had begun to creak: neither the
rigging of elections by the Congress
Party nor the murder of Hemanta Basu
carried any meaning.15
Questions about the Movement
Almost anticipating this, much earlier in
the late 1960s, serious questions had been
raised about the purpose of the theatre
movement. Samik Bandyopadhyay, the
noted theatre critic, pointed out a basic
flaw in the thinking of theatre workers.16
If theatre is finally meant for the audience,
then should it offer exactly what the
audience desires, or should it not reach
for higher standards? The fact was even
the so-called progressive theatre was
the theatre of the middle class,17and any
honest attempt to bring in the world of
the peasant in theatre alienated the same
middle class. Bandyopadhyay noted that
Bijon Bhattacharya, who by this time
was increasingly becoming isolated from
the fashion that the Group Theatre was
turning into, was one man who had tried
to bring the village to the city stage.
This he did, not out of a middle class­
mindedness, but through an application
of the intellect of the middle class.
Bandyopadhyay cited some examples to
make his point. The fragmented, scat­
tered form of Debigorjon, and more so
of MorachaNd , the manner in which
40
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 08:35:03 U TC
songs, almost undramatically, forced
apart the strands, the way in which love,
lonesomeness, greed were juxtaposed
with the fraud of religion and the chi­
canery of the jotedar (the settled, big
cultivator, therefore, a man of power in
the rural society), altogether created a
different and a special kind of theatre.
The images emerged directly from folk-
life, and yet were enriched by intellec­
tual significance.18This is where we may
recall the initial objective of i p t a .19
Further, Bandyopadhyay says, the
performers of Bhattacharya’ s group, the
Calcutta theatre, in their speech and in
their movement reproduced the rural
body, but alongside that the poetry
that Bijon created over and again - in
Debigorjon, Mongla’ s fairy tale dream
sequence, or in MorachaNd, the painful
experience of listening to the bird’
in a stormy night - transcended the reality
of rural life and arrived at somewhere
else. And at this point, the urban, middle
class audience became so involved, and
suffered, that they were able to enter
and become a part of the play.
Yet, commercially Bijon Bhattacharya’
experiments were a failure. According to
Bandyopadhyay, this proved that there
was serious incongruity in trying to do
theatre of the peasant and the worker
with due honesty while remaining a part
of the urban theatre.
On the other hand, Bandyopadhyay
pointed out there were productions which
reflected the romantic fondness of the
middle class for revolution, theatre in
which the middle class appeared in the
garb of the working class. In that theatre,
the middle class, defeated owing to its
own inability and lack of education, or
the upper middle class, suffering from a
guilty conscience because of its privileges
came to achieve a temporary release and
attained a theatrical courage.20
Indeed, it was around the late 1960s,
almost in response to the feelings arti­
culated by Bandyopadhyay, that a new
experiment had started in Bengali theatre.
In 1967, Badal Sircar set up his group,
Satabdi, in Calcutta. Thus was started a
new style of theatre in which the pro­
scenium was discarded, along with the
whole notion of sets, lighting and cos­
tumes. His argument was all these props
m arch
were meant to approximate theatre to
reality, but in fact, they only served to dis­
tance the audience from the theatre that
was performed. Further, these objects
only rendered theatre more expensive to
produce, which therefore, passed beyond
the reach of the most. This was exactly
where, Sircar believed, the Group Theatre
was failing to deliver. In an essay written
in 1978, Sircar agreed that the Group
Theatre had started with the promise
that its theatre would not be for sale in the
market, and neither would it be for empty
entertainment.21 But as things turned
out, for their very survival the groups
had to place themselves in the market.
Selling tickets, touting for call shows or
soliciting advertisements and sponsor­
ships, became inevitable because of the
costs involved in the proscenium form.
s cry Inevitably, he believed, the Group Theatre
had to become commercialised.
There is no doubt that Sircar’ s experi­
ment for some time continued to attract
the younger generation of theatre workers
in substantial numbers, but somehow
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10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 10 GESE3 Economic & Political weekly

this style of theatre never came close to
seriously challenge the proscenium form.
The crisis within the Group Theatre
became more evident after the Left Front
was re-elected in the elections of 1982.
Indira Gandhi by that time had come
back to power in the central government
and there was a fear that she would use
every means to oust the left from West
Bengal. On the other hand, the left had,
during its first term, initiated the Opera­
tion Barga, ensuring that sharecroppers
may not be evicted without going thro­
ugh legal procedures, and that guaran­
teed it of substantial support among the
poorer classes in rural Bengal. This was
the context in which the left-oriented
Group Theatre activists massively par­
ticipated in the election campaigns of
1982. In the aftermath of that, however,
questions began to be asked.
Natyachinta , the theatre journal, aro­
und this time brought out a collection of
opinions22 of prominent theatre person­
alities on this subject of the election
campaigns of 1982, which reflected the
anxieties plaguing the theatre world.
Tapas Sen, the legendary light man of
the Bengali stage, and also a confirmed
Marxist, wondered if the plays and
songs actually inspired the people dur­
ing the campaign, and that they did not
come to see the star artistes. This was
not what used to happen previously.23
Jocchon Dastidar, another noted actor
and director of the Bengali stage, also
agreed that the spirit of opposition had
probably mellowed. Yet the economic
problems had increased, there was now
greater opportunity for a more powerful
struggle. Was there then some weakness
on “ our”side, he queried.24
There were others who believed
differently. Indranath Bandyopadhyay,
for instance, argued that the election
campaigns were actually derived from
the propaganda that the i p t a used to
engage in.25
It is interesting to see that in the list
provided by Bandyopadhyay of the vari­
ous themes of the plays performed dur­
ing the campaign, only at the end came
the achievements of the Left Front in
rural uplift. Clearly for the left, the more
important aspect of their campaign was
to highlight the threat they thought was
Economic & Political weekly QBQ m arch
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coming from the Congress-led central
government, and not so much the ongoing
class struggle in the agrarian sector of
interior Bengal.26
Arun Mukherjee was another actor-
director who felt encouraged by what
he experienced during the campaign.
“The ground is ready. We should now
advance,” 27 he said. Groups should now
go out on small tours in the villages, and
because for a long time to come the
villages would not be able to pay for
this, the bigger groups should take the
initiative to organise such tours.
Declining Interest
Mukherjee in a manner was indicating
another aspect of the question. The
Group Theatre was not making money.
Only a handful of groups at the top were
able to square their accounts, the rest
were just hanging on. There was a pal­
pable lack of public interest in theatre,
shown up by dwindling audience. It was
believed in certain quarters that actors
of the Group Theatre should now turn
professional, i e, to do full-time theatre,
and to depend on it for their living. The
obvious assumption was that this must
dilute the political content of the thea­
tre, but with the increased money flow
serious theatre would be possible. In
January 1982, a seminar was held in a
hall in south Calcutta to discuss this
question, which Natyachinta reported
in its March number of that year. The
meeting was poorly attended and the
editors of the journal lamented that
there was a clear lack of interest among
theatre workers:
We speak of the theatre movement in West
Bengal at the drop of a hat, of the love for
theatre in West Bengal, the militant role
played by the theatre workers. Yet this semi­
nar proves how much the theatre workers
have become alienated from each other.28
The speakers had the same concern
working on their mind. To some the
problem stemmed not so much from
politics in theatre as the wrong kind of
politics. Alok Roychoudhury argued that
a big section of the Group Theatre was
alienated from the core of the Indian
society, and while theatre workers spoke
of progressive theatre they actually offered
popular entertainment. In a remarkably
10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 10
INSIGHT
frank assessment of the overall political
situation Roychoudhury said,
In the absence of movements in keeping with
the spirit of the times in Left politics, the size
of the audience is going down - because the
main theme of progressive movement is
complementary to Left politics.29
Anil Dey spelt out the question more
clearly:
Against whom we were fighting, where we
were trying to arrive, all these today per­
haps has become a little confused. Things
have become a little disorderly.
Further,
We thought that the audience would listen to
what we have to say. We shall lead them to
the desired goal. But if we have to make
money - theatre has to provide what the
audience want to see.
And that,
The theatre groups which are surviving are
able to do so only by virtue of call shows.
They never can expect full houses when
they perform on their own. Which means
there is no audience for their plays.30
There were groups, he said, who were
not able to pay their members even their
travel expenses, not even Rs 15-20, and
that because they were making no
money at all. And besides that, there was
an erosion of ideological commitment
which made it difficult to continue in
spite of this:
The reason for this lies in the political and
social situation. If this situation had some
promise in it, and if we were not so disu­
nited, then may be our ideological commit­
ment would have been stronger. There is
anarchy and restlessness in different areas.
Consequently, there is erosion in our ideol­
ogy. And perhaps that is why we now wish to
take up theatre as a profession.
It should be clear from the brief survey
above that by the early 1980s the so-
called Group Theatre movement, or the
Navanatya movement, whatever the name
we may give to it, was in a crisis of sorts.
As long as the left was in the opposition,
it seems, the activists thought there was
a point to it. After 1977, and more so after
1982, it appeared to many among them
that the exercise had lost its raison d’
etre.
There were others who thought in
terms of a more radical critique. Electoral
success had created in the left a greed
for power. If at the beginning, there had
been an honest desire to utilise power
41
INSIGHT
for providing some relief to the toiling
masses, it now had transformed into a
desire for power for the sake of power.
Bibhas Chakraborty, a noted actor-director,
thus wrote:
Politics of the present day has a very dirty
look about it. The so-called progressives are
carrying on just as they please. What is called
ethics has been deleted from the practice of
politics. The result is that today’
s society has
become bereft of moral values. Unprincipled
activities are easily passed off as political
tactics. In other words, what I am trying to
say is that in politics, whether it is with the
leaders or with the party, no ideology is left
any more. And this has left its impress on the
whole society. Neither are we true to our own
beliefs, and have turned into self-seekers.31
Further,
Since the question has come up, let me be
very frank about it. We all have turned
escapists, just like our Marxist leaders. Just
as they don’ t want to waste time over revolu­
tion, and only want to secure their life ten­
ure over power, so are we anxious only to
ensure, somehow, the survival of our groups.
Theatre movement remains confined to our
speeches and to our writings.
The cultural sphere, at the end of the
day, was only an adjunct of the political
sphere. The former cannot prosper as
long as the latter does not provide a
clear-headed direction to it.
We have seen, and we know, that though up
to a certain point, the struggle of the cultural
fronts has a relatively greater importance in
people’ s movements, it ultimately has to fol­
low the lead of the political struggle. If at that
point of time political movement and politi­
cal leadership fail to provide the right direc­
tions, the cultural front becomes aimless, and
ridden with doubts. The political sphere,
therefore, has to be more prepared. Its goal,
its ways of achieving that goal, and above all
its honesty - these are the important questions.
... A corrupt political sphere cannot give rise
to an honest theatre movement. For that
matter, it cannot produce any movement at
all. And if there is no movement, politicking
and backstabbing will continue.32
This was then where the discourse
founded by Nabanna had arrived at.33
Epilogue
The Group Theatre, the theatre which
wished to be different - different from
the common fare - did not disappear.
The name still survives though its men­
tion in the media has become rare of
late. The movement is all but finished.
42
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Groups are known separately and only
occasionally they come together.
How should we read this phase in
Bengali theatre? If politics had been
more “ honestly” revolutionary, would
this “movement”have survived with the
same vigour as before? Or, was it per­
haps the other way round, that the left
ceased to be leftist enough was an indi­
cator of changing times? The old fervour
was dead, or at least dying. After all in
their own times Bijon Bhattacharya
could not make it either and Badal Sircar
remained a marginal figure.
It is possible to see the crisis in the
Group Theatre as a fallout of the much
bigger crisis in the constitutional left
movement of the country. The rhetoric
began to sound empty, meaningless, as a
political practice inevitably veered round
towards pragmatism with all its unpal­
atable consequences. One of them was
that the romantic bhadralok fantasy of a
revolution gradually faded away.
NOTES
1 Sushil Mukherjee, The Story o f the Calcutta
Theatres: 1753-1980,K P Bagchi & Co, Calcutta
1982, p 157.
2 Ibid: 155.
3 Sambhu Mitra, Sanmarga Saparja (Travelling
Together on the Right Path), M C Sarkar & Sons,
1989. “ Sisirkumarer Proyogkala Somporkay (On
Sisrkumar’ s Theatre-craft)”(1966), pp 104-06.
4 Ibid: 105.
5 Jyotirindra Moitra - “ Amader Nobojiboner Gaan”
(Our Song o f a New Life), Bohurupee, No 49,
1 May 1978, “ Smaran: Bijon Bhattacharya O
Jyotirindra Moitra” (Bijon Bhattacharya and
Jyotirindra Moitra Memorial number), pp 119-33.
Original publication in Saradiya Kalantar,
Calcutta, 1974.
6 Sambhu Mitra, “ Natyasanskritir Noboporjyaer
Proyojon”(The Need for a New Phase in Theatre
Culture) Bohurupee, No 10, i960, Calcutta, p 20.
7 Sunil Chattopadhyay, “ ‘Anjangarh’o ‘Kerani’
Natoker Bhumika”(The Background to Anjan­
garh and Kerani), pp 127-30, Bohurupee Nabanna
Smarak Sonkhya (Nabanna Memorial Number),
No 33, October 1969, Calcutta, p 127.
8 See for instance Kironmoy Raha, Bengali Theatre,
National Book Trust, 2001, Chapter XIV.
9 Rustom Bharucha, Rehearsals o f Revolution:
The Political Theatre o f Bengal, Seagull Books,
1983, p 40.
10 Gangapada Bose, “ Nabanner Agay (Prelude to
Nabanna)” , pp 142-47,146, Bohurupee Nabanna
Smarak Sonkhya, No 33, October 1969, Calcutta.
11 Bijon Bhattacharya, “ Natyachinta (Thoughts
on Theatre)” , pp 1-2 (published posthumously).
Natyachinta, Calcutta, Year 1, No 1, November
1981, p 1.
12 Sambhu Mitra, “ Maheshay” , Sanmarga Saparja
(Travelling together on the Right Path), pp 5-8,
1989. The essay was originally published in 1949.
13 Ibid, “ Nobonatyer Bichar (Judging the New
Theatre Movement)” , pp 56-61,57.
14 To be sure, not all bhadralok were leftist, but
the streak was there in bhadralok psyche. See
m arch 10, 2012
my article “ Where Have All the ‘ Bhadraloks’
Gone?” , EPW, 17 January 2004.
15 Bharucha, pp 107-08.
16 Samik Bandyopadhyay, “ Aro Dorshok? Na,
Minorityr Theatre? (A larger audience or a
theatre of the minority?)” , Bohurupee, Calcutta
No 27, Special Number, September 1967,
pp 26-32. Also see Samik Bandyopadhyay,
“Nobonatya Prosonge Apriya Bakya” (Some
unpleasant truths about Navanatya), Bohurupee,
28-29 joint number, June 1968, pp 109-11.
17 Samik Bandyopadhyay, 1967, p 27.
18 Ibid: 28.
19 We can get some idea of what Bijon Bhattacharya
was aiming at from one o f his last essays: “ I
have to do my plays most of the times in the
city where middle class artistes ape the artistes
of the proletariat. If only I had the support of
some organisation, I would have gone into the
interior o f the country. I would have discovered
the history of their struggle, and then would
have made them do their own theatre. I cannot do
this without some help. ...Petty bourgeois players
parodying the people of the country, this cannot
continue for long” , Bhattacharya, 1981, p 2.
20 Banerji, 1967, p 29.
21 Badal Sircar, “ Theateray Bechakena (Commodi­
fication of Theatre)” , Nanamukh, 1988, pp 191-97.
22 “Nirbachan ’ 82 O Group Theaterer Obhijan
(Election ’ 82 and the Campaigning by Group
Theatre)” , Natyachinta, Year 1, Nos 6-8, April-
June 1982.
23 Ibid: 9.
24 Ibid: 10.
25 Indranath Bandyopadhyay, “ Nirbachoni San-
skritik Obhijanay Group Theatere Bhumika
(The Role of Group Theatre in the Cultural
Campaign in the Elections)” , pp 4-6.
26 The themes were as follows: (1) Centre-state
relationship; (2) the Congress-sponsored ter­
rorism of the 1970s and the crisis in dem oc­
racy; (3) a petrol bomb attack on a bus on a
busy city road on 3 April 1981 by the Congress
goons to enforce a strike call; (4) the attempt to
stop elections on the very eve on the part o f the
Congress by raising the bogey o f false voters,
and the trial in the Supreme Court; (5) the edu­
cation policy of the Left Front; (6) the crisis
within the autocratic force led by Indira Gandhi,
and the evil conspiracy; (7) ESMA, NASA, i e,
national security laws, and the International
Monetary Fund loan; (8) the achievements of
the Left Front in rural uplift, ibid.
27 “Nirbachan ’ 82, etc” , p 11.
28 Natyachinta, Year 1, No 5, March 1982.
“Gosthigoto Bhabay Group Theaterer Peshadari
Hobar Proyojoniota; (Group Theatre’ s Need to
Turn Professional)” , p 3.
29 Ibid: 4.
30 Ibid: 5-6.
31 Bibhas Chakraborty, “ Adarshohin Rajniti Ar
Bhandami Mul Karon (Politics Bereft o f Ideo­
logy and Hypocrisy Are the Main Reasons),”
Natyachinta, Year 6, I-III combined number,
November 1986-January 1987, p 5.
32 Ibid: 6.
33 It should be remembered though, that professional
theatre - outside the Group Theatre movement
- was not doing well either. The crisis o f the miss­
ing audience was equally felt and perhaps the
impact was worse, inasmuch as the people
involved were more dependent on it for their
sustenance. The question o f politics here did not
figure as much as the growing shoddiness of pro­
duction, the boring repetitiveness of themes which
no longer held the interest of the paying public.
TV soaps were knocking on the door. In 1984, the
Hindi serial Hum Log made its appearance on the
national network, then the only channel availa­
ble to the Indian audience, and it was soon to be
followed by others o f the same genre.
v o l x l v ii n o 10 DEE3 Economic & Political weekly
SPECIAL ARTICLE
Has Growth Been Socially Inclusive
during 1993-94 - 2009-10?
SUKHADEO THORAT, AMARESH DUBEY_______________________________
This paper examines the changes in poverty incidence
and monthly per capita expenditure in India using the
National Sample Survey's unit record data of three
rounds, 1993-94,2004-05 and 2009-10. The changes in
poverty and growth in mpce have been measured for
major socio-religious and economic groups in both rural
and urban sectors. This is complemented by the
decomposition of the change in the incidence of poverty
into the growth and distribution components. The
results indicate that the poverty rate has declined at an
accelerated rate during 2004-05 - 2009-10 for all
socio-religious household groups. Growth has been
more poverty reducing at an aggregate level during the
period 2004-05 - 2009-10 as compared to 1993-94 -
2004-05. However, some groups benefited more than
the others from poverty reduction. Inequality has also
begun to adversely affect poverty reduction, particularly
in the urban sector.
This paper is an abridged version of a research undertaken by Indian
Institute of Dalit Studies for the UNDP. We gratefully acknowledge
the financial support from UNDP India office for this work. An earlier
version of this paper was presented at the Workshop organised by
the UNDP and Planning Commission during 24-25 October 2011 in
New Delhi. We thank Palanivel, Seeta Prabhu, Rathin Roy, Ashwini
Saith, Pronob Sen, Catlin Wiesen and several other participants in the
UNDP-Planning Commission Workshop for helpful suggestions. We
also acknowledge comments from three anonymous referees who have
helped to improve this paper immensely. We thank Veronica Pala and
Shivakar Tiwari for their efficient support with the data work.
Sukhadeo Thorat (th ora tsu k h a d eo @ y a h o o .co .in ) and Amaresh Dubey
(1
a m a resh .d u b ey @ gm a il.com ) are with the Centre for the Study of
Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Economic & Political w e e k l y DBSi m arch 10, 2012 v o l x l v ii
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1 Inclusive Growth and the Eleventh and Twelfth Plans
I
ndia’ s Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-08 to 2011-12) has been
different insofar as it brought the goal of inclusiveness to the
centre of its growth strategy. The inclusive approach has
been extended with greater commitment in the Twelfth Five-Year
Plan (2012-17). This approach recognises that while faster growth
remains the main goal, it is not an end in itself but the means to an
end. And the end would demand outcomes which yield benefits
for all, but particularly require that the benefits of growth reach
the poor, scheduled castes (scs), scheduled tribes ( sts) , Other
Backward Classes ( o b c s) , minorities and women ( g o i 2007). The
Twelfth Plan, thus, defines the inclusive growth approach as:
Inclusive growth should result in lower incidence of poverty, improve­
ment in health outcomes, universal access to school education, in­
creased access to higher education, including skill and education, better
opportunities for both wage employment and livelihoods and improve­
ment in provision of basic amenities like water, electricity, roads, sanita­
tion and housing. Particular attention needs to be paid to the needs of
the sc, st and obc population, women and children as also minorities
and other excluded group ( g o i 2011:4)-
While the goal of inclusive growth has become the strategic
pillar in the Eleventh and Twelfth Plans, it has also raised a
number of issues which require clarity, particularly the definition
of inclusive growth, its measurements and indicators. The
inclusive growth strategy for the Twelfth Plan also needs to
be based on the experience of inclusive outcomes during the
Eleventh Plan. The National Sample Survey (n s s ) quinquennial
consumption expenditure data for the most recent round,
2009-10, now enables us to assess the outcome during the
Eleventh Plan period, at least on poverty incidence and its im­
plications for the Twelfth Plan strategy.
It is in this context that this paper aims at addressing three
interrelated issues concerning the inclusive growth approach.
First, it discusses the concept of inclusive growth, including
the indicators and its measurements for monitoring the out­
come. Second, it empirically studies the character of growth in
India during 1993-94 - 2009-10, which includes three years of
the Eleventh Five-Year Plan. And finally, it indicates the impli­
cations of the findings for the strategy of inclusive growth
under the Twelfth Plan.
2 Objectives, Data and Methods
2.1 Definition of Inclusive Growth and Pro-Poor Growth
As pointed out above, drawing from the recent literature on
inclusiveness of growth, the Twelfth Plan Approach Paper
n o 10 43
SPECIALARTICLE
includes several outcomes that would constitute “ inclusive
growth” . Inclusive growth presupposes growth in income. But
not all growth scenarios are considered inclusive. Therefore,
there is a need to differentiate the growth processes that are
inclusive from those that are not. Some researchers argue
that inclusive growth is broad-based and benefits everyone in
society - the poor, middle income groups and even the rich
(Klasen 2010). In this sense pro-poor growth, in which the
focus of outcome is on the poor, constitute a subset of the
broad concept of inclusive growth. For pro-poor growth, the
“pro-poorness”is to be embedded in growth with a policy bias
in favour of the poor (resulting in a relatively higher increase
in the income of the poor). This signals a clear departure from
the “ trickle-down development”doctrine of 1950s and 1960s
that meant a gradual top-down flow from the rich to the poor
(Pernia 2003). Grinspun (2009) summarises the current
debate on definition and measurement of inclusive growth.
One view suggests that pro-poor growth is any growth in
mean income that benefits the poor (Ravallian 2004).
Since this criterion would encompass a vast majority of
growth episodes, alternatively it is proposed that for growth to
be pro-poor, it should benefit the poor proportionately more
than the non-poor. With this, the focus shifted to the extent of
income gains of the poor from growth (Kakwani 2004). While
agreeing that the true test of pro-poorness is the existence of a
policy bias favouring the poor proportionately more, this
needs to be measured with reference to the country's past
record of poverty reduction. By this definition for growth to be
pro-poor, the increase in income in current period should be
necessarily greater than the preceding period (Osmani 2005).
The concept got further extended with the new criterion of
pro-poorness, namely, that the share of the poor in the income
growth in the current year should exceed their share in the
previous year, the share of the poor in incremental growth sur­
passes their share in population and that the share of poor in
incremental growth exceeds some international norms.
Since the pro-poorness involves income gains for the poor,
the trade-off between income growth and its distribution
becomes important for pro-poor outcome (Ahluwalia 1976,1978).
In this context pro-poor growth would necessarily involve
growth with declining inequality in income distribution
(Rauniyar and Kanbur 2010). Initial inequalities also matter -
the rate of decline in poverty tends to be less pro-poor in a situ­
ation where initial inequality is high. Inequalities caused by
social exclusion, discrimination, and constraints on human
development particularly limit the prospect of poverty reduc­
tion among certain excluded groups (Ravallion 2009). There­
fore, Klasen (2010) emphasised non-discriminatory participa­
tion and disadvantage reducing features as a necessary condi­
tion for inclusive growth.
2.1.1 Indicators of Pro-Poor Growth
As pointed out earlier, the concept of inclusive growth is much
broader as it includes a number of indicators. The most impor­
tant of those indicators are growth of income and reduction in
poverty and level of inequality. Given the limitations of n s s data
44
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on consumption, in this paper the inclusive nature of growth is
studied by using the rate of change in incidence of poverty
and growth of consumption expenditure. In addition, we also
examine how far the changes in inequality have affected the
effectiveness of the growth process in reducing poverty.
Specifically, growth is considered to be pro-poor if poverty
incidence in the current period declined at a higher yearly rate
compared to the preceding period, and if the per annum change
in income in the current period exceeds that in the previous
period. And finally if the Gini coefficient either remains stag­
nant or rises only marginally and the growth effect is greater
and the distribution effect also contributes to poverty reduction.
2.2 Economic, Caste, Ethnic and Religious Groups
In the hierarchical structure of the Indian population, it is well
documented that there are certain groups that lag behind on a
range of development outcomes - income, poverty incidence,
education, health, and so on - and the inclusive approach in
the Eleventh and Twelfth Plans focuses on gains from growth
for these groups (s r g s ).1 We have identified economic as well
as socio-religious groups in the n s s data and calculated the
incidence of poverty and real mean monthly per capita con­
sumption expenditure (m p c e ) for the rural and urban areas.
The economic groups in the rural sector are the self-employed
in agriculture (farmers, s e a g ), self-employed in non-agricul­
ture (non-farm production and business, s e n a ), wage labour
engaged in agriculture (a g l a ) and wage labour in non-agri­
culture (o l a h ) and households which have more than one in­
come source (o t h e r ). For urban areas, the economic groups
are the self-employed (s e m p ), wage/salary earners (r w s e ),
casual labour (c a l a ) and other households (with multiple
sources of income, o t h e r ).
Among the social groups, the identifiable groups from the
data include s t s , s c s , o b c s and higher castes (non-sc/sT).
Among the religious groups, data reports household's religious
denomination as Hindus, Muslims and several Other Religious
Minorities ( orm s) . For purpose of analysis, we club Christians,
Sikhs, Jains and other religious minorities into one group,
o r m (Thorat 2010).2
2.3 Data and Poverty Lines
For measuring growth, incidence of poverty and inequality, unit
record data from three quinquennial rounds of consumption
expenditure surveys (c e s ), conducted by the National Sample
Survey Office (n s s o ) have been used. These surveys were con­
ducted during the agricultural years 1993-94 (July 1993 to
June 1994), 2004-05 (July 2004 to June 2005) and 2009-10
(July 2009 to June 2010), respectively. The n s s in these surveys
follows a stratified sampling design and the weights or multi­
plier for the surveyed households are used in the calculations.
For calculating the incidence of poverty, we use poverty
lines (p l s ) published by the Planning Commission. These are
the p l s originally derived by the 1979 Task Force (g o i 1979)
and modified by the 1993 Expert Group (g o i 1993)3for calcu­
lating state-level p l s by adjusting for price variation across states.
For the years 1993-94 and 2004-05, the state-wise p l s have been
m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 10 13253 Economic & Political w e e k l y
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

taken from g o i (1997, 2007). How­ Table 1: Rural - Rate o f Change (Annual) in Poverty and MPCE and Gini-Coeffident across Socio-Religious
ever, since the submission of the Re­ Groups in India____________________________________________________________
Sodaland HeadcountRatio MonthlyPerCapitaConsumptionExpenditure Gini-coefficient
p ort o f the Expert Group to Review the ReligiousGroups 1993-94to 2004-05to 1993-94to 1993-94to 2004-05to 1993-94to 1993-94 2004-05 2009-10
Methodology fo r Estimation o f Poverty 2004-05 2009-10 2009-10 2004-05 2009-10 2009-10
(g o i 2009),4 the Planning Commis­ Al l -2.2 -4 .4 -2.5 1.3 1.7 1.5 0 .2 8 4 4 0 .2997 0.3059

sion has not specified a set of poverty ST -1.0 -5 .2 -2.1 0.5 3.0 1.3 0.265 0 .2 6 8 6 0.28
SC -2.1 -4 .0 -2.4 1.3 1.6 1.5 0.2531 0 .2598 0.2576
lines for India and the states for
OTHERS* -2.5 -4 .5 -2.7 1.4 1.7 1.5 0 .2 8 6 9 0 .3 0 4 4 0.3156
2009-10 so far.5 Consequently, we
H in d u s -2.1 -3 .8 -2.4 1.2 1.5 1.3 0.2812 0 .2 9 4 4 0.2979
have updated the poverty line of
M u s lim s -2.4 -7.6 -3.4 1.7 1.8 1.8 0.273 0.2892 0.2774
2004-05 as reported in g o i (2007) O th e r RM -3.0 -7.2 -3.6 2.2 4.4 3.2 0.3193 0.3 4 5 4 0.3957
using methodology similar to the (1) ‘ Includes OBCs.
1993 Expert Group. Thus, the inci­ (2) MPCE indicates Monthly Per Capita Expenditure.
Source: Calculated by the authors' using NSS CES unit record data for the respective years.
dence of poverty reported in this pa­
per has been calculated using the “ old official poverty line” .6 In the second period, 2004-05 to 2009-10, there has been a
The incidence of poverty is measured as the percentage of pop­ significant acceleration in the annual rate of decline of poverty
ulation below the poverty line, also known as the Head Count across s r g s (Table 1). Rural poverty declined 4.4% annually.
Ratio (h c r ).7 In addition, the n s s c e s data report consumption The rate of decline is the highest for the s t s (5.2%), followed by
expenditure of the households in nominal rupees. We have the upper castes (4.5%) and the scs (4%) among the social groups.
converted the nominal expenditure at constant (1999-2000) Among the religious groups, Muslims experienced the largest
prices. The price deflator that we used to convert the household decline at 7.6% per annum followed by o r m s at 7.2% (Table 1).
expenditure at constant prices is the implicit price deflator n s s used codes for o b c s during the 2 0 0 4 - 0 5 and 2 0 0 9 - 1 0

derived from the state-wise p l s for rural and urban areas surveys. The exclusion of o b c s from the upper castes shows
separately. The growth of m p c e and the summary measure of improved performance of the forward castes ( n on - S T / sc/ oB c)
inequality, Gini coefficient, has been calculated using deflated in reducing poverty, from 4 . 5 % to 6.6% annually (Table A 2 ).
m p c e data. Thus, the overall ranking changes to some extent. In terms of
per annum decline during 2 0 0 5 -1 0 , Muslims, upper castes and
3 Rural Poverty Incidence and Changes: 1993-2010 s t s have a higher ranking, the rate of decline being 7.6%,

We first report changes in the incidence of poverty, h c r , dis­ 6.6% and 5 . 5 % , respectively, while the s c s lagged behind
aggregated into s r g s and economic groups for 1 9 9 3 - 9 4 and with a 4 % decline.
2 0 0 9 -1 0 , and then for the two sub-periods, 1 9 9 3 -9 4 to 2 0 0 4 - 0 5

and 2 0 0 4 - 0 5 to 2 0 0 9 - 1 0 . The h c r s for the identified socio­ 3.3 By Livelihood Categories and Socio-Religious Groups
religious and economic groups for 1 9 9 3 - 9 4 , 2 0 0 4 - 0 5 and It is important to look at the livelihood categories as these are
2 0 0 9 - 1 0 by place of residence are reported in Appendix similar to the Indian socio-religious structure that tradition­
Tables a i and A 2 (p 5 3 ). ally put the households in different livelihood pattern.8
Table 2 (p 46) presents the changes in the poverty inci­
3.1 Aggregate and by Social and Religious Groups dence for the economic groups by s r g s in the rural areas.
Between 1993-94 and 2009-10, rural poverty declined at 2.5% This enables us to know the performance of self-employed
per annum, which amounts to the decline by 15 percentage households engaged in farm and non-farm activities vis-a-vis
points (Tables 1 and a i ). Across social groups, the rate of the wage labour households in reducing poverty in the
decline in rural poverty has been higher for the upper castes, rural areas.
followed by scs and s t s - the per annum decline being 2.7%, Among the livelihood categories, the farm and non-farm wage
2.4%, 2.1%, respectively. In the case of religious groups, rural labourers (a g l a and o l a h ) are the most poor. In 2009-10,
poverty has declined at a higher rate for Muslims and o r m s as about 35% of a g l a and 26% of o l a h population were poor. In
compared to Hindus - the per annum rate of decline being 2.4% comparison, the poverty level for s e a g and s e n a households is
(Hindus), 3.4% (Muslims) and 3.6% (o r m s ). Thus, Muslims and about 17%. So the h c r of the a g l a households is twice the
higher castes and o r m s have done better compared to rest of s e a g households.
the groups. Table 2 shows that during 1993-94 - 2009-10, the annual
rate of decline in poverty has been relatively higher for
3.2 Changes during Two Sub-Periods s e a g (2.8%) and s e n a (2.9%), but relatively lower for o l a h

Rural poverty declined at the rate of 2.2% annually during the (2.5%) and a g l a (2.3%). A similar pattern is observed in both
first period, 1993-94 - 2004-05. Among the s r g s , the per the subperiods, except that while the poverty incidence
annum rate of decline has been the highest for upper castes among the s e a g and s e n a households declined by the same
and Muslims, followed by scs and s t s - the decline being the rate (2.5% per annum) in the first period, in the second period
lowest for s t s . Thus, during the first period, the upper castes the s e n a households did better (5.5%) than the other house­
and Muslims did better in reducing poverty as compared to the holds, namely, the s e a g , farm and non-farm wage labour
rest, with s t s and scs lagging behind (Table 1). (about 4.5%).

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Table 2: Average Annual Change in HCR by Household Type and SRGs in the households declined at the lower rate than the self-employed
Rural Sector (in %)
households. Among the farm and non-farm wage labour
SRG ST SC OTHERS Hindu Muslims ORM Total
1 9 9 3 -9 4 to 2 0 0 4 -0 5 households, poverty declined at a higher rate among the upper
SENA -1.9 -1.8 -2 .8 -2.6 -2.2 -5.3 -2.5 castes and Muslims and at a lower rate among scs and s t s .
AGLA -0 .6 -1.9 -1.9 -1.7 -1.8 -2.3 -1.7 During the first period (1993-2004), the per annum decline
OLAH -1.1 -1.7 -2.4 -1.8 -2.7 -4 .0 -2.0 in case of a g l a households was particularly low among the s t s
-1.2 -1.6
SEAG -2.5 -2.9 -2.5 -2.9 -2.5
(0.6%), with minimum differences in case of other groups (the
OTHER -1.1 -1.8 -2.0 -1.9 -2.1 -4 .5 -1.9
rate varies between 1.7% and 1.9%). In the case of o l a h house­
All -1.1 -2.2 -2.5 -2.2 -2.5 -3 .0 -2.2
holds, both the s t s and scs performed poorly in reducing pov­
2 0 0 4 -0 5 to 2 0 0 9 -1 0
SENA -5.9 -5.4 -5.5 -4 .4 -8 .2 -3.1 -5 .4 erty as compared to others. The upper castes and Muslims did
AGLA -4.1 -4 .3 -4 .2 -3.4 -10.2 -7.4 -4 .3 relatively better. Thus, s c and s t households in farm and non­
OLAH -4 .8 -3.6 -4 .7 -3.9 -7.0 -12.5 -4 .4 farm wage labour lagged behind in reducing poverty as com­
SEAG -5.9 -2.0 -5.1 -4 .6 -4.1 -1.1 -4 .5 pared to other groups during 1993-2004. During the second
OTHER -7.9 -1.6 -10.1 -6 .4 -10.4 -14.0 -7.8 period (2004-10), the situation in the farm wage labour had
A ll -5.2 -4 .0 -4 .6 -3.8 -7.6 -7.0 -4 .4 significantly improved for all the groups, including the s t s
199 3-9 4 to 2 0 0 9 -1 0
who had performed badly in the first period. The rate of
SENA -2.8 -2.6 -3.1 -2.8 -3.5 -4 .0 -2.9
decline has been particularly high for Muslims (10.2%) (Table 2).
AGLA -1.6 -2.3 -2.4 -2.0 -3.8 -3.3 -2.3

OLAH -2.1 -2.1 -2.7 -2.2 -3.4 -4 .9 -2.5

A similar acceleration in poverty reduction was experien­
SEAG -2.4 -2.2 -3.1 -2.8 -2.9 -1.4 -2.8 ced by all groups for o l a h households as well. The accelera­
OTHER -2.9 -1.7 -3.8 -2.9 -3.9 -5.3 -3.2 tion was of higher magnitude for upper castes (4.4%) and
All -2.2 -2.4 -2.8 -2.4 -3.4 -3.5 -2.6 Muslims (7%). The rate of decline was relatively low for the
(i) As in Table 1. scs (3.6%) (Table 2).
(ii) The annual rate of decline in poverty during 2005-10 among the economic groups for Muslims
and ORM households appears high which could be partly because of smaller sample size.
Source: As in Table 1. 3.4 Urban Poverty
However, the pattern varies across the s r g s within the eco­
nomic groups. Taking the self-employed agricultural house­ 3.4.1 Aggregate and by Social and Religious Groups
holds first, during 1993-94 - 2009-10, poverty declined among The level and rate of decline of urban poverty is reported in
all social and religious groups, but at a lower rate for the scs Table a i and Table 1, respectively. The level of poverty incidence
and s t s as compared to upper castes and Muslims. in the urban areas, which stood at 20 .8 % in 20 0 9 -10, is marginally
There are important differences in the rate of decline in lower than the rural areas. However, the gap in the two sectors
poverty in s e a g households between the two sub-periods. has narrowed considerably since 1993-94 (Tables a i and A2).
During the first period poverty among the s t farmers declined Between 1993-94 and 2009-10, urban poverty declined to
at a much lower rate as compared to scs, upper castes and 2.3% per annum, marginally lower than the rural sector (2.5%).
Muslims (although upper castes and Muslims did better than The per annum rate was lower for the Muslims (1.5%). For other
sc self-employed households). However, the story changes social groups, the rate of decline varies from 2.1% to 3.1%, with
completely during 2005-10. The s t s e a g households experi­ upper castes marginally better off. During 1993-2004, poverty
enced significant acceleration in poverty reduction, while the declined at a rate of 1.9% per annum; the rate of decline has
upper castes and Muslims continued to do better. The sc farmers been higher for upper castes (2.2%) while relatively low for
lagged behind in reducing poverty in the second period. Muslims (1.4%), scs (1.6%) and s t s (1.8%). During 2005-10, the
In case of s e n a households, during the overall period of decline in urban poverty had accelerated to 3.9% per annum from
1993-94 to 2009-10, all s r g s experienced decline in poverty. 1.9% during 1994-2005 (Table 3). The decline in the poverty
However, upper castes and Muslims benefited more from the rate accelerated across all the s r g s . The per annum rate varies
growth in the rural non-farm sector, and the scs and s t s lagged in narrow range of 3.1% for Muslims to 3.9% for upper castes.
behind. A similar pattern is ob­
Table 3: Urban - Rate of Change (Annual) in Poverty and MPCE and Gini-coeffident across Sodo-religious
served during the first period. How­ Groups in India_______________________________________________________________________________
ever, during the second period, Social and Headcount Ratio Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure Gini-coefficient
2005-10, while all the groups showed Religious Groups 1993-94to 2004-05to 1993-94to 1993-94to 2004-05to 1993-94to 1993-94 2004-05 2009-10
2004-05 2009-10 2009-10 2004-05 2009-10 2009-10
significant acceleration in the rate All -1.9 -3.9 -2.3 1.9 3.0 2.4 0 .3 4 4 8 0.3757 0.4015
of poverty reduction, the rate of de­ ST -1.8 -3.3 -2.1 1.8 5.0 3.1 0.3112 0.3411 0 .3 8 6 9
cline was highest for Muslims (8.2%) SC -1.6 -3.9 -2.1 1.4 2.5 1.9 0.3032 0.3158 0.3345
and s t s (5.9%) as compared to other OTHERS* -2.1 -3.9 -2.4 2.0 3.0 2.5 0.3453 0.378 0 .4 0 4 6
groups. The scs lagged behind to H in d u s -2.1 -4.1 -2.4 1.9 3.0 2.5 0 .3 4 0 6 0 .3728 0.3 9 6

some extent. M u s lim s -1.4 -3.1 -1.8 1.5 3.0 2.1 0.3011 0.3365 0.3766

During 1993-94 - 2009-10, the O th e r RM -3.5 -3.6 -3.1 2.2 2.5 2.5 0 .3857 0.3726 0.4126

incidence of poverty among the (1) "Includes OBCs.

(2) MPCE indicates Monthly Per Capita Expenditure.
farm and non-farm wage labour Source: Calculated by the authors' using NSS CES unit record data for the respective years.
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 SPECIALARTICLE
3.4.2 By Livelihood Categories and Sodo-Religious Groups the poverty rate for r w s e decelerated in the second period to
The sociocultural and religious dimension in earning liveli­ 2.7% from 5.3% in the first period.
hood is given in Table A3 (p 53). Among the economic catego­ In case of self-employed households (s e m p ), during 1994-2010,
ries, in 2009-10, poverty incidence was the highest for casual the slowest reduction has been for Muslims at 1.6% and scs at
labour, followed by self-employed and has been the lowest 2%. The s t s did better than the upper castes. In the first
among the households whose main source of
livelihood is regular wages and salary
(r w s e ). This ordering has been consistent

over the years and across all the s r g s .

Several interesting features emerge from
Table 4. During 1994-2010, the highest de­
cline has been for the r w s e households, fol­
lowed by s e m p and the lowest for c a l a .
During the first period (1994-2005) and the
second period (2005-10), the same ordering
is observed. Between the first and the sec­ -3 ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 105a
ond periods, all household types experi­ Expenditure Class (PCTE at 1993-94 prices)

enced acceleration in the rate Figure 2: Distribution of Population by Expenditure Classes: Urban
of poverty reduction, which 14------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

was particularly high for r w s e

(6.4%). For the c a l a and
s e m p households too, the rate

of decline improved signifi­

cantly, at 4.1% and 3.7%, re­
spectively.
During 1994-2010, all so­
cial groups have done equally
well in reducing poverty in
case of the r w s e households.
During the first period, s t s
150 250 350 450 550 650 750 850 950 1050 1150 1250
did better than the upper
castes but Muslims lagged Expenditure Class (PCTE at 1993-94 prices)

behind the rest. However, the picture changed significantly period, the sc, s t and Muslim s e m p households have been
during the second period. All s r g s showed acceleration in pov­ lagging behind the upper castes in reducing urban poverty.
erty reduction in case of r w s e with the Muslims, upper castes During 2005-10, however, the scs, s t s and higher castes have
and scs showing significant acceleration. In the case o f s t s , improved their performance significantly. However, Muslims
Tablt 4: Change in Incidence off Poverty by Household iype did not show any improvement over the first period.
and Sodo-Religious Groups in Urban Sector (in %)_______________________ Finally, in the case of c a l a households, during 1994-2010,
Household Type ST SC OTHERS Hindus Muslims 0RM Total
the rate of decline of poverty has been relatively low for the s t s
1 9 9 3 -9 4 to 2 0 0 4 -0 5
and Muslims as compared to upper castes. In the first period,
SEMP -1.9 -1.1 -2.4 -2.2 -1.6 -4 .7 -2.1

-5 .3 -2.7 -2.1 -2 .6 -0 .6 -4.1 -2.3

1994-2005, the scs and s t s experienced lowest rate of decline
RWSE

CALA 0.9 -0 .6 -1.3 -0 .8 -1.2 -0 .9 -0 .9

in the poverty of casual labour - 0.6% and 0.9%, respectively,
OTHER -4 .4 -3 .0 -4 .0 -4 .3 -2.1 - 6 .4 -3.9 while the rate was relatively higher for upper castes and Mus­
A ll -1.9 -1.6 -2.1 -2.1 -1.4 -3 .6 -1.9 lims. During 2004-09, all s r g s experienced acceleration in
2 0 0 4 -0 5 to 2 0 0 9 -1 0 poverty reduction among the c a l a households. The increase
SEMP -5 .2 -4 .4 -3 .6 -4 .5 -1.8 -2.8 -3.7
has been relatively high for the scs (4.5%), s t s (3*6%) and up­
RWSE 2.7 -4 .9 -7.0 -6 .2 -7.6 -4 .3 -6 .4
per castes (3.5%) but lower for Muslims (2.2%).
CALA -3 .6 -4 .5 -3 .8 -4 .4 -2.2 -5 .8 -4.1

OTHER 11.1 -0 .6 -4 .2 -0 .6 -5 .7 0.5 -2.7

A ll -3.3 -3.9 -3.9 -4.1 -3.1 -3.3 -3.9

4 Growth in Monthly Per Capita Expenditure
1 9 9 3 -9 4 to 2 0 0 9 -1 0
SEMP -2 .6 -2.0 -2.5 -2 .6 -1.6 -3 .6 -2.4 4.1 Temporal Change in MPCE
RWSE -3.3 -3 .0 -3.1 -3 .2 -2 .6 -3 .6 -3 .0 Since, a comparable household income distribution data is
CALA -0 .6 -1.7 -1.9 -1.8 -1.4 -2.2 -1.8
not available; in this section we examine the changes in real
OTHER -1.2 -2.2 -3.5 -3 .0 -2 .8 -4 .3 -3.2
m p c e for the s r g s and economic groups. Figures 1and 2 show the
A ll -2.1 -2.1 -2.4 -2.4 -1.8 -3.1 -2.3
distribution of m p c e at real ( 1993- 94) prices at three time
As in Table 1.
Source: As in Table 1. points for the rural and urban areas, respectively. First, there is

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SPECIAL ARTICLE

discernible shift in the distribution towards right in both the fig­ Table 5: Growth of MPCE at Constant (1999-2000) Prices by Household
Type and SRGs in the Rural Sector_________________________________
ures. Second, given the nature of the distribution in both the
SRG ST SC Others Hindu Muslims ORM Total
sectors, the use of “ a particular”poverty line is unlikely to af­ 1 9 9 3 -9 4 to 2 0 0 4 -0 5
fect the changes in poverty incidence over time or comparison SENA 0.9 1.0 1.8 1.4 2.0 4.2 1.6

of poverty incidence across s r g s or economic groups. AG LA 0.2 1.1 0.9 0.8 1.2 1.2 0.9

The scrutiny of the two distributions also suggests that in the OLAH 0.1 1.1 1.1 0.8 2.0 2.3 1.1

rural areas the change in m p c e between 1993-94 and 2009-10 SEAG 0.6 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.2 1.6 1.1
OTHER 1.0 1.7 2.2 2.0 2.4 2.1 2.0
or for that matter between 2004-05 and 2009-10 is moderate.
A ll 0.5 1.3 1.4 1.2 1.7 2.1 1.3
In case of urban sector, though, it is far more pronounced and
2 0 0 4 -0 5 to 2 0 0 9 -1 0
there is significant shift to the right. Another noticeable feature is SENA 4.7 1.9 1.6 2.0 0.3 0.8 1.7
a spike in m p c e among the higher income group of households. AG LA 2.8 1.7 2.0 1.8 4.4 2.4 2.0
OLAH 2.7 0.6 2.1 1.2 2.1 12.1 1.8
4.2 Changes in Real MPCE-Rural SEAG 2.4 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.6 3.0 1.6

In Table 4, the growth of real m p c e at an aggregate level and OTHER 2.6 0.6 3.2 1.8 4.8 4.4 2.5

across s r g s is reported. The m p c e increased at a per annum A ll 3.0 1.6 1.7 1.5 1.8 4.3 1.7

rate of 1.5% during 1993-2010. The per annum rate varies 1 9 9 3 -9 4 to 2 0 0 9 -1 0

SENA 2.2 1.3 1.8 1.7 1.5 3.2 1.7
among the groups in a narrow range of 1.3% to 1.8%, with
AGLA 1.0 1.3 1.3 1.2 2.4 1.7 1.3
o r m s showing the highest per annum increase.
OLAH 0.9 1.0 1.5 0.9 2.2 6.4 1.3
During 1993-94 - 2004-05, m p c e increased at the rate of SEAG 1.2 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.4 2.2 1.3
1.3%. The s t s experienced the lowest annual increase at 0.5%, OTHER 1.5 1.4 2.7 2.1 3.5 3.1 2.3
followed by 1.3% for the scs and 1.4% for the upper castes. A ll 1.3 1.5 1.6 1.4 1.8 3.1 1.5
Among the religious groups, Muslims experienced a higher (i) As in Table 1.
(ii) The growth of MPCE during 2005-10 for some economic groups for ORM
increase (1.7%). In the second period, rate of growth of m p c e households appears high which could be partly because of smaller sample size.
increased to 1.7%. Among the social groups, s t s showed Source: As in Table 1.

marked improvement in the rate of increase from 0.5% to 3%.
In case of other groups, the per annum increase was more or
less similar and varied in a narrow range between 1.6% for scs
and 1.8% for Muslims (Table 1).
Exclusion of o b c s (Table A 2) from the o t h e r s has acceler­
ated the per annum increase in the m p c e for upper castes from
1.7% to 2.1% during 2005-10, the second highest after the s t s .
The rate of increase for o b c s is close to average for all (1.5%).
4.3 Changes in MPCE by Livelihood Categories
Across the economic groups, the growth of m p c e is reported in
but lower for scs (1.0%) and s t s (0.9%). In case of s e a g house­
holds, the per annum rate varies minimally across the social
groups, with the only exception being s t s (0.6%).
The 2005-10 period has been a high growth one for m p c e across
all the s r g s . In the case of s e n a households, the s t s showed
significant acceleration in the rate, followed by the scs; while
among the religious groups, Muslims and o r m s show a decel­
eration. The s e a g households have experienced acceleration
in the growth of m p c e during 2005-10 for all social groups; the
improvement has been particularly high for the s t s (Table 5).
s t s , therefore, seem to be doing better in case of both farm and

Table 5. At the aggregate level, among the five household types
in rural areas, s e n a households (engaged in non-farm produc­
tion and business activities) experienced a relatively higher
increase in m p c e (1.7%) and for the rest it is around 1.3% per
annum. A similar pattern is observed during 1994-2005, m p c e
grew at a higher rate for s e n a (1.6%) and at a lower rate for
farm and non-farm wage labour and self-employed in agricul­
ture (between 0.9% and 1.1%).
non-farm self-employed households during the second period.
During the period 1994-2010, the m p c e of farm wage labour
households grew at 1.3% annually, except for Muslims (2.4%).
During 1994-2005, the m p c e of the a g l a households increased
at a relatively lower rate of 0.9%. However, the growth accel­
erated to 2% during 2004-10. Other s r g s report substantial ac­
celeration in the m p c e , which has been particularly higher for
s t s and Muslims.

During 2005-10, all households experienced an acceleration In the case of o l a h households, m p c e increased by 1.3% an­
in the growth rate. While s e n a households have a similar rate nually. However, growth has been lower for the scs (1%) and
of growth as in the first period, for the s e a g and wage labour s t s (0.9%) as compared to Muslims (2.2%). During 1994-2005,

households, the growth rate accelerated. During 2005-10, the
rate of increase is higher for wage labour households.
For the s r g s across the livelihood groups during 1993-94 -
2009-10, s e n a households have done better compared to rest
of the households. It emerges that s t s and upper castes have
recorded higher growth of m p c e compared to other s r g s .
During the two sub-periods, we find some differences in the
rate of change in m p c e for s e n a households across s r g s .
During 1994-2005, for s e n a households, the per annum in­
crease is higher for Muslims (2.0%) and upper castes (1.8%)
48
growth of m p c e is higher for Muslims and much lower for s t s .
During 2005-10, the growth rate accelerated from 1.1% to 1.8%.
This acceleration in m p c e growth has been felt across all social
groups, with the exception of scs, for whom it decelerated
from 1.1% to 0.6%.
4.4 Growth in MPCE in the Urban Sector
During 1994-2010, the m p c e in the urban sector grew at the
rate of 2.4% per annum, which is significantly higher than that
observed in the rural sector. Among the social groups, the
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 SPECIALARTICLE
growth has been the highest for s t s (3.1%), followed by the (1.3%). In the first period, growth of m p c e is the lowest for the
upper castes, while for the scs and Muslims growth has been cala households (o.8%), slightly higher for upper castes (1%)
lower (1.9% and 2.1%, respectively) (Table 3). and Muslims (1.1%), but quite low for s t s and scs. The second
Between the two sub-periods, m p c e growth increased period witnessed a significant improvement in the rate of in­
substantially to 3% during 2005-10 from 1.9% during 1994-2005 crease in the m p c e among the c a l a households, from o.8% to
in the urban areas and also across all s r g s , with the largest 3.6% and this increase has been for all s r g s though relatively
acceleration seen for the s t s , from 1.8% to 5% per annum high for s t s , higher castes and Muslims, but lower for the scs.
(Tables 3 and 4). The acceleration is also seen for the upper
castes and Muslims (3%), and has been the lowest for the 5 Relative Contribution of Growth
scs (2.5%). and Distribution in Poverty Reduction
After having analysed the changes in poverty and m p c e , in
4.4.1 Household Types this section, we discuss the result of decomposition of decline
Among the household types in the urban areas, during 1994- in the incidence of poverty attributable to growth in m p c e and
2010, the highest growth in m p c e has been for the r w s e house­ its distribution. The methodology for decomposing the effect
holds (2.8%), followed by the s e m p (2.3%) (Table 6). The of growth on poverty reduction has evolved starting with pio­
growth has been the lowest for the c a l a at 1.8% per annum. neering works by Jain and Tendulkar (1990) and Datt and
During 1994-2005, both the r w s e and s e m p households report Ravallion (1992).9 There have been several refinements and a
a similar growth, but the c a l a households reported the lowest recent contribution by Kakwani (2000) allows carrying out
growth (0.8%). During 2005-10, all households experienced what is known as the exact decomposition of change in h c r
acceleration in the m p c e growth. The rate of increase, how­ into growth and distribution components that we have fol­
ever, is relatively higher for the r s w e and c a l a households. lowed in this paper. The results from the decomposition exer­
Table 6: Growth of MPCE at Constant (1999-2000) Prices by Household Type
cise are reported for two time periods, 1993-94 to 2004-05 and
and SRGs in the Urban Sector 2004-05 to 2009-10 for the entire population as well as for
Household Type ST SC OTHERS Hindu Muslims ORM Total three social and three religious groups for the rural and urban
1 99 3-9 4 to 2 0 0 4 -0 5
sector separately in Table 7.
SEMP 1.7 0.9 2.0 1.8 1.5 3.4 1.9
RWSE 2.5 1.7 1.9 2.0 1.3 0.7 1.8 Table 7: Decomposition o f Change in Poverty Incidence (Growth and
Distribution Effects)_______ _________ __________________________________
CALA 0.2 0.6 1.0 0.8 1.1 0.5 0.8
Socio-Religious Rural Urban
OTHER 3.4 2.9 4.1 3.8 3.4 6.9 4.1
Groups AH Growth Distribution AH Growth Distribution
All 1.8 1.4 2.0 1.9 1.5 2.2 1.9 Effect Effect Effect Effect
2 0 0 4 -0 5 to 2 0 0 9 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
SEMP 4.9 3.8 2.4 2.8 1.7 0.9 2.5
1993-94 to 2004-05
RWSE 5.3 2.4 4.2 3.9 5.6 5.8 4.1 A ll -8.2 -11.1 2.9 -6.5 -10.8 4.3
CALA 3.1 2.7 3.8 3.4 4.4 3.9 3.6 ST 0.8 -4.6 5.4 -7.7 -10.5 2.8
OTHER 1.1 3.2 1.7 1.7 2.2 -1.8 1.6 SC -11.5 -13.9 2.4 -8.9 -11.1 2.2
All 5.0 2.5 3.0 3.0 3.0 2.5 3.0 -8.0 -11.0
OTHERS 3.0 -6.5 -11.0 4.5
1 99 3-9 4 to 2 0 0 9 -1 0
H in d u -8.2 -10.5 2.3 -6.6 -10.7 4.1
SEMP 3.0 1.9 2.3 2.3 1.6 2.7 2.2
M u s lim -11.0 -14.9 3.9 -7.2 -11.9 4.8
RWSE 3.8 2.0 2.9 2.8 2.9 2.5 2.8
OTHER RM -7.9 -11.4 3.6 -7.6 -8.8 1.2
CALA 1.1 1.3 2.0 1.7 2.3 1.6 1.8
2004-05 to 2009-10
OTHER 2.8 3.3 3.6 3.4 3.3 3.8 3.5
A ll -5.80 -5.01 -0.79 -4.91 -6.82 1.91
All 3.1 1.9 2.5 2.5 2.1 2.5 2.4
ST -13.67 -13.17 -0.50 -5.89 -12.04 6.15
As in Table 1.
Source: As in Table 1. SC -7.11 -6.37 -0.75 -6.91 -8.71 1.80
OTHERS -4.60 -4.30 -0.30 -4.43 -6.27 1.84
The pattern varies across s r g s . The r w s e households
H in d u -5.93 -5.23 -0.70 -4.62 -6.53 1.91
appeared to be better off during 1994-2005, the growth being
M u s lim -5.86 -2.27 -3.59 -7.74 -9.88 2.15
relatively higher for the s t s and upper castes, but lower for scs OTHER RM -4.61 -5.13 0.53 -0.73 -3.06 2.32
and Muslims. In the second period, there is a significant As in Table 1.
increase in the rate from 1.8% to 4.1%. The increase is relatively Source: As in Table 1.

higher for s t s (5.3%), Muslim (5.6%), o r m (5.9%) and the
upper castes (4.2%) and the lowest for the scs (2.4%).
In the case of the s e m p , during 1994-2005 m p c e grew at rela­
tively higher rate for the s t s but lower for scs and Muslims.
During 2005-10, there is an improvement across all the s r g s .
The increase is, however, relatively high for the s t s and scs.
Among the c a l a households that traditionally have the highest
level of poverty in urban areas, during 1994-2010, Muslims and
upper castes showed a higher rate of growth (2% and 2.3%,
respectively). The growth is low for the s t s (1.1%) and scs
Between 1993-94 and 2004-05, the decline in poverty inci­
dence, Ah, is -8.2% for the rural sector as a whole. As the eco­
nomy has been growing faster, the rate of increase in m p c e
should have brought about an around 11.1% decline in the h c r
(the growth effect) but because of distributional changes,
about 2.9% of the reduction in poverty has been offset (Table 7).
Table 7 also shows that during 1993-94 - 2004-05, the role
of growth in reducing poverty across s r g s has been similar.
Because of the growth of m p c e , the incidence of poverty should
have declined by about 14% for scs in 2004-05 as compared to

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1993-94, while for o t h e r s it should have declined by 11%. But
because of the changes in the distribution, 2.4% for scs and
3% for o t h e r s were offset. In the case of s t s , the loss due to
distribution is about 4.6%.
Among the religious groups, the highest decline in poverty,
Ah , has been for Muslims (11%), followed by 8.2% and 7.9% for
Hindus and o r m , respectively. However, because of growth
alone, these figures should have been 14.9%, 10.5% and 11.4%,
respectively. But because of the unfavourable changes in the
distribution, close to 4% for Muslims, 2.3% for Hindus and
3.6% for o r m s have been offset. Thus during the first period,
the loss due to distribution has been high for s t s , Muslims and
others among the social groups.
During 2004-10, the rural sector presents an interesting pic­
ture. In almost all the cases - for the entire rural, all the social
groups (s t s , s c s and o t h e r s ) and Hindus and Muslims in reli­
gious groups - the decline in poverty has been more than what
could have been realised because of the growth effect. The
decline in h c r by 13.7% for s t s , 7.1 for scs, 4.60 for others, 5.93
for Hindus and 5.86 for Muslims is higher than the decline
expected because of growth. The distribution effect also con­
tributed in reducing poverty albeit moderately (less than a per
cent), except in the case of Muslims, where the contribution of
distribution has been about 3.6%.
In the urban sector, during 1993-2004, because of the
growth effect, the h c r should have declined by about 11% for
all the s r g s , but lost out by 4.3%. Because of distributional
changes, Muslims lost out by 4.8%, Hindus by 4.1%, upper
castes by 4.5%, s t s by 2.8% and scs by 2.2%. Though there are
modest changes in the inequality measure, the Gini coeffi­
cient, during this period (Table 3), the changes in distribution
seem to have played a role in decelerating reduction in poverty
incidence in the period, 1993-2005.
During 2004-10, the role of distribution is reversed. Because
of growth, the overall decline in urban poverty should have been
about 6.8%, but close to 1.9% were offset because of changes
in distribution. Among the social groups, the highest reduction
in poverty should have been for s t s by over 12%, but more than
half of it was offset because of worsening of the distribution
among the s t households. The observed Ah is lower by about
1.8% for both scs and upper castes among the social groups.
Among the religious groups, Muslims had the highest Ah at
7.7% but because of growth alone, their poverty should have
declined by about 9.9%. Among the large population groups,
after s t s , they have been the biggest loser in poverty reduction
because of distributional changes. The Gini coefficient too
grew during the second period by similar magnitude for all the
s r g s , the effect of the rise in inequality on reduction of poverty
seems to be different.
In Tables 1 and 3 we report the summary measure of ine­
quality, Gini coefficient, calculated for each s r g separately. It
shows only marginal increases during the two sub-periods,
the adverse effect of inequality do seem to have affected the
potential of growth in reducing poverty during the first
period where the increase in the Gini coefficient in both the
rural and urban sectors has been relatively higher. It seems
50
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the reason for inequality increase is because of increase in the
m p c e in the higher income groups (Figures 1 and 2). During
the second period, the increase in Gini coefficient is com­
paratively lower in both rural and urban areas. The higher
m p c e classes have experienced higher growth (Figures 1 and
2), but other interventions (such as wage employment, wage
level and food security measures) would have helped those
around the poverty line to cross it with marginal gains in
their expenditure in the rural areas (as distribution effect is
contributing in reducing poverty). In the urban areas the
adverse effect of inequality appears to have moderated the
distribution effect.
6 Discussion
This paper assessed the changes in rural and urban poverty
during the period 1994-2010 and the two sub-periods, 1994-2005
and 2005-10 - the latter covering three years of the Eleventh
Five-Year. We examined the changes in poverty at the aggre­
gate level, among scs, s t s , o b c s , higher castes, Muslims and
also economic groups to see whether there has been a positive
income growth, particularly for the poor. We also examined
whether the poor benefited more than others from income
gains and in poverty reduction during 2005-10 (Eleventh Plan
period) compared with 1994-2005.
We observe that rural poverty declined during 1993-2010 by
2.5% annually with a major acceleration during the second
period, from 2.2% during 1993-2005 to 4.4% during 2005-10.
In general all s r g s and economic groups experienced faster
decline in rural poverty during 2005-10. Thus, insofar as the
rate of poverty decline is concerned, the growth in consump­
tion expenditure has been more poverty reducing in the
second period.
However, there are variations across s r g s in poverty reduc­
tion. Some have gained more than others. If we were to take
the recent trend during the second period 2005-10, the higher
castes, the Muslims, other religious minorities and the s t s
have done better, but for the scs poverty declined at relatively
lower rates. The poverty of all economic groups also declined
at a faster rate, but self-employed non-farm households saw a
reduction in poverty at a much higher rate, compared with
self-employed farmers, non-farm and farm wage labour. The
self-employed owner engaged in non-farm production/
business activities thus benefited more than wage labour en­
gaged in the same activities. Among farm wage labour, which
is the poorest group, poverty reduced at the slowest rate.
The performance of these households varies across s r g
groups though. Among the self-employed non-farm house­
holds, which experienced a highest decline in incidence of
poverty during the second period, the Muslims and s t s did
better than the higher castes and scs. In the case of self-
employed farmers, again the s t s , higher castes and Muslims
did better while the scs lagged far too behind.
Similarly, in case of non-farm wage labour households, the
Muslims, higher castes and s t s have done better in reducing
their poverty, the scs have lagged behind. The farm wage
labour showed less variation in the rate of poverty reduction.
m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 10 DBS3 Economic & Political w e e k l y

Thus, in the case of self-employed non-farm households, self-
employed farmers and non-farm wage labour households, the
scs have lagged behind in reducing poverty during 2005-10.
Like in rural areas, poverty also declined at a higher rate dur­
ing 2005-10, in the urban sector: the rate of decline accelerated
from 1.9% in 1993-2005 to 3.9% per annum during 2005-10.
All socio-religious and economic groups experienced the
acceleration in poverty reduction during 2004-10. Across s r g s
the rate of poverty reduction during this period varies in a
narrow range of 3.1% to 3.9%.
During 2005-10, among the three economic groups in the
urban areas, poverty among the regular salaried households
declined at a higher rate, followed by the self-employed and
casual labourer. The regular salaried households belonging to
the higher castes and Muslims performed much better, scs did
better but less than other two groups. In the case of s t s ,
although poverty declined, the rate of reduction had decelerated
in the second period. Among the self-employed households (s e h ),
the scs, s t s , and higher castes have improved the performance
in poverty reduction in second period. The Muslims, however,
gained less insofar as the s e h poverty reduction is concerned.
The casual labour households (the most poor among the urban
household) experienced a significant acceleration in poverty
reduction in the second period, from 0.9% in 1993-2005 to 4.1%
in 2005-10. All s r g s experienced an acceleration in poverty
reduction during 2005-10, with the rate of reduction being
relatively higher for the scs, higher castes and s t s , but low for
the Muslims. Thus, in the urban areas, the Muslims did reason­
ably well in reducing poverty among the r w s e , but lag behind
in the case of the self-employed households and c a l a . The s t s
did better in reducing poverty in the case of c a l a and s e m p
categories but performed poorly in the case of r w s e . Among
the scs the performance in the second period has improved for
the three household types.
As we know, the rate of increase in consumption expenditure
and its distribution jointly determine the outcome in poverty
reduction. The decomposition exercise indicates that the growth
in consumption expenditure was the main source of reduction
in poverty but increasing inequalities have begun to affect
poverty reduction in the 2000s. The consumption expenditure
in rural area has increased at an annual rate of 1.7% during
2005-10, and at 3% in the urban areas. However, inequality in the
distribution of m p c e also increased, the Gini ratio increased from
0.29 to 0.30 in the rural and 0.37 to 0.40 in the urban sector.
Across s r g s in the rural area, m p c e increased at a faster rate
for the s t s , followed by the Muslims and the higher castes and
at a lower rate for the scs. The inequalities increased only
marginally for the s t s , but by a somewhat higher margin for
the higher castes. The inequalities, however, remained stable
for the scs but declined for the Muslims. So the Muslims seem
to have benefited both from higher increase in m p c e and
reduced inequalities which resulted in greater reduction in
poverty. In case of the s t s , high decline in poverty appears to
be mainly due to high growth, which also more than compen­
sated the negative impact of increasing inequalities. In the
case of the scs, growth in consumption expenditure has been
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SPECIALARTICLE
pro-poor, as Gini remained stable, but since the growth in
m p c e itself is low, the poverty declined at relatively lower rate.
The decomposition of changes in rural poverty into growth
and distribution components indicate that in the second
period 2005-10, the growth helped to reduce poverty, distri­
bution effect also contributed in reducing poverty albeit
moderately. This has been the case for most of the s r g s . In the
urban areas on the other hand, rise in the inequalities offset
poverty reducing impact of the high growth. While growth
played a significant role in reducing poverty during 2005-10
in case of most of the social and religious groups, inequalities
did offset the rate of poverty reduction, although differen­
tially. Worsening of the distribution has affected the poverty
reduction more in case of s t s and Muslims compared with scs
and higher castes.
Implications for Pro-Poor Growth Policy
The approach paper for the Twelfth Plan lays emphasis on a
high growth path regime but pledges that the growth needs to
be inclusive and poverty reducing, particularly of the tradi­
tionally deprived groups, the scs, s t s , o b c s , minorities and
wage labour and petty producers that are considered most
vulnerable and poor. The changes in poverty and m p c e by
s r g s and economic groups during 1994-2010 have implications
for the pro-poor policy.
There are implications for the rural farm sector. In 2009-10
close to 58% of the households in rural areas depended on
agriculture, about 32% as self-employed farmers and 27% as
farm wage labour. The growth in consumption expenditure of
agricultural households during 2005-10 has helped to reduce
poverty of poor farmers and farm wage labour. However, it has
been less pro-poor in the case of sc farmers compared with
their counterparts from other groups. This implies that the
strategy with a focus on the poor small and marginal farmers
will need strengthening. The s c farmers who have performed
less than others during 2005-10 will need special attention in
supply of inputs and sale of farm output as they face constraints
in both the factor and product markets (Thorat, Mahamallick
and Nidhi 2010; Thorat, Regina and Sirohi 2010).
Poverty of farm wage labour also reduced at an accelerated
rate. However, the incidence of poverty continued to be of a
higher order, particularly among the s t and sc households.
The pro-poor policy would demand that the poverty of the
most poor, namely, farm wage labour, should decline at a
much faster rate than other groups. Insofar as agricultural
growth seems to be helping to reduce the poverty incidence of
poor farmers and farm wage labour (wage employment pro­
grammes, and wage level may have also contributed to poverty
reduction), greater investment in agricultural sector is much
needed. Strengthening of wage employment programme is
necessary to serve as supplementary to farm wage employment.
However, the use of wage employment programme for improv­
ing the land and water resources on small farms, particularly
the poor and among them the scs and s t s has great potential
for small farm-based inclusive growth, the importance of which
has not been sufficiently realised. We need a comprehensive
51
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plan of water and land resource development of poor small
farmers through wage employment programmes. Sooner we
realise the complementarities of the wage employment pro­
gramme and small farm development and translate them into
time bound programmes, the better.
A similar focus is necessary for the rural non-farm sector.
In fact growth in non-farm income has been more poverty
reducing in the case of self-employed household compared to
any other household types. It also helped to reduce the poverty of
non-farm wage labour. However, there are aspects which
need to be addressed in the Twelfth Plan. The growth in rural
non-farm income has been less poverty reducing for the non-
farm wage labour compared with non-farm self-employed
households. This means that the poor casual labour tend to
benefit less from growth in non-farm enterprises than their
poor owners. Among the social groups, the scs engaged in non-
farm enterprises have lagged behind in reducing poverty
compared to the Muslims, s t s and higher castes. Insofar as the
non-farm growth has been poverty reducing, the policies to
increase the productivity of poor producers should constitute a
necessary element of pro-poor policy for the rural non-farm sector.
Particular efforts are necessary for sc households which have
lagged behind in reducing the poverty of both self-employed
and non-farm wage labour households in the recent period.
The policy should necessarily involve measures to increase pro­
ductive employment for wage labourers. The recent govern­
ment decision to provide reservation in government procure­
ment to the s c / s t enterprises is a step in right direction.
In case of the urban sector, the incidence of poverty contin­
ues to be high for casual labour, followed by the self-employed
and regular salaried. Among the self-employed households,
the Muslims (about half of the total Muslim households) lagged
behind in reducing incidence of poverty. Measures are neces­
sary to further enhance the productivity of the enterprises
owned by poor households from all s r g s in general, and the
Muslim enterprises, in particular. The casual labourer’ s pov­
erty has declined at an accelerated rate during the second pe­
riod; this trend needs to be strengthened and sustained.
The focus on self-employed enterprises will also benefit
causal labour households through increased employment.
Employment enhancing growth will provide maximum bene­
fits to them. However, the targeted programme to enhance
casual labour’ s employability through affordable vocational
education is necessary to get into regular salaried jobs. In­
deed facilitating the entry of labourers into formal sector jobs
is a sure way to pull them out of a persistent poverty trap. Af­
fordable vocational education for poor households, particu­
larly s t s , scs and Muslims, should be a necessary component
of an inclusive growth strategy. This is revealed by a much
higher decline in poverty o f regular salaried person in the
second period.
We believe that these insights from the experience of pov­
erty and consumption expenditure changes during the peri­
ods 1994-2005 - 2005-10, particularly during the latter
period, need to be kept in mind in developing a pro-poor
inclusive growth strategy during the Twelfth Plan. The results
imply that a broad-based pro-poor policy needs to be supple­
mented by group specific policy (social, religious and eco­
nomic groups), and this must be made an integral part of the
overall planning strategy.

n o t e s ____________________________________________
1 See, for example, de Haan and Dubey (2005)
and Desai and Dubey (2010) for existence of
disparities across socio-religious groups.
2 The CES data for 2004-05 and 2009-10 also
report Other Backward Classes (OBCs). For
the sake of completeness, we do report some
figures for OBCs separately but most of the
analyses in this paper is confined to STs, SCs
and others (that includes OBCs).
3 Our main concern is with changes in poverty
incidence across socio-religious groups rather
than levels. Given that the MPCE is log normally
distributed (see Figures 1 and 2 in this paper),
the use of a particular poverty line is not likely to
affect these comparisons (Dubey and Gango-
padhyay 1998).
4 This is also known as the Tendulkar Committee
report.
5 The new poverty line as and when it is speci­
fied will facilitate comparison for only 2004-05
and 2009-10.
6 It could be mentioned here that the expendi­
ture distribution is log-normal in both rural
and urban sectors (as shown in Section 4), use
of a particular poverty line would not affect the
study of temporal changes and spatial varia­
tions in the incidence o f poverty as shown by
Dubey and Gangopadhyay (1998).
7 Though we report and discuss incidence and
changes in poverty in this paper, other measure
of poverty, Poverty Gap Index, has also been
calculated. The levels and changes in the two
indicators are similar.
8 See Table A3 for distribution of households
across livelihood categories.
9 Due to space constraint we report and discuss
only the results of this exercise. The detailed
note on m ethodological issues is available in
Thorat and Dubey (2011).
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Sadana Nidhi (2010): “ Caste System and Pat­
tern of Discrimination in Rural Markets”in Table A3: Distribution o f Households by Economic Group and SRG
Sukhadeo Thorat and Katherine Newman
Household Type/SRG ST SC OBC Others Hindus Muslims ORM Total
(ed.), Blocked By Caste - Economic Discrimina­
tion in Modern India (New Delhi: Oxford Uni­ Rural
versity Press). SENA 7.4 14.3 16.8 17.8 14.4 24.3 13.5 15.4

Thorat, Sukhadeo, Birner Regina and Smita Sirohi AG LA 33.0 37.5 24.5 18.2 27.5 23.6 23.0 26.8
(2010): “ Productivity, Income and Input Use - O LAH 13.1 20.8 14.6 10.3 14.3 18.6 14.4 14.8
Comparative Study of Schedule Caste, Scheduled
SEAG 36.7 17.8 33.9 38.3 32.9 21.0 33.4 31.7
Tribe and Higher Caste Farmers in India” , Joint
Study by the International Food Policy Research OTHER 9.9 9.6 10.2 15.4 10.9 12.4 15.7 11.3
Institute and Indian Institute Dalit Studies, A ll 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Washington DC.
U rb a n
Thorat, Sukhadeo and Amaresh Dubey (2011):
SEMP 20.4 29.1 37.3 38.0 3 4.0 4 8 .2 33.7 35.8
“How Socially Inclusive Has Growth Been?
Growth, Inequality and Poverty during 1983- RWSE 42.4 37.7 33.7 43.4 4 0 .4 28.0 40.5 38.8
2005 - Implications for Inclusive Policy” , Paper CALA 18.9 24.2 18.0 5.7 13.5 15.1 11.6 13.6
presented at the Workshop organised by the O th e r 18.3 9.1 10.9 13.0 12.1 8.7 14.2 11.8
UNDP and Planning Commission during 24-25
A ll 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
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SPECIAL ARTICLE

An Assessment o f the Revenue Impact

o f State-Level VAT in India

A RIN DAM DA S-GU PTA

Revenue and g s d p data for 29 states for 1993-94 to Introduction and Motivation

2008-09 are used to study the revenue performance of
the state value added tax in India. The direct revenue
impact was assessed by testing if v a t introduction
increased v a t or state's own revenue buoyancies or the
vat or s o r to g s d p ratios. The indirect impact of v a t
introduction on the v a t base (proxied by g sd p ) and base
growth were also examined. No indirect impacts of the
vaton its base was found. The direct revenue impact of
the v a t was found to be positive in two-thirds of sample
jurisdictions. A positive impact on s o r was however
found only in Orissa and Haryana among 11 major states
and 50% of other jurisdictions.
Limited v a t revenue performance can partly be traced
to large-scale evasion given weaknesses in v a t
administration identified in a 2009 performance audit
by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The
implications of this study for the planned move to a
goods and services v a t (from the current goods only v a t)
are drawn and a suggestion is made for a non-VAT
goods and services tax which should be less vulnerable
to tax evasion.
T
he revenue performance of the state-level value added
tax ( v a t) in India relative to the turnover-type sales
taxes it replaced is assessed here. Besides being the first
econometric assessment of sub-national v a t revenue perform­
ance, this assessment may serve as a benchmark for the pro­
posed national and state Goods and Services Tax ( g s t ) . Bar­
ring further consensus building or implementation problems,
the g s t is to replace several central and state levies, including
the central and state v a t s over the next few years.
In developing countries the v a t is the consumption tax of
choice of most applied public economists.1 However, Stiglitz
and Dasgupta (1971) identified conditions under which v a t -
like exemption of productive intermediate inputs would not
ensure economic efficiency. Some recent theoretical papers on
the v a t also found it wanting when imperfect markets or
informal sectors exist in the economy.2 On the other hand by
granting input tax credits (i t c ), the base of the v a t is narrower
than a consumption tax without i t c , thus violating a widely
accepted rule of thumb for practical design of general taxes,
broad bases permitting low tax rates.3One justification for this
violation is that opposed interests of input suppliers (who ben­
efit from evasion of v a t on their output) and buyers (who
would like to claim i t c ) make the v a t partly “ self-enforcing” .4
Whatever its merits or drawbacks, the v a t is now imple­
mented in at least 138 nations.5 In at least three of them
(Brazil, India and Quebec province of Canada) a sub-national
v a t is also in place. The empirical assessments of the revenue

impact of the v a t in Ebrill et al (2001) and also in Keen and

Table 1: Revenue Gain from VAT A doption Region (% of GDP)
Region Ebrill etal (2001) Keen and Lockwood (2007)3-4
Average Gain Number of: Average Gain (%)
over Predecessor Countries Gaining
Sales Tax (%of GDP)2'4 Revenue from
the VAT(Countries
Losing Revenue)
S u b-S aharan A fric a 1.10 11 (14) -0.81
This is an extensively revised and exten ded version o f “
A Prelim inary Asia a n d P a cific 0.70 1 9 (3 ) 2.10
Evaluation o f the R evenue Im pact o f the State Level VAT in India” A m e ric a s 1.42 1 4 (9 ) 0.51
co-authored w ith Joy C how dhury presen ted at the National Institute o f C e n tra l E u rope a n d BRO1 -1.88 N o t s tu d ie d N o t s tu d ie d
Public Finance and Policy, N ew D elhi in M arch 2011. For this paper data EU (p lu s N o rw a y an d S w itz e rla n d ) 1.05 17(0) 4.15
have b een corrected and updated, and the analysis has b ee n altered N o rth A fric a a n d w e s t Asia 0.10 3( 2) 0.45
draw in g largely on com m en ts received from sem in ar participants. S m all Islands 1.96 8 (0 ) 4.03
Their su ggestion s are gratefully a ck n ow led ged individually w here (1) BRO: Baltic states, Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union.
appropriate. Thanks are du e to Fernanda A ndrade for excellent research (2) Figures based on IMF staff calculations.
assistance. The usual disclaim ers apply. (3) Illustrative calculations by the authors based on their equation 4 (of 7 equations) estimated
with panel data for 143 countries having at least 10 years of data between 1975 and 2000.The
A rindam Das-Gupta (ir onnie@gim.ac.in ) is at the Centre for E con om ic authors also estimate predicted revenue gain from VAT adoption for countries not having a VAT.
(4) Revenue variables: Ebrill et al (2001): VAT to GDP ratio over predecessor sales tax to GDP
Research, G oa Institute o f M anagement, Goa.
ratio. Keen and Lockwood (2007): tax-GDP ratio pre- and post-VAT.

E con om ic & Political w eekly IMHWl m a r c h 10, 2 0 1 2 v o l x l v ii n o 10 55

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SPECIAL ARTICLE
Lockwood (2006,2007) were limited to national level v a t s . So
an assessment of the v a t in India, which has had v a t s on goods
at both national and sub-national levels for around six years, is
of interest. The revenue performance of the v a t reported in
Ebrill et al and in Keen and Lockwood (2007) are reproduced
in Table 1 (p 5s).6 Clearly revenue gain from v a t adoption,
while fairly widespread, were not universal.
As Ebrill et al (2001) point out, these results need not reflect
poor v a t revenue potential. First, many countries intended a
revenue neutral replacement of their earlier consumption
taxes by the v a t , as in the Indian states. Second, design differ­
ences in v a t s in different countries cause them to depart in
various ways from a textbook v a t , again as in the states. Third,
if the v a t causes less economic distortion than the tax it
replaces, this may lead to v a t base (proxied by g d p ) gains,
increasing the denominator in Table Ts revenue ratios. The v a t
fails on revenue grounds only if both the direct revenue impact
plus its indirect impact on the v a t base are negative.
Note that revenue is not the only performance criterion.
Administrative and cost efficiency, predictability, simplicity,
impact on economic efficiency, evasion proneness, equity and
economic welfare as a whole are other important evaluation
criteria. Of these, only administrative efficiency and evasion
proneness are partly addressed below.
After describing Indian state v a t design features, modelling and
data issues are discussed, followed by the presentation of em­
pirical results. Two robustness tests of the main empirical find­
ings and a review of a recent performance audit by the Comp­
troller and Auditor General (c a g ) in 2010 are then presented.
Policy suggestions based on the analysis conclude the paper.
The VATin Indian States
Starting with Haryana and ending with Uttar Pradesh, bet­
ween 2003-04 and 2007-08 v a t s on goods were implemented
in all Indian states and several union territories.7Implementa­
tion dates for the 29 states are in Table 2.
Table 2: Dates of VAT Implementation by States in India
H aryana
A n d h ra Pradesh, Bihar, H aryana, K a rna taka, Kerala, M a h a ra s h tra ,
Orissa, Punjab, W e s t Bengal, A ru n a c h a l Pradesh, A ssam ,
H im a ch a l Pradesh, Goa, J a m m u and Kashm ir, M a n ip u r,
M eg h a la ya , M iz o ra m , N a gala nd, NCT N e w D e lhi, S ik k im , T rip u ra
U tta ra k h a n d
C h h a ttis g a rh , M a d h y a Pradesh, G u ja ra t, R ajasthan, J h a rk h a n d
Tam il N adu
U tta r Pradesh
Source: Halakhandi (2007) except Tamil Nadu: Government of Tamil Nadu (no date), and
Uttar Pradesh: CA.inlNDIA.Org (2011).
Though v a t designs differ across states, among major
widely prevailing design differences compared to a destina­
tion based consumption-type v a t are:8
•The continuing origin-based central sales tax (c s t ) on inter­
state sales.
•No v a t on imports from abroad.
•Thresholds (differing across states) for registration of v a t
dealers. Also in some states a simplified tax regime without
input crediting for dealers below the v a t threshold but above
a floor turnover.
56
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•Exclusion of certain goods including basic necessities, petro­
leum, oil and lubricants from the v a t .
•Limits on v a t crediting for inputs and capital goods, and
disallowance or carry forward of refunds in excess of tax paid
on sales except for exports.
Consequently commodity taxes in the states continue to be
partly origin based, tax intermediate inputs, and result in dif­
ferential cascading across both goods and services. Even so,
there are fewer design differences across the states than, for
example, in the cross-country studies cited above. Further­
more, in India it is likely that the v a t was introduced to, inter
alia, improve revenue but indirectly by reducing economic dis­
tortions and increasing the tax base.9
Data and Modelling Issues
To assess the revenue impact of the state v a t , the (a) gross
state domestic product (g s d p ) buoyancy of sales taxes (s t ),
and (b) the revenue to g s d p ratio, before and after v a t are ex­
amined. g d p (here g s d p ) is the standard proxy for the base of
general consumption taxes in most revenue performance stud­
ies. Two issues are examined. First, has the v a t done better
than the sales tax it replaced? Second, has the v a t contributed
to an improved own revenue performance? The latter is not
assured if v a t gains are eroded by losses from other revenue
sources, unintended or intended.10
For the first question two equations, s t revenue pre- and
post v a t implementation were compared:
LNSTt = Bo + B1LNGt + B2(VATt.LNGt) ...(1)
(ST/G)t = B0 + B1VATt ...(2)
In (1) l n prefixed to a variable name denotes its natural log­
arithm, GSDPt is abbreviated to Gt and the t is an annual time
period subscript ranging from 1993-94 to 2008-09. VATt is a
dummy variable taking the value 1 for years in which the v a t
prevailed and zero otherwise. Thus VATt.LNGt is a slope dummy
variable. An increased coefficient of the v a t dummy in the
buoyancy equation (1) is consistent with higher secular reve­
nue productivity of the v a t compared to the earlier sales tax.
1st A p r 2 00 3 An increase only in the v a t / g s d p ratio may reflect a one time
increase in revenues due to the v a t , with no trend impact.
For the second question, the same two equations but with
1st A p r 200 5 state’s own revenue receipts (s o r r ) replacing s t are estimated:
1st O c t 200 5 LNSORR,. = B0 + BjLNG, + B2(VATt.LNGt), ...(3)
1st A p r 2 0 0 6
(SORR/G)t = B0 + B yA T t ...(4)
1st Jan 20 0 7
1st Jan 2 0 0 8 An alternative to equations (1) and (3) with lagged Gt l replac­
ing current Gt, (equations la and 3a) is also reported.11
A fifth equation was estimated to check if, even if there was
no revenue increase, the v a t at least contributed a larger share
of state revenue:12
(ST/SORR)t = B0 + BjVATj ...(5)
These models do not include other possible determinants of
revenue performance. Keen and Lockwood (2007), for example,
estimate pooled regressions and so include additional “ tax
effort”determinants including a per capita income variable, a
trade openness variable and the share of agriculture in g d p .
These variables, which will vary little over the sample period
in Indian states, are unlikely to contribute to the explanatory
m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 10 UUHI Economic & Political w e e k l y
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

power of the time series models analysed here. Furthermore for bj and upu in all equations. v A T it equals 1 for years in
trade openness data are not available for Indian states.13How­ which only one sibling state had the v a t and zero otherwise.
ever, as in other Indian studies, states are classified as major (b) Data for two states, Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka
states and non-major states, the latter including the 10 special were only available to 2007-08.
category states. Special category states are officially held to (c) Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand (then Uttaranchal) imple­
suffer from poor infrastructure, difficult terrain and in most mented the v a t mid-year rather than on 1 April. A dummy
cases large tribal populations.14 variable for mid-year implementation was tried but, being in­
The equations above neglect the indirect impact, if any, of significant, was dropped from the regressions reported here.
v a t introduction on the v a t base. To assess this, two more equa­ (d) g s d p data were from three different series: 1993-94,1999-
tions were estimated using pooled data for the jurisdictions 2000 and 2004-05. A chained g s d p series was, estimated by
studied. The reason for data pooling was to take into account projecting the ratio of overlapping years of these series back­
possible cross-state economic spillovers on the v a t base.15Using ward using a linear projection equation fitted by ordinary least
the subscript; for the jth state, the estimated equations were: squares. The resulting chained series thus has g s d p even for
LNGSDP.t = B0 + B1VATjt + B2Timet + B3Statej, ...(6) years before 2004-05 to the base year 2004-05. Equations (1) to
ALNGSDPjt = Bo + BjVATjj. + B2Timet + B3State.. ...(7) (4) were estimated with both chained and unchained g s d p
There is litde alternative to the admittedly weak methodo­ series. With unchained g s d p data, v a t revenue performance
logy of using a v a t dummy variable to assess the impact of the turns out to be worse than with chained g s d p . So only chained
v a t . This methodology, with all its problems, is also used in ear­ series results are reported in the main text. Differences with
lier vat impact studies including Ebrill et al (2001) and Keen and unchained g s d p series are footnoted.
Lockwood (2006, 2007).16 However, this implies that differ­
ences between va t and pre-VAT periods rather than the impact Empirical Results
of the vat are being studied. The technique cannot distinguish In Table 3, v a t dummy coefficients and their significances are
between the v a t ’s impact and the impact of other tax and fiscal summarised from the detailed Appendix Tables Ai toA7 (pp 61-64).
reforms during the period. For this detailed, state by state, Table 4 (p 58) reports the mean values of the g s d p and s o r r
inquiries on the quality of vat implementation Table 3: VAT Dummy Variable Signs and Significances for Equations (1)to (5)
and also other reforms are needed. The quality of State STGSDP STLagged ST/GSDP SORRGSDP SORR S0RR/GSDP ST/S0RR
Buoyancy GSDP Buoyancy (Eq2) Buoyancy Lagged GSDP (Eq4) (Eq5)
vat implementation is partly examined below by
(Eql) (Eq la) (Eq3) Buoyancy
drawing on a vat performance audit.17 Two (Eq3a)

other statistical exercises to check the robust­ M a jo r sta te s

A n d h ra P radesh (AP) 0 .0 0 0 0.003 0 .0 0 4 * 0 .0 0 4 0 .005 0.0 0 8 -0 .0 0 3
ness of the basic results were carried out.
G u ja ra t (Guj) 0.011* 0.011* -0 .0 0 2 0.003 0 .0 0 4 -0 .0 1 5 * 0 .2 3 6 *
Current rupee data on g s d p , s t and s o r r H a ryan a (Har) 0 .0 0 4 0 .0 1 9 * 0 .0 2 7 * -0 .0 2 3
0 .0 0 7 0 .0 1 0 * 0.142*
are used for all 29 Indian states (clubbed into K a rna taka (Kar) 0 .0 0 8 * 0 .0 1 2 * 0.001 0 .0 0 8 0.013 0.010 -0 .0 3 2
26 jurisdictions as explained below) for 2003- Kerala (Ker) - 0 .0 0 5 * 0 .0 0 0 0.003 0.002 0.007 0.003 0.01
04 to 2008-09. s t and s o r r data were from M a h a ra s h tra (M ah ) - 0 .0 0 4 0 .002 0.001 0.001 0 .0 0 6 0.003 -0 .0 0 6

the website of the Reserve Bank of India ( r b i) O rissa (O ri) 0 .0 0 8 0.010 0 .0 0 8 * 0.011 0.014 0 .0 1 7 * 0 .0 0 0
P u n ja b (Pun) 0 .0 0 5 * -0 .0 0 5 0 .0 0 4
and g s d p data were from the website of the 0.001 0.005 -0 .0 0 2 0 .0 5 6 *
R a jasthan (Raj) 0 .0 0 4 0 .0 0 9 0 .0 0 8 * 0.010 0 .0 1 5 * 0.005 0 .0 6 7 *
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Imple­
W e s t B e ngal (W B) 0 .0 0 7 * 0.011* 0.001 0.0 0 7 0.01 0 .0 0 4 -0 .0 2 5
mentation ( m o s p i ).18 Four data problems and T am il N a du (TN) 0 .0 0 0 0.002 -0 .0 0 8 * 0.0 0 5 0.0 0 7 -0 .0 0 8 -0 .0 3 9 *
the manner in which they were dealt with are N o n -m a jo r s ta te s
now described. A ru n a c h a l P radesh (ArP) 0.0 0 7 -0 .0 3 2 0 .0 1 3 * 0 .0 7 7 * 0 .0 7 4 * 0.0 7 4 * 0 .0 8 2 *

(a) Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand A ssa m (A sm ) 0.007 0 .005 0 .0 1 5 * 0 .0 1 3 * 0.011* 0 .0 2 5 * 0.047
0 .0 2 4 * 0.027
were carved respectively out of Madhya Pradesh, H im a c h a l P radesh (HP) 0 .0 2 2 * 0 .0 2 4 * 0 .0 1 3 * 0 .0 3 5 * 0.034
Goa 0 .0 1 8 * 0 .0 1 9 * -0 .0 1 4 -0 .0 0 7 -0 .0 0 3 -0 .0 7 3 * 0.065
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in 2000. So com­
J a m m u a n d K a s h m ir (JK) 0 .0 2 3 * 0 .0 1 9 * 0 .0 2 2 * 0 .0 1 4 * 0.012 0 .0 2 9 * 0.166*
bined data for Bihar-Jharkhand (b j ), Madhya M a n ip u r (M an ) 0.018 0 .0 0 7 * 0 .0 5 * 0 .0 5 3 *
0.029 0.0 1 2 * 0.215*
Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (m p c ), and Uttar Pradesh- M e g h a la y a M e g ) 0 .0 1 9 * 0 .0 2 3 * 0 .0 1 * 0.011 0.015 0 .0 0 8 * 0.138*
Uttarakhand (u p u ) were used. This reduced M iz o ra m (M iz) 0.026 0.015 0.011* 0 .0 5 * 0 .0 5 1 * 0 .0 0 8 - 0 .1 6 8 *
the number of jurisdictions to 26 instead of 29. N a g a la n d (N ag) 0 .0 2 0 * 0.018 0 .0 0 5 * 0 .0 2 4 * 0.028 0.005 0 .0 9 8 *

Since differences could arise after the split, an S ik k im (Sik) - 0 .0 2 0 * -0 .0 2 2 0 .0 1 3 * -0.041 0 .0 0 4 -0.301 0.021
0 .0 0 7 0 .0 0 8 * -0 .0 0 8 -0.011
additional dummy variable term, B3Splitt, was T rip u ra (Tri) 0.010 0 .0 0 4 0.177
NCT D e lh i (ND) -0 .0 1 0 0 .0 0 7 0 .0 0 6 -0.011 0.007 0.014 -0 .0 3 8 *
added to equations (1) to (5) for these states,
o f w h ic h c o m b in e d s ta te s
with Splitt equalling one from the year of the B ih a r+ J h a rk h a n d (BJ) 0.001 0.001 -0 .0 0 2 0.007 0.005 -0.001 -0.021
split (2000 in all three cases) and zero before M a d h y a P ra d e s h +
that. Furthermore, in b j and u p u , Bihar and C h h a ttis g a rh (MPC) 0.003 0 .0 0 7 0 .0 0 6 * 0.001 0 .0 0 4 0.007 0 .0 3 9 *

Uttarakhand implemented the v a t before U tta r P ra d e s h +

U tta ra k h a n d (UPU) 0 .0 0 8 * 0 .0 1 3 * 0 .0 0 7 * 0 .0 1 7 * 0 .0 2 0 * 0.012 0.01
their sibling states (Table 2). So additional (1) *: Significant at 95% or better. P-values are reported in the Appendix.
dummy variable terms, B4VATit, were added (2) Of the combined states, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are major states.

Economic & Political w e e k l y m arch 10, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 10 57

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SPECIAL ARTICLE

Table 4: Buoyancies and Mean Values of Ratios The last column of Table 3 shows that the
State STGSDP STLagged ST/GSDP SORRGSDP SORR S0RR/GSDP ST/SORR share of s t in s o r r increased in only 11 states
Buoyancy GSDPBuoyancy (Eq2) Buoyancy Lagged (Eq4) (Eq5)
(Eql) (Eq la) (Eq3) GSDP (excluding Arunachal), including four major
Buoyancy states, after v a t introduction and reduced in
(Eq3a)
one major and one non-major state. So reliance
M a jo r states
A n d h ra Pradesh 1.085 1.057 0.047 1.013 1.029 0.091 0.520 on sales taxes did not increase in the majority
G u ja ra t 0.797 0.797 0.047 0.799 0.791 0.094 0.510 of states after the v a t reform.
H aryana 1.147 1.128 0.039 0.548 0.421 0.127 0.388 On the indirect impact of v a t introduction,
K arnataka 0.894 0.858 0.050 0.959 0.917 0.104 0.472 coefficients of v a t dummies in pooled regres­
1.154 1.073 0.051 1.005 0.931 0.080 0.643
Kerala
sions with l n g s d p and the g s d p growth rate
M a h a ra sh tra 1.095 1.034 0.040 1.015 0.958 0.082 0.484
in Table 6 (p 59) are uniformly insignificant.
Orissa 1.117 1.119 0.027 1.061 1.062 0.062 0.440
The conclusion is that v a t introduction did
P unjab 1.166 1.156 0.033 1.079 0.935 0.108 0.320
not lead to any base expansion.22So the direct
R ajasthan 1.171 1.141 0.032 0.893 0.836 0.082 0.401
W e st Bengal 0.894 0.835 0.026 0.959 0.907 0.047 0.543
revenue impact of the v a t is also the total
Tam il Nadu 0.875 0.835 0.062 0.865 0.826 0.105 0.580 revenue impact.23
N o n -m a jo r states
A ru n a ch a l Pradesh 4.510 5.476 0.003 0.856 0.984 0.050 0.080 Robustness Checks
1.467 1.53 0.025 1.214 1.294 0.054 0.475
Assam
Given the questionable data, especially for
H im a ch a l Pradesh 1.288 1.267 0.017 1.103 1.052 0.064 0.284
g s d p , and methodological weakness, two
Goa 0.643 0.607 0.064 0.756 0.673 0.203 0.335
robustness checks are now presented. Fur­
J a m m u and K a shm ir 1.700 1.75 0.017 1.297 1.299 0.055 0.329
ther, in the next section findings of the per­
M a n ip u r 1.353 1.519 0.009 0.634 0.561 0.033 0.304
M e g h a la ya 1.310 1.258 0.015 1.017 0.958 0.047 0.347
formance audit (c a g 2010), which also tend to
M iz o ra m 1.992 2.155 0.005 0.581 0.573 0.049 0.151 suggest negative or weak v a t revenue per­
N a gala nd 1.261 1.266 0.009 0.789 0.671 0.031 0.311 formance are presented.
S ikkim 1.811 1.854 0.020 1.271 0.501 0.869 0.042
T ripu ra 1.372 1.349 0.014 1.223 1.212 0.037 0.412 States Gaming the Centre: The centre agreed
N e w D e lhi 1.294 0.974 0.047 1.367 1.029 0.071 0.655 to compensate states implementing the v a t in
o f w h ic h c o m b in e d states 2005 for any revenue loss in the initial years
B ih a r+ Jh a rkh a n d 0.887 1.015 0.028 0.821 0.975 0.059 0.478
relative to sales tax revenue in 2004-05. The
M a d h ya P ra d e s h +
C h h a ttis g a rh 1.232 1.315 0.026 1.128 1.198 0.079 0.347 compensation would equal 100%, 75% and
U tta r P ra d e s h + U tta ra k h a n d 1.077 1.018 0.029 0.812 0.792 0.064 0.458 50% of the revenue loss in the first, second
A verages m a jo r states 1.036 1.003 0.041 0.927 0.874 0.089 0.482 and third years of the v a t , respectively. Could
A ll states 1.330 1.361 0.030 0.964 0.899 0.106 0.396 this have led to higher than normal state tax
All buoyancies are significant at 99%: See Tables A1, A2, A4 and A5.
effort in 2004-05 followed possibly by lower
ratios and also the buoyancies to help interpretation of Table 3.19 than normal tax effort particularly in 2005-06?24 If so v a t
State by state narrative assessments are in Table 5 (p 59). dummy coefficient estimates reported above would be biased
Results for three states are difficult to interpret. In Andhra downward and could turn insignificant.25To examine this aug­
Pradesh the three ratios in the table appear mutually contradic­ mented versions of equations (1) and (2), equations (lb) and (2b)
tory. They are, in any case, small. In Arunachal Pradesh, sales were estimated for the 21 states which implemented the v a t in
tax/vAr revenue grew 15,000% (in nominal terms) over the 2005. The additional variables included were dummy variables
sample period while s o r r grew by 1,000% or over twice as for 2004-05 (PrevAr) and 2005-06 (PostvAr). These were slope
much as g s d p . Clearly, these gains cannot be attributed to v a t dummies in (lb) and intercept dummies in (2b). The hypothesis
introduction alone. In Sikkim ratios and buoyancies appear to is confirmed if PrevAr is positive and significant and, perhaps,
be mutually contradictory. In any case v a t appears to have no PostvAr is negative and significant. Results are summarised in
impact on revenue performance in Sikkim, the negative v a t Table 7 (p 59). Further detail is in Tables A8 and A9 (p 64).
buoyancy and s t / s o r r may contradict this, implying question­ For both equations the first of the four columns for each
able results. Leaving aside these states. Table 5 suggests that v a t equation reports v a t dummy signs and significances from Table 3.
revenue performance was positive in 15 of the remaining 23 ju­ In equations (lb) and (2b) PrevAT is positive and significant in
risdictions including in six of 10 major states (excluding a p ). Of two and five states, respectively. In no case is PostvAT significant.
these, in Karnataka, Kerala and u p u revenue gains were small.20 However, PrevAT/PostVAT have the expected positive/negative
Own revenue performance after v a t introduction improved sign pattern in eight cases in (lb) and 10 cases in (2b). Thus the
in only two major states (Haryana and Orissa) and seven non­ hypothesis of gaming has weak support. What of v a t dummy
major states. Overall, even if v a t performance was positive in coefficients? In fact addition of PrevAT and PostvAT robs some
two-thirds of the states, improved own revenue performance v a t dummy coefficients (including two negative coefficients)
after v a t introduction occurred in less than 40% of jurisdic­ of their significance. In no case does addition of these dum­
tions including only two major states.21 mies cause an insignificant v a t dummy to become significant

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 SPECIAL ARTICLE

though they appear to cause downward bias in some cases. lost revenue so that the country as a whole gained.26 To test
Thus the hypothesis of v a t dummy coefficients being insignifi­ this, data were aggregated across all 29 states in the sample
cant due to states gaming the centre can be safely rejected. and the following aggregate versions of equations (1) to (4)
Downward bias of v a t dummy variables is, however, possible. were estimated:

LNST = B0+B1LNG+B2[VAT2oo3LNG]
Can Winners Compensate Losers? Instead of counting states
+B3[VAT2005LNG]+B4tVAT2oo6LNG]+B5[VAT2oo7LNG] (lO
with revenue improvements postvAr, an alternative is to see if
states gaining revenue from the vat could compensate states that ST/G = B0+ B1VAT2003+B2VAT2005+B4VAT2006
Table 5: Impact of VAT Introduction on Sales Tax and State's Own Revenues: +b 5VAT2Q07 (2C)
State by State Assessment_____________________________________________
State Assessment LNSORR = Bq+BiLNG+B2[VAT2oo3LNG]
M a jo r states +B3[VAT2oo5LNG]+B4[VAT2oo6LNG]+B5[VAT2oo7LNG] (30
A n d h ra Pradesh See disc u s s io n in th e te x t
G ujarat VAT n o t a success b u t o th e r re v e n u e sources p e rfo rm e d SORR/G = B0+ B1VAT20O3+B2VAT2005
even w o rs e .
+B4VAT2006+B5VAT2007 (4C)
H aryana Im p ro v e d re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e in c lu d in g o f th e VAT.
K arnataka VAT had n o im p a c t o n re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e in K a rna taka.
ST b u o y a n c y im p ro v e d b u t b y u n d e r 1%.
Four v a t dummy variables were needed given that states
Kerala VAT had n o im p a c t o n re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e in Kerala. ST implemented the v a t in different years. For example, v a t 2003
b u o y a n c y w o rs e n e d b u t b y u n d e r 1%. takes on the value 1 from 2003-04 onward to capture the v a t
M a h a ra sh tra VAT ap p e a rs to have had n o im p a c t o n re v e n u e effect of states implementing the v a t in 2003 (from Table 2
p e rfo rm a n c e in M a h a ra s h tra .
this was only Haryana). Results, including F-tests for the joint
Orissa ST/GSDP an d SORR/GSDP d u m m y c o e ffic ie n ts are b o th
la rge re la tiv e to th e m ean. S uggests im p ro v e d revenue significance of the four v a t dummies are in Table 8 (p 60).
p e rfo rm a n c e in c lu d in g o f th e VAT. In Table 8, only the v a t dummies in equation (2c) are signifi­
P unjab From ST/SORR a n d ST/GSDP, VAT w a s successful.
cant. However, looking at the individual dummies in the equa­
O th e r re v e n u e sources e ro d e d VAT gains.
tion only v a t 2003, when Haryana alone introduced the v a t , is
Rajasthan From ST/SORR a n d ST/GSDP, VAT w a s successful.
O th e r re v e n u e sources e ro d e d VAT gains. significant. Furthermore states' own revenues in equations
W e st B engal VAT had n o im p a c t o n re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e . ST b u o y a n c y (3c) and (4c) were not significantly affected by the v a t . So it
im p ro v e d b u t by u n d e r 1% le a v in g it b e lo w u n ity .
may be concluded that revenue gainers from the v a t could not
Tam il Nadu VAT p e rfo rm a n c e w a s w o rs e th a n th e sales ta x it re p la c e d ,
compensate the losers.
b u t o v e ra ll re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e is u n c h a n g e d .

N o n -m a jo r states
A ru n a ch a l Pradesh See d is c u s s io n in th e te x t Did Tax Evasion Reduce VAT Performance?
Assam Im p ro v e d re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e in c lu d in g o f th e VAT. To what extent was v a t performance eroded by poor adminis­
H im a ch a l Pradesh Im p ro v e d re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e in c lu d in g o f th e VAT. tration permitting leakage through tax non-compliance? For this
Goa VAT appears to have had n o im p a c t o n revenue pe rfo rm a n c e
the findings of the performance audit in c a g (2010) are revealing.
in Goa. ST b u o y a n c y m ay have im p ro v e d b y a ro u n d 3 % still
leaving it w e ll b e lo w un ity . The audit conducted during April-November 2009 covered 23
Jam m u and Kashm ir Im p ro v e d re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e in c lu d in g o f th e VAT. states27 and the post-VAT period 2005-06 to 2008-09, which is
M a n ip u r Im p ro v e d re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e in c lu d in g o f th e VAT. precisely the v a t years included in the sample in this paper (bar­
M egh a la ya Im p ro v e d re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e in c lu d in g o f th e VAT. ring Haryana’ s early vat years). Using the 2005 white paper of the
M iz o ra m Im p ro v e d re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e in c lu d in g o f th e VAT.
Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (e c s f m ) which
N a gala nd VAT p e rfo rm a n c e is p o s itiv e b u t o v e ra ll SORR
set out desirable basic v a t design and tax administration (ta )
p e rfo rm a n c e has n o t im p ro v e d .
S ikkim See d is c u s s io n in th e te x t.
features as a benchmark, c a g (2010) assessed vat performance.28
T ripu ra ST/GSDP in crea sed fro m a lo w le ve l o f 1%. N o im p a c t on The main findings of importance for this paper were:
o v e ra ll o w n re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e . •Deficiencies in v a t acts and rules existed in many states.
N e w D e lhi VAT p e rfo rm a n c e w o rs e th a n th e sales ta x it re p la c e d . •The large backlog of pending assessments under the prede­
O vera ll re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e is u n c h a n g e d .
cessor taxes burdened t a s .
o f w h ic h c o m b in e d s tates
B ih a r+ J h a rk h a n d VAT h ad n o im p a c t o n re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e . •Incomplete automation, limited electronic return filing, and
M a d h y a P ra d e s h + VAT p e rfo rm a n c e is p o s itiv e b u t had n o im p a c t o n differences in v a t returns and documents across states seri­
C h h a ttis g a rh re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e .
ously handicapped cross-verification of information in v a t
U tta r P ra d e sh + Im p ro v e d re v e n u e p e rfo rm a n c e in c lu d in g o f th e VAT,
U tta ra k h a n d th o u g h m a g n itu d e is sm all.
returns across v a t dealers within and across states.
•Inability or unwillingness to
Table 6: Impact o f VAT Introduction on GSDP (pooled regressions fo r all states on state dum m y variables, a tim e trend, and VAT cross-check information with
period dum m y variable)________________________________________________________________________________________________
LNGSDP (Eqn6) ALNGSDP(Eqn7) that available in other tax de­
Regression VATDummy Variable Regression VATDummy Variable partments like the central ex­
Significance Coefficient Significance Significance Coefficient Significance cise and customs departments.
0 .0 0 0 -0 .0 3 7 0.129
R egression w ith o u t c o m b in e d sta te s 0 .0 0 0 0.024 0 .4 8 4
•Ineffective procedures for veri­
R egression w ith c o m b in e d sta te s 0 .0 0 0 0.029 0 .3 4 4 0 .0 0 0 -0 .0 3 0 0.178
fying i t c claims and detecting
Additional dummy variables for combined states are (a) from the year of states splitting, and (b) years during which only one of the
combined states implemented the VAT. fake i t c claims.

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SPECIAL ARTICLE

Table 7: Signs and Significances of VAT, PreVAT and PostVAT Dummy Variables These official performance audit findings, based on extensive
STBuoyancy (eq 1b) ST/GSDP(eq 2b) test checks, provide independent verification of the relatively
VAT-(eq1)i VAT PreVAT PostVAT VAT-(eq2) VAT PreVAT PostVAT
poor revenue performance of the v a t found in this paper. The
A n d h ra Pradesh 0 .0 0 0 0 .0 0 0 -0 .0 2 0 -0.031 0 .0 0 4 * 0 .0 0 5 * 0 .0 0 2 -0 .0 0 3

0.002
audit traces this to incomplete reforms and ineffective t a s .29 It
K a rna taka 0 .0 0 8 * 0 .0 1 3 * 0 .173* -0 .0 5 6 0.001 0.0 0 3 -0.001

Kerala -0 .0 0 5 -0 .0 0 4 0 .0 0 8 -0 .0 3 6 0.003 0 .0 0 4 0.0 0 5 -0 .0 0 4

would be of interest to see if t a weakness can statistically ex­
M a h a ra s h tra -0 .0 0 4 -0 .0 0 2 0.114 0.033 0.001 0.001 0 .0 0 6 * 0.001 plain poor revenue performance if state by state information
Orissa 0 .0 0 8 0 .0 0 9 0.126 0.077 0 .0 0 8 * 0 .0 0 8 * 0 .0 0 5 0.001 for the c a g report were made available. Note, however, that ad­
P u njab 0.001 -0.001 0.127 0.207 0 .0 0 5 * 0 .0 0 4 0 .0 0 7 0 .0 0 6 ministration of the predecessor sales taxes was also ineffective
W e s t Bengal 0 .0 0 7 * 0.012 0.1 6 3 * -0 .0 5 0 0.001 0.001 0 .0 0 2 0 .0 0 0 as documented by several studies and official reports.30 The
A ru n a c h a l incapacity of t a s to successfully cope with administering a
Pradesh 0.007 0.005 0.311 0 .4 4 8 0 .0 1 3 * 0 .0 1 5 * 0 .0 0 6 - 0 .0 0 4
new, sophisticated, tax like the v a t is strongly suggested by
Assam 0.007 0.010 0.263 0.164 0 .0 1 5 * 0 .0 1 5 * 0 .0 1 5 * 0 .0 0 4
the c a g performance audit.
H im a c h a l
Pradesh 0 .0 2 2 * 0 .0 2 8 * 0.164 -0.102 0 .0 1 3 * 0 .0 1 5 * 0 .0 0 6 * -0 .0 0 5

Goa 0 .0 1 8 * 0 .0 2 0 * 0.041 -0 .0 5 0 -0 .0 1 4 -0 .0 1 7 -0.021 0.002

Implications for Near Term Reform
Jam m u Given the poor ability of states to cope with tax reforms docu­
a n d K a shm ir 0 .0 2 3 * 0 .0 2 7 * 0.243 0.039 0 .0 2 2 * 0 .0 2 4 * 0 .0 1 3 * -0 .0 0 2
mented by the c a g and the possible negative impact of this on
M a n ip u r 0.029 0.038 0.120 -0 .2 6 9 0 .0 0 7 * 0 .0 0 9 * 0 .0 0 2 -0 .0 0 5
revenue is several states, further large-scale tax reform at this
M e g h a la y a 0 .0 1 9 * 0 .021* 0.136 0.039 0 .0 1 0 * 0.011* 0 .005 -0.001
stage appears premature, despite the three years of planning, t a s
M iz o ra m 0.026 0.031 0 .2 9 9 0 .0 9 9 0.011* 0 .0 1 2 * 0 .0 0 6 * -0 .0 0 2
will have to cope with a greatly expanded number of dealers
N a gala nd 0 .0 2 0 * 0.021 0.024 0 .0 0 8 0 .0 0 5 * 0 .0 0 5 * 0 .0 0 2 0 .0 0 0

S ikkim -0 .0 2 0 * -0 .0 2 7 -0 .2 0 8 0.022 0 .0 1 3 * 0 .0 1 5 * 0 .0 0 9 -0 .0 0 5
under the g s t . Furthermore state t a s have no experience deal­
T ripu ra 0.010 0.011 0.035 -0 .0 1 6 0 .0 0 8 * 0 .0 0 9 * 0 .0 0 5 -0 .0 0 2
ing with dealers providing services as there have been no gen­
N e w D e lhi -0 .0 1 0 -0.0 16 -0.114 0.179 0 .0 0 6 0 .0 0 6 0 .0 0 6 0 .0 0 4 eral state taxes on services. So while base broadening by
(1) *: Significant at 95% or better. P-values are reported in the Appendix. including services is desirable in due course, this should not be
attempted unless t a s expertise in taxing service providers.
• Most states were without tax administration procedure Instead, performance benchmarks for t a s should be laid
manuals. down with respect to current t a weaknesses and procedures
•Problems with v a t dealer registration procedures allowing non­ in implementing the v a t on goods. Moving to a g s t should
registration of some dealers and multiple registration of others. only be suggested if states can achieve the performance
•Penalties for v a t non-compliance were at the discretion of benchmark as verified, for example, by another c a g perform­
t a s and often not levied. ance audit.
On account of these t a deficiencies audit test checks of For states which had a positive v a t revenue performance
around 1,00,000 dealers found widespread tax evasion and but poor own revenue performance, attention should possi­
avoidance through a variety of channels including (1) Under­ bly be diverted to other revenue sources. Such states include
declaration of sales and incorrect or false i t c claims by Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Naga­
50% of v a t dealers; (2) granting of incorrect v a t exemptions; land, Punjab and Rajasthan. For Goa and Gujarat causes of
and (3) collection of v a t from customers which was not re­ apparently declining tax effort should be identified and
mitted to state treasuries by some exempt dealers who con­ corrected. For Arunachal, Sikkim and Maharashtra further
tinued to receive transitional benefits from earlier tax assessment to identify causes of apparently contradictory or
incentive schemes. insignificant revenue performance indicators is needed.
Table 8: Aggregate Regression Results for Equations (1c)to (4c)
Are any base broadening (and conse­
Variable/Statistic STBuoyancy (Eqnlc) ST/GSDP(Eqn2c) SORRBuoyanc(Eqn3c) S0RR/GSDP (Eqn 4c) quent tax rate lowering) options avail­
Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value able for the existing v a t s on goods?
LNGSDP (B uoya ncy) 1 .0 5 0 * 0 .0 0 0 0 .9 4 3 * 0 .0 0 0 One option is a move from 100% i t c to
VAT2003* L N G SD P 0.003 0.2 2 7 0.003 0.197 partial i t c at, say, 20% of input taxes
v a t 2005* l n g s d p 0.002 0.550 0 .002 0.501
paid by suppliers. As noted in the intro­
v a t 2006 * l n g s d p 0 .0 0 0 0.934 0.002 0 .5 8 0
duction, there is no theoretical justifi­
v a t 2007* l n g s d p -0 .0 0 2 0 .5 6 9 0 .0 0 0 0 .9 6 8
cation of any efficiency benefit in coun­
VAT2003 0 .0 0 4 0.028 0.002 0 .467
0.002
tries like India from a 100% i t c . Evi­
VAT2oo5 0.402 0.003 0 .598

v a t 2006 0.001 0 .8 0 9 0.003 0 .638

dence in Table 6 also suggests the ab­
^^20 07 -0.0 01 0.614 -0.0 01 0.876 sence of efficiency benefits, though
R-Squared 0 .9 9 6 0.712 0.995 0.393 data and methodological weaknesses
F -S ig n ifica n ce 0 .0 0 0 0 .0 0 9 0 .0 0 0 0 .2 4 4 are present. Instead revenue loss due to
F-Test: J o in t s ig n ific a n c e o f VAT evasion and t a inability to administer
d u m m y va ria b le s 1.125 6.181* 1.800 2.037
the i t c documented by the c a g will be
F -te st de g re e s o f fre e d o m (4.9) (4.10) (4.9) (4.10)
(1) Sample period was 1993-94 to 2007-08 due to missing 2008-09 data for two states.
limited as will loss from a narrow base
(2) *: Significant at 99%. with a partial i t c . Furthermore, “ self

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enforcement” benefits from an itc , if Appendix
Table Al: LNST = B0+B1LNGSDP+B2[VAT.LNGSDP] (Equation 1)
present, will continue with a 20% itc .
State R-square F Buoyancy Slope Dummy Dummy: Only Bihar/ Dummy: Years with
Significance Variable (VAT) Uttarakhand VAT Bifurcated States
Conclusions Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value

The state v a t was implemented in 2005 Andhra Pradesh 0.993 0.000 1.085* 0.000 0.000 0.905
Gujarat 0.992 0.000 0.797* 0.000 0.011* 0.001
after a decade of preparation and at an
Haryana 0.992 0.000 1.147* 0.000 0.004 0.336
unknown but large cost. From the statis­ Karnataka 0.991 0.000 0.894* 0.000 0.008* 0.023
tical results and the c a g audit it can be Kerala 0.998 0.000 1.154* 0.000 -0.005* 0.011
inferred that the economic return in Maharashtra 0.988 0.000 1.095* 0.000 -0.004 0.262
terms of revenue and efficiency gains to Orissa 0.985 0.000 1.117* 0.000 0.008 0.173

this expenditure of public funds is at best Punjab 0.964 0.000 1.166* 0.000 0.001 0.902
Rajasthan 0.979 0.000 1.171* 0.000 0.004 0.437
zero for the country as a whole. However,
W est Bengal 0.989 0.000 0.894* 0.000 0.007* 0.016
in Haryana, Orissa and the six identified Tamil Nadu 0.990 0.000 0.875* 0.000 0.000 0.951
special category states in Table 5, the re­ Arunachal Pradesh 0.816 0.000 4.510* 0.000 0.007 0.924
turn may have been large enough to jus­ Assam 0.969 0.000 1.467* 0.000 0.007 0.398
tify the cost of reform planning and im­ Himachal Pradesh 0.992 0.000 1.288* 0.000 0.022* 0.000
plementation. Given the apparent lack of Goa 0.990 0.000 0.643* 0.000 0.018* 0.000
Jam m u and Kashmir 0.985 0.000 1.700* 0.000 0.023* 0.007
readiness of states, implementing the g s t
Manipur 0.726 0.000 1.353* 0.004 0.029 0.441
in 2012-13 is a high risk step whose re­ M eghalaya 0.992 0.000 1.31* 0.000 0.019* 0.002
turns may not repay the cost of planning Mizoram 0.972 0.000 1.992* 0.000 0.026 0.160
and implementing the g s t . Nagaland 0.976 0.000 1.261* 0.000 0.020* 0.019
Further state by state investigation is Sikkim 0.982 0.000 1.811* 0.000 -0.020* 0.077

needed, particularly of tax administra­ Tripura 0.991 0.000 1.372* 0.000 0.010 0.08
N ew Delhi 0.932 0.000 1.294* 0.000 -0.010 0.433
tion and tax compliance, to throw more
Bihar-h Jharkhand 0.970 0.000 0.887* 0.000 0.001 0.849 -0.011 0.933 0.120 0.299
light on the costs and benefits of the 2005
Madhya Pradesh-f
v a t reform and devise a more extensive Chhattisgarh 0.993 0.000 1.232* 0.000 0.003 0.399 0.227 0.003
benchmarks for the proposed g s t reform. Uttar P radesh+
0.999 0.000 1.077* 0.000 0.000 0.147 0.000 0.188 0.000
*
0
0
0
Uttarakhand 00

NOTES Table A2:LNST = B0+B1LNGSDP_1+BZ[VAT_, LNGSPP.,] (Equation la)

1 See Bird and Gendron (2007). State R-square F Buoyancy Slope Dummy Dummy: OnlyBihar/ Dummy: Yearswith
Significance (lagged GSDP) Variable (VAT) UttarakhandVAT Bifurcated States
2 See Das-Gupta (2005), Emran and Stiglitz
(2005) and Keen and Ligthart (2005). These Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value
papers look variously at welfare, revenue and Andhra Pradesh 0.992 0.000 1.057 0.000 0.003 0.424
efficiency of the VAT in relation to other taxes.
Gujarat 0.990 0.000 0.797 0.000 0.011 0.004
3 See, for example, Bird (2011) who terms this
Haryana 0.992 0.000 1.128 0.000 0.007 0.142
the BBLR approach.
4 See, for example, Chelliah and Kavita Rao Karnataka 0.979 0.000 0.858 0.000 0.012 0.024
(1999). The other claimed advantage, removal Kerala 0.994 0.000 1.073 0.000 0.000 0.944
of cascading or tax-on-tax, merely makes esti­ Maharashtra 0.980 0.000 1.034 0.000 0.002 0.684
mation o f effective tax rates difficult without
necessarily having any efficiency impact. Orissa 0.983 0.000 1.119 0.000 0.010 0.092
5 Jafari and Salehani (2010). Punjab 0.968 0.000 1.156 0.000 0.005 0.430
6 The important study by Ebrill et al (2001) also Rajasthan 0.978 0.000 1.141 0.000 0.009 0.117
assesses efficiency, equity and administrative W est Bengal 0.984 0.000 0.835 0.000 0.011 0.005
aspects o f the VAT for 100+ countries.
Tamil Nadu 0.978 0.000 0.835 0.000 0.002 0.588
7 Maharashtra introduced a subtraction type
VAT in 1995. Due to design deficiencies, it re­ Arunachal Pradesh 0.855 0.000 5.476 0.000 -0.032 0.649
verted to a single point sales tax in 1999, Assam 0.969 0.000 1.530 0.000 0.005 0.564
though partial setting off o f input costs from Himachal Pradesh 0.995 0.000 1.267 0.000 0.024 0.000
sales revenue continued till 2005 (Government
of Maharashtra 2000 and Chelliah and Kavita Goa 0.989 0.000 0.607 0.000 0.019 0.001
Rao 1999). This should be kept in mind when Jam m u and Kashmir 0.994 0.000 1.750 0.000 0.019 0.001
interpreting empirical results. Manipur 0.732 0.000 1.519 0.005 0.018 0.647
8 Updated VAT Acts, Rules, Circulars and Notifi­ 0.023 0.001
M eghalaya 0.991 0.000 1.258 0.000
cations of different states and union territories
are available a twww.stvat.com. Mizoram 0.984 0.000 2.155 0.000 0.015 0.298
9 See, among others, Chelliah and Kavita Rao Nagaland 0.963 0.000 1.266 0.000 0.018 0.081
(1999). Sikkim 0.978 0.000 1.854 0.000 -0.022 0.081
10 If the cost of raising revenue through a VAT is Tripura 0.994 0.000 1.349 0.000 0.007 0.118
less than that o f the tax it replaces, then a state
not wanting more revenue, could lower its N ew Delhi 0.987 0.000 0.974 0.000 0.007 0.120
overall cost of funds by reducing dependence Bihar+Jharkhand 0.970 0.000 1.015 0.000 0.001 0.920 -0.105 0.452 0.027 0.822
on other revenue sources. Theoretical argu­ Madhya Pradesh+
ments for this and related propositions are in Chhattisgarh 0.988 0.000 1.315 0.000 0.007 0.219 0.144 0.118
Keen and Lockwood (2006).
Uttar P radesh+
11 This suggestion by M Govinda Rao is gratefully
acknowledged. Regressions with slope and Uttarakhand 0.997 0.000 1.018 0.000 0.013 0.001 0.223 0.000 0.169 0.002

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 intercept dummies variables and both GSDPtl Table A3: (ST/GSDP)= Bi + B2VAT(Equation 2)
and GSDPt were unreliable with high multicoi- State R-Square F VATDummy Variable Dummy: Only Bihar/ Dummy: Years with
linearity. These are not reported here. Significance (VAT) Uttarakhand VAT Bifurcated States
12 (5) also serves as a partial data consistency Coeff P-Value Coeff Coeff P-Value Coeff
check by comparing its VATt coefficient sign
Andhra Pradesh 0.261 0.043 0.004** 0.043
and significance with that of VATt coefficients
in (2) and (4). Gujarat .0160 0.645 -0.002 0.645
13 Keen and Lockwood (2006, 2007) use log (reve- Haryana 0.652 0.000 0.010*> 0.000
nue/GDP) as their dependent variable. This is Karnataka 0.032 0.526 0.001 0.526
equivalent to a restricted regression with GDP Kerala 0.147 0.143 0.003 0.143
buoyancy constrained to have the value 1.
Special category states include Arunachal Maharashtra 0.010 0.719 0.001 0.719
14
Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu Orissa 0.607 0.000 0.008** 0.000
and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab 0.247 0.050 0.005** 0.050
Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim (Saxena 2009). Rajasthan 0.418 0.007 0.008** 0.007
15 Given the poor estimation results from this
W est Bengal 0.079 0.291 0.001 0.291
model, a simultaneous model with VATt and
GSDPt as dependent variables and additional Tamil Nadu 0.299 0.028 -0.008* 0.028
GSDP determinants was not specified. Arunachal Pradesh 0.786 0.000 0.013* 0.000
16 As Keen (2009) puts it “ Such a dummy varia- Assam 0.588 0.001 0.015*> 0.001
ble, though, is a very noisy indicator.... VATs Himachal Pradesh 0.845 0.000 0.013** 0.000
differ enormously amongst themselves: in the
extent of exemptions, threshold, number of Goa 0.146 0.144 -0.014 0.144
rates, ease of obtaining refunds, treatment of Jam m u and Kashmir 0.749 0.000 0.022** 0.000
services...”(pi62). Manipur 0.592 0.000 0.007* 0.000
17 Government of India, Comptroller and Auditor M eghalaya 0.817 0.000 0.010* 0.000
General (2010) abbreviated CAG.
Mizoram 0.762 0.000 0.011** 0.000
18 An Excel file with data used is available at
http://www.gim.ac.in/data/32 states chained Nagaland 0.752 0.000 0.005** 0.000
GSDP and RBI rev data 93-94 to 08-09.xls. Sikkim 0.391 0.010 0.013** 0.010
19 The very high VAT buoyancy in Arunachal and Tripura 0.647 0.000 0.008* 0.000
its low VAT/GSDP ratio, discussed later, should
N ew Delhi 0.107 0.216 0.0061 0.216
be noted in interpreting results.
20 That Maharashtra already had partial ITC Jharkhand+Bihar 0.065 0.839 -0.002 0.477 -0.002 0.657 0.001 0.437
prior to 2005 could be the cause of the insigni­ Madhya Pradesh+
ficant dummies found here. This requires fur­ Chhattisgarh 0.884 0.000 0.006* 0.004 0.010 0.000
ther study. Uttar Pradesh+
21 With unchained GSDP, major states with sig­ Uttarakhand 0.982 0.000 0.007** 0.000 0.006 0.000 0.007 0.000
nificant, positive VAT dummies decreased from
four to two while states with significant, nega­
Table A4:LNS0RR = B0+B1 LNGSDP+B2 [VAT.LNGSDP] (Equation 3)
tive VAT buoyancy dummies increased from
one to two. Significances of either buoyancy or State R-square F Buoyancy Slope Dummy Dummyfor Only Bihar/ Dummy: Years
ratio dummies changed for Andhra Pradesh, Significance Variable (VAT) Uttarakhand VAT with Bifurcated
Implementation States
Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan and West Ben­
gal. VAT buoyancy and GSDP shares were both Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value
significantly positive for Rajasthan and both Andhra Pradesh 0.987 0.000 1.013 0.000 0.004 0.315
significantly negative for Kerala. The buoyancy Gujarat 0.986 0.000 0.799 0.000 0.003 0.373
dummy for Maharashtra was significantly neg­
ative. For SORR, no major state had a positive Haryana 0.923 0.000 0.548 0.000 0.019 0.046
significant VAT buoyancy dummy. The SORR/ Karnataka 0.978 0.000 0.959 0.000 0.008 0.140
GSDP VAT dummy for Andhra Pradesh was in­ Kerala 0.994 0.000 1.005 0.000 0.002 0.394
significant. Thus VAT performance is worse
with unchained GSDP. For non-major states, Maharashtra 0.988 0.000 1.015 0.000 0.001 0.766
dummy signs and significances were identical Orissa 0.979 0.000 1.061 0.000 0.011 0.097
to those with chained GSDP except that the Punjab 0.937 0.000 1.079 0.000 -0.005 0.533
SORR/GSDP ratio VAT dummy for Mizoram Rajasthan 0.968 0.000 0.893 0.000 0.010 0.094
was insignificant.
22 The average annual GSDP growth rate of sam­ W est Bengal 0.968 0.000 0.959 0.000 0.007 0.178
ple states fell from 12.3% in pre-VAT years to Tamil Nadu 0.995 0.000 0.865 0.000 0.005 0.063
11.7% post -VAT implementation. Arunachal Pradesh 0.879 0.000 0.856 0.007 0.077 0.003
23 Significances of coefficients with unchained Assam 0.982 0.000 1.214 0.000 0.013 0.024
GSDP were identical though estimated coeffi­
cients were somewhat larger. Himachal Pradesh 0.943 0.000 1.103 0.000 0.024 0.044
24 The Economic Times (2004): Describes the com­ Goa 0.952 0.000 0.756 0.000 -0.007 0.428
pensation scheme. The possibility of states Jammu and Kashmir 0.986 0.000 1.297 0.000 0.014 0.023
gaming the centre is reported, 23 September, Manipur 0.901 0.000 0.634 0.001 0.050 0.003
for example, in Gupta (2005), 16 September.
M eghalaya 0.971 0.000 1.017 0.000 0.011 0.146
25 Thanks are due to Kavita Rao who flagged this
possibility, which led to this robustness check. Mizoram 0.965 0.000 0.581 0.000 0.050 0.000
26 Grateful thanks are due to Pulin Nayak for sug­ Nagaland 0.914 0.000 0.789 0.000 0.024 0.040
gesting this check. Sikkim 0.462 0.018 1.271 0.016 -0.041 0.418
27 That is all states studied here excluding Tripura 0.986 0.000 1.223 0.000 -0.008 0.156
Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab,
Arunachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. New Delhi 0.937 0.000 1.367 0.000 -0.011 0.383
28 The ECSFM was set up by the centre in 1999 to Bihar+Jharkhand 0.932 0.000 0.821 0.001 0.007 0.537 0.095 0.628 0.057 0.728
coordinate VAT designs across states and arrive Madhya Pradesh-i-
at a consensus design. The consensus design Chhattisgarh 0.983 0.000 1.128 0.000 0.001 0.875 0.085 0.297
was described in the white paper (CAG 2010).
The ECSFM currently plays the same role Uttar Pradesh+
across states with respect to the planned GST. Uttarakhand 0.987 0.000 0.812 0.000 0.017 0.013 0.259 0.008 0.214 0.019

62 m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x lv ii n o io DECS Economic & Political w e e k l y

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 SPECIALARTICLE
29 It should be noted that administration of the Table AS: LNSORR = B0+B1 LNGSPP.i+B2[VAT-i LNGSPP-i] (Equation 3a)
predecessor sales taxes was also ineffective as State R-square F Buoyancy Slope Dummy Dummy for Only Bihar/ Dummy: Years
was documented by several studies and official Significance (lagged GSDP) Variable Uttarakhand VAT with Bifurcated
reports. (lagged VAT) Implementation States
30 An example is Chapter 3 in World Bank (2005). Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value
A n d h ra Pradesh 0 .9 9 0 0 .0 0 0 1.029 0 .0 0 0 0.0 0 5 0.168
G u ja ra t 0 .9 9 0 0 .0 0 0 0.791 0 .0 0 0 0 .0 0 4 0.214
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K a rna taka 0.173 0.123 0.010 0.123
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P u njab 0.003 0.832 -0 .0 0 2 0.832
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Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai. Rajasthan 0.051 0.401 0 .005 0.401
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w ww .business-standard.com/india/news/
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Know about the Value Added Tax?”A Review
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SPECIAL ARTICLE

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Provincial Retail” , Working Paper, Departmen-
H aryana 0.431 0.006 0.142 0.006 to de Economia, Universidad Nacional de la
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M a h a ra s h tra 0.008 0.740 -0.006 0.74 tics on State Government Finances - 2010” ,
available at: http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/Oc-
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Assam 0.137 0.158 0.047 0.158 available at http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/ An-
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ningcommission.nic.in/reports/articles/ncsx-
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Table A8: LNST = B0+B1 LNGSPP+B2 [VAT.LNGSPP]+B3PreVAT+B4PostVAT Table A9:LNS0RR = Bq+Bt LNGSPP+B2 [VAT.LNGSPP]+B3PreVAT+B4 PostVAT
State R-Square F VATSlope Dummy PreVAT PostVAT State 1
R-Square F VATSlope PreVAT PostVAT
Significance Variable Significance Dummy
Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value Coeff P-Value
Andhra Pradesh 0.993 0.000 0.000 0.963 -0.020 0.801 -0.031 0.696 Andhra Pradesh 0.318 0.189 0.005 0.038 0.002 0.552 -0.003 0.441
Karnataka 0.997 0.000 0.013 0.000 0.173 0.003 -0.056 0.255 Karnataka 0.085 0.796 0.002 0.480 0.003 0.460 -0.001 0.817
Kerala 0.998 0.000 -0.004 0.082 0.008 0.825 -0.036 0.362 Kerala 0.353 0.143 0.004 0.052 0.005 0.129 -0.004 0.303
Maharashtra 0.991 0.000 -0.002 0.609 0.114 0.161 0.033 0.673 Maharashtra 0.327 0.176 0.001 0.558 0.006 0.035 0.001 0.859
Orissa 0.987 0.000 0.009 0.202 0.126 0.286 0.077 0.501 Orissa 0.707 0.002 0.008 0.001 0.005 0.072 0.001 0.659
Punjab 0.972 0.000 -0.001 0.892 0.127 0.374 0.207 0.170 Punjab 0.466 0.050 0.004 0.109 0.007 0.102 0.006 0.206
W est Bengal 0.995 0.000 0.012 0.000 0.163 0.003 -0.050 0.286 W est Bengal 0.160 0.536 0.001 0.273 0.002 0.307 0.000 0.888
Arunachal Pradesh 0.819 0.000 0.005 0.960 0.311 0.827 0.448 0.748 Arunachal Pradesh 0.853 0.000 0.015 0.000 0.006 0.077 -0.004 0.202
Assam 0.977 0.000 0.010 0.294 0.263 0.126 0.164 0.317 Assam 0.774 0.000 0.015 0.000 0.015 0.010 0.004 0.527
Himachal Pradesh 0.995 0.000 0.028 0.000 0.164 0.066 -0.102 0.234 Himachal Pradesh 0.924 0.000 0.015 0.000 0.006 0.013 -0.005 0.062
Goa 0.991 0.000 0.020 0.001 0.041 0.629 -0.050 0.555 Goa 0.242 0.326 -0.017 0.143 -0.021 0.243 0.002 0.898
Jammu and Kashmir 0.988 0.000 0.027 0.009 0.243 0.122 0.039 0.801 Jammu and Kashmir 0.855 0.000 0.024 0.000 0.013 0.017 -0.002 0.695
M anipur 0.730 0.004 0.038 0.438 0.120 0.876 -0.269 0.723 M anipur 0.672 0.003 0.009 0.000 0.002 0.486 -0.005 0.146
Meghalaya 0.993 0.000 0.021 0.004 0.136 0.171 0.039 0.683 Meghalaya 0.883 0.000 0.011 0.000 0.005 0.026 -0.001 0.617
M izoram 0.975 0.000 0.031 0.174 0.299 0.377 0.099 0.763 M izoram 0.847 0.000 0.012 0.000 0.006 0.031 -0.002 0.422
Nagaland 0.977 0.000 0.021 0.068 0.024 0.877 0.008 0.957 Nagaland 0.784 0.001 0.005 0.000 0.002 0.236 0.000 0.824
Sikkim 0.984 0.000 -0.027 0.061 -0.208 0.266 0.022 0.900 Sikkim 0.464 0.051 0.015 0.010 0.009 0.289 -0.005 0.537
Tripura 0.991 0.000 0.011 0.126 0.035 0.766 -0.016 0.891 Tripura 0.718 0.001 0.009 0.000 0.005 0.130 -0.002 0.560
New Delhi 0.935 0.000 -0.016 0.328 -0.114 0.695 0.179 0.539 New Delhi 0.142 0.591 0.006 0.342 0.006 0.573 0.004 0.702

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SPECIAL ARTICLE
The Lucknow Pact o f 1916
A Second Look at the Congress-Muslim League Agreement
ABHAY DATAR
The Congress-Muslim League Lucknow Pact of 1916 can
easily be considered an important landmark during the
nationalist movement in India. The Congress leaders
agreed to the pact in the expectation that the
executive-legislature relationship in the package of
constitutional reforms would essentially be a
continuation of the Morley-Minto reforms. But the
Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, when announced,
revealed that the nature of this relationship would be
significantly different, leading the Congress leaders to
oppose the pact and to the acceptance of communal
electorates for the Muslims that it entailed, before the
Southborough Committee. The pact also contained
significant omissions and ambiguities which led to
divergent interpretations on crucial provisions.
The author would like to thank the staff at the Gokhale Institute o f
Politics and Economics, and Suhas Palshikar for his suggestions
and comments.
Abhay Datar (iabhaydatar@hotmail.com ) is at the department o f politics
and public administration, University o f Pune.
Economic & Political w e e k l y DK9 m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 10
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T
he Indian National Congress-All India Muslim League
agreement, popularly known as the Lucknow Pact, can
easily be considered one of the most important events
in the trajectory of the nationalist movement in India. In the
midst of the first world war, in 1916, both organisations pre­
sented a joint scheme of constitutional reforms to the colonial
rulers with the expectation that this scheme would be imple­
mented once the war ended. This marked the coming together
of two major political organisations in the country, which
hitherto had displayed a marked hostility to each other.
The significance of the Lucknow Pact lies in the fact that it
was the first time that the Congress reached an agreement
with an organisation which was explicitly a “ communal”one
while the League, founded to counter the Congress’claims to
represent the whole of India, reached an agreement with same
organisation. The main feature of the pact was the demand for
an expansion of the representative assemblies, both at the all-
India and provincial levels, and appointment of Indians to the
executive councils of the viceroy and the provincial governors.
But more importantly, the Congress for the first time openly
and explicitly conceded the principle of communal representa­
tion by accepting separate electorates for Muslims, something
that it had grudgingly accepted as part of the Morley-Minto
package of constitutional reforms. Moreover, Muslims were
granted a fixed proportion of seats both in the all-India and
the provincial legislatures. Since the pact was announced and
approved at the annual sessions of the two political organisations
held at Lucknow in 1916, it is referred to, in the city’
s name.
Most of the same Congress leaders who supported the pact
and the principles embodied in it went back on their support
and signalled their opposition soon afterwards in the submis­
sions to the Indian Franchise Committee (known as the South-
borough Committee after its chairman, Southborough). This
committee, along with the Committee on the Division of Func­
tions, was appointed to work out the details of the post-war
package of constitutional reforms, known as the Montagu-
Chelmsford reforms after its principal architects - the then
secretary of state for India, Edwin Montagu and the viceroy,
Chelmsford. This crucial piece of evidence - the proceedings
of the Southborough Committee - has been completely
overlooked in the major literature on the Lucknow Pact and
its significance.
A superficial reading of the repudiation of the pact can easily
be ascribed to the bad faith displayed by the Congress leaders
and/or a latent Hindu communalism among them. But, this
65
SPECIALARTICLE
paper argues that the pact was signed by the Congress leaders were to have a majority of elected members. It was agreed that
in the expectation that the post-war reforms would take a in each of these councils the Muslims would be granted a fixed
certain shape. However, the reforms as envisaged by the proportion of elective seats, ranging from 15% in the legisla­
Montagu-Chelmsford scheme were somewhat different. It is tive councils of both Madras and the Central Provinces to half
this change, rather than bad faith or latent communalism, that in the Punjab. In the imperial legislative council, the Muslims
led the Congressmen to backpedal on their support to the were to have one-third of the total elective seats. Muslims
Lucknow Pact. Furthermore, this paper also argues that the were to elect their representatives through separate elector­
pact was a badly drafted agreement, with ambiguities and ates and thus did not have the right to vote in the non-Muslim
omissions in key provisions which ultimately led to contrast­ constituencies. An exception was made in the case of the spe­
ing and contradictory interpretations. cial interests’constituencies where Muslims could vote. All
this was done to guarantee that Muslims would receive a fixed
In Historiography quantum of representation in any future scheme of constitu­
The discussion of the pact has overlooked these aspects of the tional reforms thus helping to overcome their objections to any
politics surrounding it. In the colonial period, it was seen as an such scheme. The bulk of scholarly attention has been focused
important landmark in the development of Indian nationalism on the lengthy negotiations which led to the fixing of the ac­
and an instance of political cooperation between the two tual proportions of Muslim representation in the councils and
important religious communities (Coupland 1944: 47; Report the politics surrounding them (Owen 1972; Robinson 2008).
on Indian Constitutional Reforms 1918: 16; Sitaramayya 1935: The lesser known aspect of the pact has been the nature of
44 and 215). In the post-independence period, this view was relations between the executive and the legislature envisaged
accepted, both officially (Chand 2005: 347) and in scholarly by it. The Morley-Minto reforms of 1908 had led to elected
writings (Hasan 1979: 77). A second more qualified view accepts majorities in some of the provincial councils. At the all-India
the above position but also points that with the pact the level, the executive was the viceroy’ s executive council while
Congress “ compromised its position as the representative its provincial counterpart was the governor’ s executive council
organisation of all Indians”by accepting the representative which existed in only the three presidencies, Bombay, Bengal
character of the League (Prasad 2009:151). B R Ambedkar had and Madras. These executive councils were in no significant
earlier opined that despite the concessions on the part of the measure responsible to their respective legislatures. The pact
Hindus, the pact did not produce any rapprochement between demanded that all provinces were to have executive councils
the two communities (Ambedkar 1946: 299). and that at least half the members of these councils would be
A third approach takes a completely negative view of the Indians, who in turn would be elected by the elected members
pact, which is characterised as “ a surrender to Muslim com­ of the legislative councils. A similar demand was made for the
munalism and separatism” (Mehrotra 1979: 227). Further­ viceroy’ s executive council. But though half the executive was
more, it has also been argued out that since those Muslim elected by the legislature, the executive as a whole was not to
League leaders were not representative of the Indian Muslim be responsible to the legislature. The elected half of the execu­
community, it was merely a “ deal”between the Congress tive was irremovable by the legislature. But since crucial mat­
and “ the ‘up’Young Party leaders of the Muslim League” ters like the budget were to depend upon the approval of the
(Robinson 2008: 256). The Lucknow Pact has also been cited legislature, this arrangement guaranteed a constitutional
to argue that colonial India, at least from 1919 onwards, was a deadlock. This was in sum the basic nature of executive-legis­
“ consociational state”(Wilkinson 2000). lature relations that the Congress expected from and asked for
in any scheme of post-war constitutional reforms. Thus what
Issues Related to the Pact the Lucknow Pact asked for was a significantly expanded
The ultimate acceptance of the Lucknow Pact was preceded by version of the Morley-Minto reforms package.
long-drawn out negotiations which began in 1915. Till Decem­ The adherents of the pact tried to explain away this inherent
ber 1916, the leaders of both the Congress and the Muslim disconnect between the executive and the legislature at the
League were engaged in thrashing out the details of the pact annual Congress session at Calcutta in 1917. Veteran Congress­
and at the same time whittling down opposition from within men Surendranath Banerjea and B G Tilak pointed out that
their respective organisations. All the details of the pact were though the legislature could not dismiss the executive, such an
not settled by the time both the parties met in Lucknow in De­ arrangement would practically mean that the former control­
cember 1916 (Owen 1972; Robinson 2008). led the latter. Only Bipin Chandra Pal was honest enough to
Apart from the long-standing nationalist demands like say that this arrangement would lead to constant deadlock,
allowing Indians to enter the armed services at the higher levels which was what he wanted in any case (Report o f the XXXII
and the separation of the judicial and executive functions, the Session o f The Indian N ational Congress 1918: 94-101). An ear­
pact essentially dealt with the all-India and provincial-level lier pamphlet, written by V S Srinivasa Sastri, tried to square
legislative assemblies and the nature of the relations between this circle by pointing out that the executive could easily con­
the executive and the legislature, at these two levels. First and trol the legislature through patronage and that an irremovable
foremost, it asked for a substantial expansion of the imperial executive was necessary given Indian conditions (Sastri 1917:
legislative council and the provincial legislative councils which 31 and 38). This understanding of the executive-legislature
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relations on part of the Congress leaders was not new. Gopal
Krishna Gokhale’s earlier draft scheme of post-war constitutional
reforms as well as the famous “ memorandum of the nineteen” , reforms was not adequate. Some element of responsibility of
an outline of future reforms submitted by the majority of the
non-official members of the imperial legislative council in
1915, envisaged a similar pattern of executive-legislature rela­
tions (Karve and Ambekar 1966: 315; Sitaramayya 1935: i-vi).
The Colonial Calculus
What the colonial rulers were planning to deliver was some­
thing different. On 20 August 1917, Edwin Montagu announced
in the House of Commons that the policy of the government
towards India in the future would be in the direction of “ grad­
ual development of self-governing institutions with a view to
the progressive realisation of responsible government in
India”(Report on Indian Constitutional Reforms 1918: 1). The
phrase “ responsible government”obviously did not, and no
longer could mean, that the Government of India would continue
to be responsible only to the imperial government in London,
or that the provincial governments would be responsible only
to the Government of India. It naturally implied that the
government would be responsible, in what measure it was not
defined, to the people through their elected representatives in
the legislative assemblies. One study of the process of reforms
has interpreted this phrase even more expansively to mean
“government by ministers who commanded a majority in the
legislature”(Robb 1986: 77). Whatever might be the inter­
pretation of this key phrase, one aspect was clear. The pattern
of relations between the executive and the legislature was
about to change, albeit only in the provinces and not at the
all-India level.
However, it was equally obvious that the British were not
going to hand over power to predominantly elected legisla­
tures with an Indian majority. Yet the executive had to be
made responsible in some measure to the elected assemblies,
whose size and the proportion of elected members in which
was going to be increased in any case. The solution that
emerged was “ dyarchy” , which had been discussed in detail in
the Montagu-Chelmsford Report (Report on Indian Constitu­
tional Reforms 1918:140). This meant that the powers allotted
to the provinces would be divided into two parts - known as
“transferred subjects”and “ reserved subjects” . The former
would be handed over to ministers appointed from amongst
the elected members of the legislatures. The latter would con­
tinue to be handled by members of the governor’ s executive
councils who would continue to be appointed by the governor
and the legislature was to have no part in their appointment.
Though the Montagu-Chelmsford Report claimed that the
ministers would be responsible to their constituents and not to
the legislature (ibid: 142), this was clearly an illogical and illu­
sory position, contrary to all practice of parliamentary govern­
ment. It was clear that the ministers, if they were to continue
in office, must enjoy the confidence of the assembly. The Joint
Parliamentary Committee of the Government of India Bill,
1919, conceded this and agreed that the ministers should enjoy
the confidence of the house (Curtis 1920: 550). This idea of
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SPECIALARTICLE
dyarchy came from a realisation that mere expansion of the
legislative councils, as had happened in the Morley-Minto
the executive towards the legislature had to be incorporated
to make the constitutional reforms a practical proposition
(Robb 1986: 54-85). In fact the Montagu-Chelmsford Report
had criticised the Lucknow Pact for not making any provision
for connecting the two branches of government (Report on
Indian Constitutional Reforms, 1918:107-09 and 112).
What was the exact significance of these measures for the
nationalist movement in India? For the first time, a significant
chunk of power was now available to Indians. They could now
aspire to become ministers who would probably control signi­
ficant “ nation-building”departments like education, agricul­
ture, etc. They could be legislators who could actively influence
decision-making by making and unmaking ministers. This
was certainly different from the earlier versions of councils
where for a long time all that elected Indian members could do
was to make well-reasoned and long speeches which could be
easily disregarded by their colonial masters. Power was now
within the reach of nationalist politicians who could build
coalitions to command majorities in the provincial councils.
The crux of the reforms was now the changed nature of the
executive-legislature relations and not the earlier issues of
communal electorates and their extent. The realisation that,
not just the situation but the very structure of politics, had
changed, made many of the Congress leaders - all of the
Hindus in particular - to change their positions regarding the
Lucknow Pact, about which most of them had earlier displayed
conspicuous enthusiasm.
Changed Opinions about the Pact
The seven member Southborough Committee had three Indian
members, Surendranath Banerjea, V S Srinivasa Sastri and
Sahibzada Aftab Ahmad Khan. The first two had been present at
the Lucknow session of the Congress and Banerjea had spoken
on the resolution regarding the pact. The committee toured India
from November 1918 till February 1919 and met provincial
governors and their executive councillors, and received written
submissions and examined official and non-official witnesses.
The change in the position on part of the Congress leaders
regarding the Lucknow Pact and the communal electorates it
entailed came to the fore in the proceedings of the committee.
While accepting the pact, most Congress leaders either ob­
jected to the principle of communal electorates or the quan­
tum of political representation granted to the Muslims.
The United Provinces Congress Committee, whose repre­
sentatives Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and Pandit Motilal
Nehru, appeared before the committee, did support the pact,
but also fact proposed a scheme of proportional representation
as an alternative to communal electorates. Malaviya also pro­
posed a scheme by which constituencies with a predominant
Muslim electorate would be earmarked for Muslims, a scheme
of joint electorates with reservations (The Reforms Committee
(Franchise), Evidence Taken before the Reforms Committee
(Franchise), Vol 1, 1919:111). The Bengal Congress Committee’
s
67
SPECIAL ARTICLE
representative, B K Lahiri, stated that while the committee
accepted the pact, it preferred reserved seats in joint elector­
ates (ibid, Vol II, 1918:411-13).
R N Mudholkar and Ambica Charan Mazumdar, two former
Congress presidents, declared their opposition to communal
electorates and thus to the Lucknow Pact. The latter had in
fact presided over the Congress session at Lucknow where the
pact had been approved. Mudholkar declared that he was per­
sonally opposed to communal electorates but had accepted it
to secure the cooperation of all communities (ibid, Vol I: 283).
Mazumdar declared that he personally preferred reserved
seats in joint electorates but supported the Lucknow Pact since
he had been a party to it (ibid, Vol II: 434). Disguised opposition
came from the Congress leaders of the Bombay Presidency. The
Bombay National Union supported the pact but its representa­
tive, D D Sathaye, a close associate of Tilak, claimed that he
was personally opposed to communal electorates and that he
was supporting the pact only because this compromise had been
arrived at by Tilak. Vitthalbhai Patel regarded the quantum of
representation given to Muslims in the Bombay Presidency
“inequitable”but added that unless both parties agreed to re­
consider the issue, this was to stand. N C Kelkar, one of Tilak’ s
closest associates, declared that he had supported the pact in
“a spirit of resignation”and that he regarded the proportion of
representation given to Muslims in the Bombay Presidency as
excessive. Moderate leaders like R P Paranjpye and N M Joshi
also thought the quantum of Muslim representation in Bombay
as excessive (ibid, Vol II: 719-20,740,764-68,761 and 774).
Interestingly, opposition to the principle of communal rep­
resentation came from a Congress Muslim leader from Bihar,
Mazharul Haque. He vehemently repudiated communal elec­
torates and added that he had accepted the pact only because
he had been forced to do so (The Reforms Committee (Franchise),
Evidence Taken before the Reforms Committee (Franchise), Vol I,
1919: 172). Some other Muslim witnesses also opposed or ex­
pressed serious reservations about communal electorates and
thus to the Lucknow Pact. Yet despite all this, the Congress
session held in 1918 at Delhi reiterated its resolutions passed at
the Bombay special session held in mid-1918, one which cate­
gorically stated that the quantum of representation for
Muslims in the Lucknow Pact be adhered to (Report o f the
Thirty-third Session o f the Indian National Congress 1919).
The fact that the pact was a badly drafted agreement also
came to the fore during the proceedings of the committee. The
pact had listed the proportion of seats out of the total Indian
elected members that were to be assigned to the Muslims
in the Imperial and in each of the provincial councils. The
Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, like the earlier Morley-Minto
reforms, also envisaged elective representation for important
interests like the landlords, the Indian commercial community
and universities in the enlarged councils. It was clear that
Indians would be elected from these “ special constituencies” .
But the Lucknow Pact did not make it explicit whether these
constituencies were to be excluded or included in the total
number of elective seats in calculating the actual number of
seats for the Muslims. The Congress leaders like A Rangaswamy
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Iyengar of Madras and H N Apte, the well-known Marathi
novelist from Pune, both of them who had been present at
Lucknow, when quizzed on this point claimed that they did
not know how the Lucknow Pact had planned to deal with this
(ibid, Vol II: 614 and 763). As a consequence the detailed
schemes presented by Congress leaders for their own provinces
went in all sorts of directions. Some like the Bihar Provincial
Association even included seats which would have been won
by Europeans, while others like Kelkar excluded the “ special
constituencies” .
The Lucknow Pact also had nothing to say about Assam, a
point stressed much later by Ambedkar (Ambedkar 1946:244).
This meant that the proportion of representation for Muslims
in Assam had to be worked out separately. Another problem­
atic instance was that of Sind, a Muslim majority area of the
Bombay Presidency, about which the pact had nothing to say.
The Muslims were a minority in the Bombay Presidency as a
whole. Since it had granted separate electorates to Muslims
even in provinces like Punjab and Bengal where they were in a
majority, it might have been assumed that the same was appli­
cable to Sind as well. But a scheme of political representation
for the Bombay provincial council submitted to Montagu and
Chelmsford during their tour of India by leading nationalists
of the Presidency provided, among other measures, for com­
munal electorates for Hindus in Sind.1The Bombay govern­
ment’ s proposals to the Franchise Committee also envisaged
communal electorates for Hindus in Sind (Report o f the Fran­
chise Committee, 1918-19,1919:137-39).
These suggestions were strongly opposed by M A Jinnah
who originally hailed from Karachi, and Ghulam Hussain
Hidayatullah from Sind while appearing separately before the
committee. Jinnah was vehement in his opposition to separate
electorates for the Hindus of Sind and argued that the Bombay
government’ s proposals in this regard were in fact contrary to
the Lucknow Pact. While Hidayatullah supported separate
electorates for Hindus on grounds of fairness, he was opposed
to denying separate electorates to Muslims of Sind on grounds
that they were in a majority. He claimed this was an “ illusion­
ary majority”since the Muslims were illiterate and backward
as also influenced by the Hindus (The Reforms Committee
(Franchise), Evidence Taken before the Reforms Committee
(Franchise), Vol II, 1919: 721 and 792). Clearly, the omission of
Sind was a major lacuna.
Volte-Face Explained
This unexpected and startling volte-face of many of the Congress
leaders over the Lucknow Pact requires an explanation. Prima
facie, one could accuse them of having agreed to the pact in
bad faith, an accusation made by the South Indian Liberal
Federation, the political vehicle of the Madras non-brahmins
which claimed that the pact was “a compromise based on tactical
considerations and on the theory of ‘ united front’and that
individual Congressmen were keen to get rid of the communal
electorates”(ibid, Vol II, 675-76). But if the Congress leaders
signed the pact with the League with the intention of repudiat­
ing it later, this would have required a conspiracy on a large
m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 10 DEE3 Economic & Political w e e k l y

scale and such intentions could hardly have been kept a secret.
While it is true that many Congressmen were opposed to com­
munal electorates as such, the very fact that they accepted the
pact shows that they had accepted them, albeit grudgingly.
Prior to the Montagu-Chelmsford Report, there is no evidence to
suggest that the Congress leaders planned to repudiate the pact.
A latent Hindu communalism can be a competing explana­
tion. It is true that there were many Congressmen who could
be legitimately described as Hindu communalist or had
sympathies in that direction and that many Hindu Congress
leaders had to be coaxed of the need to approve of the pact
(Owen 1972; Robinson 2008). Equally true is that fact that
there was a considerable overlap between the leaders of the
Congress and the newly emergent Hindu Mahasabha (Gordon
1975:145-203). But these leaders could have easily maintained
their opposition to the pact instead of declaring it before the
Southborough Committee. Indeed these leaders did not signal
their opposition prior to the Montagu-Chelmsford Report.
The old dividing line between extremists and moderates also
cannot explain the opposition.
If these two possible explanations are not persuasive, then
the only other plausible explanation is structural. The Congress
SPECIALARTICLE
had agreed to the pact in the expectation that the long-awaited
post-war constitutional reforms would be an extension of the
Morley-Minto reforms. This meant that there was no real
chance of gaining power. Thus with no substantial power to be
shared, it was easy for the Congress leaders to make conces­
sions by accepting the demand for communal electorates and
guaranteed representation for the Muslims. The Muslims
were merely required to present a united front. Instead, the
Montagu-Chelmsford Report came up with a completely
different reforms package. Some power was now within the
grasp of those who could command majorities in the new pro­
vincial legislatures. In the Hindu majority provinces, the
Hindu Congressmen could easily hope to secure a majority
without the Muslims and thus there was no longer any incen­
tive to secure their cooperation. It is this realisation that
power could be had without the Muslims that made them
oppose the Lucknow Pact and the communal electorates for
the Muslims that it entailed. The Nehru Report of the 1920s is
regarded as the turning point when the Congress finally
turned away from communal electorates. But the groundwork
for this turning had already been laid in the proceedings of the
Southborough Committee.

N O T E _________________________________________________
1 Note justifying and supplementing the Con­
gress-League Scheme of Reform with An
Introductory Representation To His Excellen­
cy, the Right Honourable Baron Chelmsford,
The Viceroy and Governor General of India
and The Right Honourable Edwin Samuel
Montagu, The Secretary of State for India
1917:47-49-
R E F E R E N C E S ________________________________________
Ambedkar, Dr B R (1946(1967)): Pakistan Or The
Partition of India (Bombay: Thackers & Co).
Chand, Tara (2005(1972)): History of the Freedom
Movement in India, Volume Three (New Delhi:
Publications Divisions, Government of India).
Coupland, Reginald (1944): The Indian Problem:
Report on the Constitutional Problem in India
(New York: Oxford University Press).
Curtis, Lionel (1920): Papers Relating to the Appli­
cation o f the Principle o f Dyarchy to the Govern­
ment of India (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
Gordon, Richard (1975): “ The Hindu Mahasabha
and the Indian National Congress, 1915 to
1926” , Modern Asian Studies, 9 (2), 143-205.
Hasan, Mushirul (1979): Nationalism and Communal
Politics in India (New Delhi: Manohar).
Karve, D G and D V Ambekar, ed. (1966): Speeches
and Writings of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Volume
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40 (5), 767-91.

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NOTES
Healthcare through
Community Participation
Role of ASHAs
SUJAY R JOSHI, MATHEW GEORGE__________
This study of the operation of the
Accredited Social Health Activist
programme of the National Rural
Health Mission in one of the tribal
blocks of Thane district in
Maharashtra finds that incentives
given to a s h a s generate a bias in
their work activities and shift the
attention of these community
health workers from the
community to the health services
system. Moreover, the poor
socio-economic background of
a sh a s makes them depend on the
incentives offered since this is
their main source of income.
Additionally, due to the excessive
focus of a s h a s on curative care,
the community considers them
more an extended arm of the
health service system, not as
change agents as envisaged in
the programme.
SujayR Joshi (drsujayjoshi@gmail.com) is with
the Foundation for Medical Research, Mumbai.
Mathew George (mathewg@tiss.edu) is with
the School of Health System Studies, Tata
Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
70
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I
ndia has witnessed several phases of
the community health worker ( c h w )
programme since Independence. The
Accredited Social Health Activist ( a s h a )
- the flagship programme under the
National Rural Health Mission ( n r h m ) -
is the latest of its kind that is operational
throughout the country. The Mitanin, one
of the state-level initiatives, was scaled up
as the a s h a programme similar to the ear­
lier experiences of the government with
c h w programmes that had its origin in the
non-governmental organisation ( n g o )
sector. Despite the fact that the charac­
teristics of c h w s were not uniform, cer­
tain commonalities were found in terms
of its conceptualisation and its imple­
mentation. The two important character­
istics of the c h w programme observed
across various countries are its ability to
generate community participation, there­
by making health a priority which moti­
vates the community to access healthcare.
The present study was carried out in one
of the tribal blocks of Thane district of
Maharashtra. The programme was laun­
ched in 2007 in this tribal block and the
data was collected in 2009. This article
evaluates the performance of a s h a s in
the community and examines whether or
not they could generate community parti­
cipation. This was accomplished by ex­
amining the current functioning of the
a s h a programme in the block in terms of
work activities of a s h a s , incentive struc­
ture and its relationship with motivation
along with the general acceptance of
a s h a s in the community.
CHW and Primary Health Care
The concept of c h w , according to Rifkin
(2008), is a term used to refer to a per­
son who lives and works closely with the
community on health-related issues like
m a r c h 10, 2012
health education, providing healthcare,
and so on. Though the term was used
diversely during the initial stages of the
programme, by the 1980s it had achieved
a universal global concept (Walt 1988).
Moreover, the success of the c h w inspired
the Alma Ata conference of 1978, where
primary health care was declared as the
key to achieve health for all by 2000 a d .
Thus, the idea of community participation,
one of the principles of primary health
care also became a characteristic of c h w
programme across the world. The rela­
tionship between primary health care
and the c h w scheme achieves signifi­
cance in the Indian context not only due
to the chronological coincidence, but also
due to the accommodative space the c h w
scheme could gain within the health
services system. Scholars attribute the
additional impetus that the c h w scheme
gained within the Indian health services
system to the success of the multipurpose
worker (m p w ) programme (Maru 1983),
which for the first time was able to cover
the larger population of the country with
some form of healthcare.
Similar to the initial debates on opera­
tionalisation of primary health care, con­
cerns were also raised on the actual im­
plementation of the c h w scheme. This,
according to Rifkin (2008: 773), revolves
around two issues: first, those related to
the technical aspects, namely, training,
tasks, competencies, payment, support
and supervision. The second aspect ad­
dresses the scope of c h w s becoming
“agents of change”or whether their work
activities get caught within the existing
socio-economic and political structures.
More important is the extent of com­
munity acceptance they could generate.
The road blocks for the accomplishment
of community participation through the
c h w programme is further elaborated
by Rifkin (2009) by identifying three
factors. First, the dominance of the bio­
medical paradigm that conceptualises
community participation as one of the
interventions, thereby failing to capture
the concept in its totality. Second is the
fact that, in situations where the short­
age of person power is tremendous,
the chances of utilising the c h w for
v o l x lv ii n o io EB S9 Economic & Political w e e k l y

extending health services interventions
become an easy option. The third is the
capacity of participation to address the
felt need of the community as well as
address the issues of empowerment,
leadership and compassion. Here the
dynamics of the community that is
embedded in the historical, social and
cultural evolution of the community
becomes pertinent and a challenging
task to understand.
CHWs in India
The main feature of c h w s in India is that
they are from the local community who
serve their own community and are
selected by the community. Despite the
consideration that the role of c h w s are
supplemental to the health services, a lot
of questions were raised on the adequacy
of the involvement of the community
in selection, dispersal of honorarium as
well as monitoring the work of the vol­
unteers (Maru 1983). This is because the
work of the c h w s falls between the
realm of health services system and the
community, skewing towards the former
and not necessarily as a link between
the two as it is ideally envisaged. It is
precisely the inadequacy of the link that
has led to the continued debate on
whether the community health volunteers
can be mere volunteers or paid employees,
and if paid then by whom and with what
level of administrative control (Walt 1988).
This question was most relevant when it
was found that c h w s largely act as ex­
tension of health services rather than as
change agents for community develop­
ment (Maru 1983).
Along with the government level c h w
programme, it is important to briefly
look at three successful experiences of
c h w s in the country, namely, the com­
prehensive rural health project (c r h p ),
Jamkhed, Maharashtra, comprehensive
health and development project (c h d p ),
Pachod in Maharashtra and the Mitanin
programme, Chhattisgarh. The first two
are successful n g o experiences that
have tremendously influenced the c h w
scheme in India during the 1970s and the
third is a government level programme
in Chhattisgarh that became the basis for
the current programme on a s h a under
the NRHM.
Economic & Political w e e k ly Q253 m a r c h 10, 2012
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CRHP, Jamkhed
crhp of Jamkhed started by Raj and
Mabelle Arole in 1970 was planned with
the objective of providing total healthcare
to the community by integrating preven­
tive, promotive and curative care with the
participation of the community. Village
health workers (v h w s ) were selected from
among middle-aged women who were
active, well-motivated, respected mem­
bers and interested in offering their
services to solve simple health-related
illnesses within the community. The in­
centive for the v h w s was not money, but
the job satisfaction they received from
their usual work of 3-4 hours in the
morning and couple of hours in the
evening. Each v h w was given an hono­
rarium of Rs 30 a month. The v h w s cov­
ered the population effectively and pro­
vided continuous primary health care to
the people whom the health profession­
als were not able to reach (Arole and
Arole 1975).
The project approached the commu­
nity by addressing their felt needs - food
and water - by initiating a community
kitchen and installed tube wells with the
support and participation of the commu­
nity (ibid). It was this support gained from
the community that got translated into
solving health problems through com­
munity health programmes. This was
done by using the resources from within
the community and activating people to
identify and help solve their own health
problems, c h w s and their activities be­
came successful only within this larger
context of community participation that
was ensured by the n g o through several
other developmental activities in the
community. These developmental activi­
ties ranged from provision of tube wells,
soil and water conservation, afforestation,
loans for income-generation activities,
and so on (Arole 1993).
CHDP, Pachod
chdp of Pachod was started in 1977 and
covered 72 villages and hamlets situated
in the southern part of Paithan block of
Aurangabad district, Maharashtra. As iden­
tified by scholars elsewhere (Rifkin 2009),
here too health was only the 11th priority
for the villagers when the project start­
ed. Within health services, the major
v o l x l v i i n o 10
NOTES
focus area was on maternal health as it
was the only instance when immediate
medical help was felt as a necessity by
the villagers. The c h w programmes thus
started equipping the workers by render­
ing special training for midwifery skills.
The response was not good initially when
it was found that villagers sought help
from the village dais than from the c h w s
during emergencies despite the training,
skills and knowledge the latter had
(Dyalchand and Soni 1983). Thus, before
implementing the c h w project, training
was provided to village dais who then
worked in the villages. Their services
were utilised by the villagers effectively.
Subsequently, c h w s started complement­
ing the work of dais by organising health
education, immunisation camps and col­
lecting natal information, thereby sup­
porting the activities of traditional birth
attendants (t b a s ).
Consequently, c h w s became the key
for implementing any health activity in
villages where the strategy was to iden­
tify the felt needs of the community and
work towards addressing them on a
regular basis. The felt needs of the com­
munity addressed by the c h w s included
problems due to malnutrition, the pro­
gramme on safe water supply using hand
pumps and the education of children in
the project villages. The role of c h w s in
accomplishing inter-sectoral develop­
ment within the project villages became
mutually enriching and empowering
which would have led to the success and
sustainability of the Pachod experience.
It is obvious that the success of a pro­
gramme is determined by its capacity to
address the felt needs of the community
through an inter-sectoral approach.
Mitanins of Chhattisgarh
Another landmark c h w programme in
recent years has been the Mitanin pro­
gramme of Chhattisgarh which was
started in 2002. Learning from the experi­
ences of the earlier large-scale pro­
grammes, the Mitanin programme was
based on community selection, wherein
the selected facilitators ensured that the
community made an informed choice
and that the voices of the weaker sections
were also heard in this process. Further,
to prevent any mitanins becoming
71
NOTES

registered medical practitioners (r m p s )
or illegal curative care providers, cura­
tive care was given only a supplemental
position in the programme, thereby
encouraging preventive and promotive
role of the c h w s . However, no incentives
or honorarium were paid to c h w s in
the first three years of the programme,
thus, bringing about participation only
through motivation and support. More
importance was given to the initiative to
strengthen the public health system,
alongside creating awareness about the
health services system as this can lead to
acknowledgement o f one’ s entitlement,
thus, ensuring the basic human right
(p h r n 2007).
The two successful experiences of the
n g o mentioned above reveal that the
village health workers, by addressing the
The greater acceptance by the com­
munity has ensured voluntarism, which
is obvious from their self-motivation and
job satisfaction and not through the hon­
orarium provided to them. These are the
successful examples where the community
has used its own resources effectively
and helped to solve its own problems.
Even though c h w s worked as an exten­
sion of the primary health care services,
they were self-motivated, enthusiastic,
accountable and played a very impor­
tant role in overall development of
the community.
In the Mitanin programme, the major
involvement of the community is during
the selection process and subsequent
activities like training, referral or moni­
toring, which, in turn, depend on the
existing public health system. Regarding
overlooked in the debates on honorarium
and its relationship to motivation that
finally resulted in the adoption of the
“performance based payment system”as
practised in the programme of a s h a s
(p h r n 2007:31*33)- Policymakers gener­
ally refer to c h w s as “ volunteers”or
“activists” ; which means self-motivated
persons working willingly for the deve­
lopment o f their own community and
without any expectation in monetary
terms. It is this concept that got signifi­
cant support that culminated in the nation­
wide programme of a s h a under n r h m .
ASHAs under NRHM
In 2005, to provide effective healthcare
to rural population, the United Progres­
sive Alliance government launched the
n r h m under which the a s h a programme

felt need of the community, were able the affiliation of c h w s , one can see a was started. The programme was initi­
to obtain a significant acceptance of the departure from the community to the ated as an independent initiative under
community. The sustainability of the health services system, due to the fact n r h m which has many features similar

programme was possible due to the com­ that the process of formalisation becomes to the earlier c h w programmes. The
prehensive approach of development that easier when attached to formal struc­ similarities are obvious from the key
was predominant. tures. This could be one factor that was components of a s h a s like the presence

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of a female health worker from the com­
munity who is selected by the community
and given multiple job responsibilities.
She would be provided with performance-
based incentives and would be the first
port of call for any health demands, with
a special focus on women and children
(g o i 2005).
During the design of the a s h a pro­
gramme, though many of the essential
features of the c h w programmes were
incorporated, some of the loopholes in the
large-scale programme were checked and
the strengths of small-scale NGO-based
programmes were incorporated (p h r n
2007). Thus, the essential features that
resulted in the success of the programme
were c h w s being women, selection done
by the community and provided contin­
uous training and support. However, the
essential curative care is considered an
important component, but it is not the
only element. It is part of the empower­
ment process accomplished through
carefully selected and motivated leader­
ship with good quality referral support
that needs to be sustained (p h r n 2007:
22). Additionally, there is provision that,
the a s h a guidelines can be modified at
the state level in consultation with the
mentoring groups and the central govern­
ment. Thus, in totality, the programme
of a s h a s under the n r h m is a modifica­
tion of the earlier c h w scheme with the
introduction of honorarium and incen­
tives attached to various activities with
the responsibility of disbursement given
to the health services system. In this
context, it is interesting to see how
a s h a s differ in terms of their work and
to what extent the a s h a s avoid the pit-
falls of the earlier c h w scheme in India.
The Study
The data for the present paper is from a
larger study on a s h a s carried out in one
of the tribal blocks of Thane district of
Maharashtra, where the a s h a scheme
has been implemented since 2007. It
covers various aspects in the process of
selection, training, work responsibilities
and job satisfaction within the context of
the support systems that are provided.
Information pertaining to work activities
is used here. The study area is a tribal,
hilly and one of the underdeveloped
Economic & Political w e e k l y DBQ m a r ch io
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blocks of the Thane district which has a
majority tribal population. The villages
of this block are scattered all over the
hilly region. In many villages there are
no roads developed by the government.
The main occupation of the villagers is
subsistence farming. The majority of the
local tribal population falls in the below
poverty line (b p l ) category.
There were 219 a s h a s working in the
tribal block under four primary health
care centres (p h c s ) at the time of our
survey. Out of them, a sample of 40
a s h a s were selected by using probabi­
lity proportionate to size (p p s ) method
(Table 1). This was possible because the
lists of a s h a s were available with respect
to the p h c s under which they worked.
Here, it is important to note that though
the selection of a s h a s is expected to
happen within the community, in actual
situations they are attached to the p h c s
working in the area. This is obvious
from the list of a s h a s maintained by the
p h c s which thus becoming custodians of
the names as well as the territory of
their work. In other words, instead of
a s h a s seen as a person working in the
community, they are always seen as the
lower level staff of the health services
system. After finalising the exact number
of the a s h a s to be selected under each
p h c , the a s h a s were selected by simple
random sampling method.
Table 1: Selection o f ASHAS from Each PHC Area
PHC No of ASHAs Working
Selected for the Study
PHC 1 60
PHC 2 32
PHC 3 70
PHC4 57
Total 219
The main information used for this
study is collected from the a s h a s work­
ing in this block. A structured interview
schedule was used to collect information
from the a s h a s . All the respondents were
interviewed by the face-to-face interview
method. The data was collected on socio­
economic background, common work
activities of the a s h a s and problems
faced while working in the community.
Besides, incentives earned by a s h a s and
its relationship with motivation for work
and reasons for becoming an a s h a were
also looked into. The information was
, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 10
NOTES
supplemented by informal discussions
from various community members as well
as healthcare professionals working in
the same community.
Incentivising for What?
One of the most divisive issues of any
c h w programme design is that of an
honorarium. As the c h w s are seen as
supplemental to government health ser­
vices, they are not provided with any
fixed monthly salary, and instead, pro­
vided an honorarium. One of the expla­
nations for giving an honorarium is to
compensate for the livelihood loss due to
the time devoted for that specific work.
Besides, there are arguments that with­
out monetary support, it is impossible to
ensure participation of women as well as
sustain their participation, as a larger
number of dropouts will hamper the
spirit of the programme (p h r n 2007).
On the other hand, there are arguments
that the meagre amount that is paid is
not sufficient for their livelihood. The
final argument is that the very term
“volunteer”or “ activist”that is ingrained
in the c h w programme or a s h a conveys
the sense of belongingness to the com­
munity and when it becomes “ paid” , the
patronage will be shifted from the com­
munity to those who pay, usually the
health services system (ibid).
To understand this relationship, in this
study the a s h a s were asked questions
No of ASHAs pertaining to their daily work activities.
On an average, a s h a s work 4.9 days a
11
week and spent around one and half
6
hours in a day for various activities. The
13
various activities a s h a s carry out include
10
providing drugs, counselling, referring
40
patients, helping auxiliary nurse midwife/
anganwadi worker (a n m / a w w ), helping
health assistant/lady health visitor (h a /
l h v ), maintaining patient records, con­
ducting community meetings and so on.
Further, based on the n r h m guideline,
questions were asked to a s h a s to list
their common activities. Here it is inter­
esting to note that all the respondents
included referral of the patients to the
nearest health facility as their common
work activity, with 95% including distri­
bution of drugs in their common activity
list, whereas 87.5% included maintaining
records within their common activity.
73
NOTES

Seventy-five per cent of the a s h a s said
that helping health professionals is also
one of their common activities. Only
eight out of 40 respectively had included
counselling and two listed conducting
meetings as their common activity. Fur­
ther, it has been found that out of those
40 a s h a s , who said referral to health
facility was their common activity, 34
a s h a s (85%) have responded that the
referral of the pregnancy case is their
common type of referral. This when ex­
amined in the context of the incentive
structure prevalent for various activities
in the block reveals that the maximum
incentive (Rs 600 per case of referral)
given to a s h a s is for the referral of preg­
nant woman to a healthcare facility
(g o m 2008a).
As the largest amount of incentives is
for referral of pregnancy cases, a s h a s
are predominantly referring such cases.
When examined from the point of view
of the a s h a s , it has been found that
majority of the a s h a s consider pregnancy
cases as their main source of earning.
This was obvious from one of the a s h a s ’
comments that “ if there is no case of
delivery, in the community, there is no
income” . Also, some a s h a s were of the
view that if the community is a small
one, then it is not worthwhile to work as
an a s h a . On further probing, the reason
mentioned was that there could be very
few pregnancy cases and so too other
diseases, and therefore they have very these w om en do not have any source of
poor earnings. In one of the a s h a s words, incom e other than agricultural activities,
“if the hamlet is small, and there are no they see the asha programme as a means
pregnancy cases, then there is no income o f financial support to their families.
for an a s h a ”. Some of the a s h a s com­ As the study reveals, a s h a s are seeing
plained that there are no incentives pro­ incentives as their major source of income,
vided for certain activities like providing neither as a motivating factor for their
drugs to the community and assisting loss of livelihood nor as a case for inner
p h c staff during their field visits. motivation and willingness to work as
The above findings establish a strong was conceptualised in the programme.
relationship between the incentives and The poor socio-economic background of
the performance of a s h a s . Here, it has rural women is an important factor that
to be noted that the larger incentives in resulted in them opting for being a s h a s .
pregnancies motivates a s h a s to refer Here, it is highly possible that the value
these cases compared to other referrals. attached to each activity by the a s h a s
a s h a s see incentives as their main source will be based on the kind of incentives
of income. This picture will become offered. This could be the reason why
clearer if we take a look at their socio­ the incentive structure for a s h a s has
economic background. generated a kind of bias in the work acti­
vities. This bias in the work activities of
Incentives the a s h a s due to the targeted incentive
Data was collected on the socio-economic structure has defeated the whole purpose
profile of a s h a s selected for the study. of bringing a s h a s as health workers to
“Subsistence farming”is the main family address the health needs of the commu­
occupation for a majority of the a s h a s . nity. Ideally, a s h a s are portrayed as the
The average annual household income first port of call for any and every health­
was found to be Rs 12,800. When set care need of the community, irrespective
against the Government of Maharashtra’ s of the type of health problem.
b p l category of those with an annual Here it has to be noted that on the one
household income of less than Rs 15,000, hand, the whole concept of the “ volunteer”
it was found that 32 out of 40 a s h a s fell or “ activist”emphasises working for the
in this category. When asked about the community without any expectations in
reasons for working as a s h a s , 37 a s h a s terms of monetary benefits. It is from
responded that they joined the scheme this perspective that c h w s and their
to support their families financially. As work need to be analysed. Successful

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Reproductive Rights and Exclusionary Wrongs: M aternity Benefits - Lakshm i Lingam , Vaidehi Yelam anchili

Reinventing Reproduction, Re-conceiving Challenges:

An Examination o f Assisted Reproductive Technologies in India - Vrinda M a rw a h , S arojini N

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74 m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x lv ii n o io Q353 Economic & Political w e e k l y

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c h w s always have a community orien­
tation and belongingness and are not
necessarily driven by the incentives/
honorarium that is paid. Even the hono­
rarium paid is not influencing their work
activities or their performance as an in­
centive does. While designing the a s h a
programme, this “ activist”concept has
been adopted by the policymakers; which
is also partially adopted from mitanin
programme of Chhattisgarh, where ini­
tially no honorarium was provided (p h r n
2007). Here the money that is paid as
incentive to a s h a s is an indication of the
administrative locus of control lying
within the health services system. In
short, there is a contradiction between
being an activist and working in a “ per­
formance based incentive system” . One
of the arguments against regularising
a s h a s by providing salaries and other
employee benefits similar to other health
professionals is that if they are given the
benefits and assurance then they will
not perform. Instead of strengthening
the existing monitoring system of health
services system, it is unfair to attribute
the “ security”of a permanent employee
as a reason for non-performance. The
activities a s h a s do as part of their roles
and responsibilities focus predominantly
on health services-related activities. This
will gradually nullify the “ communiti-
sation”activities of a s h a s , thereby be­
coming one more extended arm of the
health services. The process has already
begun which is obvious from the other
important activities of a s h a s .
Predominance of ‘
Curative* Role
a sh a workers are given multiple job re­
sponsibilities like creating awareness
about the determinants of health, coun­
selling the community, referring patients
to the nearest health facility, and provid­
ing drugs to cure primary illnesses (g o i
2005). As mentioned earlier, when asked
about their common work activity, 38
out of the 40 a s h a s included providing
drugs for minor primary illnesses as one
of their activities. In addition to that,
assisting a n m / m p w was included by 30
of them as their common work activities.
It is significant here to note that the
other work activities like counselling and
arranging community meetings were
Economic & Political w e e k l y QBQ m a r c h 10, 2012
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identified by only 8% and 2%, of the
respondents, respectively. Through these
findings, it can be clearly seen that
a s h a s identify dispensing drugs to the
community and helping health profes­
sionals as important activities, next to
referral to health services. The impor­
tance of the work of distribution of
drugs could also be due to the fact that
there is a great demand for the drugs in
the community. This trend shows that,
a s h a s are becoming the drug providers
to the community, an extension of the
primary health care services. It warns us
about the possibility of a s h a s turning
into r m p s in the future as many of the
health workers of the earlier programmes
became r m p s or informal curative care
provider; eg, jana swasthya rakshak
(p h r n 2007).
The a s h a ’
s role in the community is
more important compared to a n m s as
they belong to the community and work
to address the health needs of the com­
munity on various fronts. But a s h a s
tend to copy or substitute the work of
a n m s . They see their role limited to
being health service provider like an
a n m and do not see their larger role in
the community as a change agent. This
could be also due to the fact that some
of the “ performance based incentive
system”that the a s h a s receive is based
on the a n m ’ s report, which indirectly
can result in a control on the former by
the latter.
The second indication of the above
finding is that there is a clear shift in the
type of work that is interesting and
acceptable to the a s h a s in their overall
work pattern. Activities like arranging
community meetings and rendering
counselling in the community have got
less priority when compared to others like
referral, drug distribution and assisting
health professionals. The former require
community participation and need sus­
tained effort, whereas the latter is more
of an extension of the health services. In
other words, there is a domination of
health service-related activities which
questions the capability of a s h a s to
“ communitise”and become a worker who
can address the needs of the community.
Here it is interesting to understand the
cautionary note by some of the successful
v o l x l v i i n o 10
NOTES
ch w programmes like the Mitanin of
Chhattisgarh, where curative care was
only introduced as supplemental and later
in the programme, which was not central
to the programme resulting in almost no
mitanin becoming r m p s (p h r n 2007).
Acceptance of ASHAs
As mentioned earlier, the n r h m views
the a s h a worker as an interface between
the community and the health system.
For the success of this ambitious large-
scale c h w scheme, acceptance of these
new band of c h w s from the members of
various caste-class-groups of the com­
munity is essential. A good warm wel­
come or acceptance from the com­
munity would work as a kind of support
and motivation for the a s h a s . To exa­
mine the support and acceptance of
a s h a s by the community, the former
were asked questions regarding the
problems faced by them while working
in the community. Thirty of the 40
a s h a s said they faced problems while
working in the community.
The most common problems faced by
the a s h a s are that the people from the
community do not pay attention to the
a sh a s about their health problems.
Some common examples are not taking
drugs regularly, women not divulging
information regarding their pregnancy,
women from the community not access­
ing the family planning operations and
that dais still advise for home deliveries.
If we try to look at the reasons, the majori­
ty of the a s h a s are young, newly appoint­
ed, recently married and working for a
short period. So the community is not
very familiar and friendly with them.
The elderly women and dais find it dif­
ficult to accept their advice related to
health problems. In other words, those
mechanisms by which c h w s get accep­
tance in the community are either absent
or not adequately focused in the a s h a
programme. Moreover, it is not possible
to consider community participation
outside the class-caste-power politics of
the community. Hence, it is clearly seen
that various group members find it diffi­
cult to accept the advice, position and
role of the a s h a in the community. Eld­
erly women and dais have an upper
hand, command and monopoly in the
75
NOTES
community with respect to health
issues like pregnancy and delivery prac­
tices and are not ready to give up
this monopoly.
When asked about the meetings con­
ducted by them in their communities,
only two a s h a s had conducted meet­
ings in the community. Moreover, those
two a s h a s conducted meetings with
pregnant women in the anganwadi with
the help of the anganwadi workers. No
community meetings involving various
groups in the community were conduct­
ed by the a s h a s independently. Thus,
one of the most important activities of
a s h a - to create awareness about health
issues and mobilising the community
for health action plan - was absent.
Here it is interesting to note that as no­
where do the n r h m guidelines for the
a s h a s list out how a s h a s should con­
duct or arrange or initiate these meet­
ings in the community. The n r h m docu­
ments and training modules talk about
what is to be done for mobilising the
community like conducting meetings,
but do not say anything about how
a s h a should approach or initiate these
talks and mobilise the community (g o m
2008b and c).
The other reason behind the poor ac­
ceptance of the community is that, the
a s h a s are focusing mainly on the health
activities and not adequately on the
overall development of the village. Due
to this they have fewer stakes in the
community. It is important to note at
this juncture that successful c h w exam­
ples have shown how important it is to
address the felt needs of the community
by getting them involved and ensure
long-term acceptance for the c h w within
the community. In other words, scholars
have identified that c h w s have a posi­
tive mandate to intervene effectively in
health-related programmes by taking
important initiatives in implementing
other development activities in a commu­
nity (Prasad and Muraleedharan 2008).
“ Health”should be one of the factors in
the overall development of the village.
a s h a s should involve themselves in the
development activities other than health
like in watershed development, education,
food scarcity or as per the “ need”of the
community they are working in. This
76
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will enable them to really “ communitise” is a failure of any specific mechanism
as expected in n r h m . through which a s h a s can understand
the felt need of the community, thereby
Conclusions addressing their health needs in the
Community participation, one of the given context. This has resulted in the
major principles of primary health care, sparse response of the community to the
can be accomplished in varied ways. The activities of a s h a s as they could not
a s h a programme under the n r h m , based transcend the power dynamics in the
on the experiences of various c h w community even after working therein.
schemes in the country, is considered to Thus, it is important to note that the
have the potential to generate commu­ a s h a programme in its current form has
nity participation through its implemen­ failed to generate community partici­
tation. This article examines this poten­ pation which raises a serious concern
tial of a s h a s , based on their day-to-day about the future of this c h w programme
work activities and acceptance within as the key for sustainability of any c h w
the community. It has been found that schemes is its ability to communitise.
the role of incentives in the overall work c h w s do have tremendous potential and
activity of a s h a s has significance. This is capacities which could strengthen the
for two reasons. First, the genesis of primary health care system, not by posi­
a s h a s in the c h w programmes and the tioning its base only in the health service
activist embedded in the expansion of system but also within the community.
a s h a clearly gives the message of her as
a worker for the community, by the com­ REFERENCES_________________________________
munity and of the community. When Arole, M and R Arole (1975): “A Comprehensive
Rural Health Project in Jamkhed (India)”in
the idea of incentives is introduced, it is
Kenneth Newell (ed.), Health by the People
the performance-based payment system, (Geneva: World Health Organisation).
that calls for a formal setting, whose Arole, R (1993): “The Comprehensive Rural Health
Project, Jamkhed”in N H Antia and K Bhatia
administrative control lies within the (ed.), People’s Health in People’ s Hands: A Model
for Panchayati Raj (Mumbai: The Foundation
health services system and the perform­
for Research in Community Health).
ance of a s h a s is then amended for Dyalchand, A and I Soni (1983): “Evaluation in Pri­
achieving health-related targets. Here mary Health Care: A Case Study from India” , in
David Morely, Jon Rohde and Glen Williams
there is a contradiction between treating (ed.), Practising Health for All (London: Oxford
a s h a s as employees who need to achieve
University Press), pp 87-100.
Gol (2005): National Rural Health Mission, Guidelines
targets for getting their payment, but for ASHA - Accredited Social Health Activist
paying only a honorarium as a s h a s are (URL:http://mohfw.nic.in/NRHM/asha.htm#
abt), accessed on January 2010.
viewed as volunteers from the community. GoM (2008a): “Incentive Structure o f ASHAS in
This form of performance-based pay­ Thane District” , Thane District Health Office,
Government o f Maharashtra.
ment system has not only generated bias - (2008b): ASHA Training Manual, Book No 1,
in their work activities, but also shifted National Rural Health Mission, Government o f
Maharashtra (Pune: Sathi Publication).
the patronage of a s h a s from the com­ - (2008c): ASHA Training Manual, Book No 4,
munity to the health services system. National Rural Health Mission (Mumbai: Gov­
ernment of Maharashtra).
Moreover, the poor socio-economic back­
Maru, M R (1983): “ The Community Health Volun­
ground of a s h a s creates dependence on teer Scheme in India: An Evaluation” , Social
the incentives offered to them, thereby Science and Medicine, 17 (19): 1477-83.
Prasad, B M and V R Muraleedharan (2008): Com­
leading to bias in the work activities of munity Health Workers: A Review o f Concepts,
a s h a s as they see incentives as their
Practice and Policy Concerns, Working Paper,
Consortium for Research on Equitable Health
main source of income. Systems (CREHS), The United Kingdom.
Due to the excessive focus of a s h a s on PHRN (2007): Community Participation and Com­
munity Health Workers: With Special Reference to
curative care, the community considers ASHA, Book 4 (Raipur: Public Health Resource
a s h a s more as an extended arm of the Network Publication).
Rifkin, S B (2008): “ Community Health Workers” ,
health services system and not as a change International Encyclopedia of Public Health 1:
agent as envisaged in the programme. 773-82.
- (2009): “ Lessons from Community Participa­
This is also because the priorities set by tion in Health Programmes: A Review of the
the a s h a s are more those of the health Post Alma-Ata Experience” , International Health,
1:31-36.
services system and not necessarily that Walt, Gill (1988): “CHWs: Are National Programmes
of the community. In other words, there , Health Policy and Planning, 3(1): 1-21.
in C risis?’
’
MARCH 10, 2012 v o l XLVii n o i o 0BE3 Economic & Political w e e k l y
DISCU SSIO N
The Left in Decline
A Response
PRABHAT PATNAIK__________________________
A communist party in the
21st century has to engage with
democracy, deepen it, and has
to devise strategies based on a
“concrete analysis of the
concrete conditions”
. The c p i(m )’
s tedious and unnecessary to do so. I do
empiricisation - not revisionism
- has resulted in setbacks, and it
has to strive to build a coalition
of the workers and peasants
to resist international finance
capital and, where in power,
usher in an alternate trajectory
of development.
Prabhat Patnaik (prabhatptnk@ yahooxo.iri)
recently retired from the Centre for E con om ic
Studies and Planning at the S ch ool o f S ocia l
Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Economic & Political w e e k ly DEB m a rch
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I
am gratified by the number of pieces
that have appeared in the pages of
this journal in response to my article
“The Left in Decline”(e p w , 16 July 2011).
I do not wish to react to each of them, or
indeed to any of them, in detail; it is both
however wish to make some general
points. The first point I wish to make is
that the primary question before us is not
whether the Communist Party of India
(Marxist) has fallen from revolutionary
grace, or whether, as Kripa Shankar
(e p w , 19 November) would have it, we
need “ a new communist party” . The pri­
mary question is: what should a commu­
nist party (or any revolutionary party for
that matter) in the 21st century look like?
Engaging with Democracy
One element of the answer I believe is
obvious: such a party must work on the
basis of the existing institutions of demo­
cracy, and work with the objective of
strengthening and deepening them, in
direct opposition to international finance
capital, and the domestic corporate-
financial elite that is integrated with it,
which is striving its utmost to attenuate
them. Indeed the collapse of the 20th
century revolutions was attributable in
no small measure to the completely un-
viable political form that post-revolution-
ary states took, viz, a one-party dictator­
ship that was supposed to be a surrogate
for the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Even when the party that was exercising
such dictatorship had, to start with, both
deep roots within the basic classes, and
a commitment to the revolution whose
authenticity was unquestionable, such a
state over time had the inevitable effect
of depoliticising the basic classes, of
turning them from “ subjects”into “ ob­
jects”. This was fundamentally antitheti­
cal to socialism and set up a dialectic that
10, 2012 v o l x lv ii n o 10
could only end, as it did, with the col­
lapse of that system. It follows that the
socialism we envision today must be one
that is associated with the most vigorous
practice of democracy, in which case a
revolutionary party cannot turn its back
on the already existing institutions of
democracy, no matter how flawed. It has
to work with them and strive to strengthen
and deepen them. (Needless to say, the
defence of democracy itself, let alone its
strengthening and deepening, requires
continuous class struggle, and in certain
contexts, e g, of military coups to scuttle
it, even armed struggle by the people.)
This is particularly important in our
country, with its millennia of institu­
tionalised inequality where the practice
of “ one-person-one-vote” constitutes
perhaps the greatest social revolution in
our more recent history. The opposition
to this practice, the attempt to attenuate
it by running down the institutions of
representative democracy based on it, is
formidable. It is constituted not only by
finance capital and its spokespersons but
also by the legatees of our caste-based
feudal-patriarchal order; and they draw
upon an ideology that has deep roots in
the psyche of our people. In opposition
to these forces, the party has to defend
and sustain these institutions even while
working to cleanse them.
This is no easy task. The “filth and the
muck”that surrounds them is bound to
attach itself to the party, but it cannot
run away from it in order to remain
pure. (That would be acting like a real
life left-wing friend of mine who was so
committed to rigour in his expression
that he hardly ever opened his mouth.) It
just has to painstakingly cleanse itself
of the “ filth and the muck” . It can do so
only if it is continuously imbued with
the perspective o f transcending capital­
ism, if it continuously examines itself
and all its actions from this perspective,
“ if it epistemologically places itself out­
side the system” . I define “ empiri­
cisation” , the term I used in my article,
as a process of negation of this epistemo­
logical exteriority.
Communist praxis vis-a-vis the existing
institutions of representative democracy
77
DISCUSSION
is often sought to be defined through
formulae: “ communists must keep away
from bourgeois parliaments” , or “com­
munists may participate in parliament
but must never have truck with bour­
geois parties” , or “communists may have
truck with bourgeois parties but must
never join any government with them” , 19 November) share this feeling that I
etc; and I suspect that Dipankar Bhatta-
charya (e p w , 19 November) is thinking
along these lines, of drawing a line of
“ propriety of conduct”on the part of a
communist party based on some such
formula. None of these formulae, how­
ever, can be taken as absolute; what the
party does or does not do should
depends upon a “ concrete analysis of the
concrete conditions” ; the analysis may
be right or wrong, the party’ s action may
be right or wrong, but this concrete anal­
ysis cannot be substituted by formulae.
For reasons I have already mentioned, I
believe that the party must participate
in representative democratic institutions
(though I can imagine situations where
“ elections”are merely a fraudulent device
for legitimising authoritarian/fascist rule,
where the party must not participate in
them but insist on genuinely free elec­
tions). Likewise there may be situations
where communists may have to partici­
pate in governments with other parties,
like the French communist party under
the leadership of Maurice Thorez had
done in Paul Ramadier’ s post-war gov­
ernment in France.
The real point is not adherence to any
such formulae; it is that no matter what
choice the party makes, it must never
abandon its epistemological exteriority,
its practice of looking at everything from
the perspective of transcending the
system, just as the French communists
had done when they opposed the deci­
sions of the same Paul Ramadier govern­
ment that they had joined, to recolonise
Vietnam and to impose a wage-freeze on
the French workers. As long as the party
does not abandon this perspective, even
if it makes a mistake in its choice of the
course of action, it can rectify the mistake.
‘
Empiricisation’
or ‘
Revisionism’
My point was that a tendency within the
c p i (m ) to abandon this perspective, and
hence get “ empiricised”, has cost it dear
78
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in terms of loss of support among the ba­
sic classes. My friend Hiren Gohain has
raised the question: why not use the di­
rect term “ revisionism”instead of the
elusive term “ empiricisation” ? Others
like Siddhartha Lahiri, Kripa Shankar
and Dipankar Bhattacharya (all in e p w ,
am “ soft-pedalling”the issue by using
such terminology. I have two reasons for
choosing the term “ empiricisation”rather
than “ revisionism” . theoretical positions are, but I can
First, as the communist movement
has got more and more fragmented, the
term “ revisionism” , used typically by
one fragment against the other, has
often lost in such usage the precise
meaning that Lenin had given to it.
Some, for instance, would consider any
action other than carrying out armed
struggle “ revisionist” ; others would con­
sider the sheer fact of participating in
parliamentary politics “ revisionist”; still
others would consider the sheer fact of
leading a government in a state “ revi­
sionist” , and so on. The meaning that the
term carries has come to depend upon
who is using it. As against this, “ empirici­
sation” , I believe, describes a very specif­
ic process, about whose meaning, as dis­
tinct from appositeness in a particular
context, there can be no confusion.
Second, the imprecision surrounding
the usage of the term “ revisionist”is often
compounded by the fact that the basis
for attributing “ revisionism”is not the
theory of the impugned party, but this or
that action by it. This I believe is incor­
rect. A communist party is formed on the
basis o f a theory; it must be judged on
the basis of that theory. Interestingly,
when communist parties change their
theories in a direction that would be
generally considered “ revisionist”, they
do so not shamefacedly or surreptiti­
ously but quite openly. They do not shy
away from doing so. From Eduard Bern­
stein’s original “ revision”of Marxist the­
ory, to Khrushchev’ s“ state of the whole
people” , to Jiang Zemin’ s “three repre­
sents” , to the Japanese communist party
abandoning “ Marxism-Leninism” , there
has never been a shying away by those
altering theory in what would be consid­
ered a “ revisionist”direction from own­
ing up to the fact that they are doing so.
m a r c h 10, 2012
which strengthens my argument that
the charge of “ revisionism”can stick
only if it is located in the theory on which
the party is founded.
There may be “ revisionist”tendencies
within a party, there always are, but that
does not make it “ revisionist”until such
tendencies are reflected in a change in
the theoretical foundation of a party.
Since I do not know how strong the ten­
dencies for a change in the c p i (m )’s basic
observe a process of “ empiricisation” ,
which amounts to an implicit insinua­
tion of bourgeois theoretical positions
into a communist party whose basic
theory remains unchanged, I prefer the
latter concept.
I find it odd to be taken to task for this,
and for not saying that the c p i (m ) is, or is
about to become, “ revisionist”. At a time
when communist parties have collapsed
over large parts of the world, and the
hegemony of finance capital holds sway,
the fact that there exists a party in India
that is theoretically committed to fight­
ing this hegemony, and that has gath­
ered lakhs of cadres around this theo­
retical programme, is for me a matter of
immense satisfaction, precisely because
I take this fight extremely seriously. The
difference between this party and the
numerous non-governmental organisa­
tions (n g o s ) who fight specific instances
of the fallout of this hegemony is its
abiding theoretical commitment to tran­
scendence of the system as a whole. To
be told that I must assert as a fact the
actual collapse, or the inevitability of
collapse, of this theoretical position of
one of the few remaining significant
communist parties of the world strikes
me as very odd.
Impact of Globalisation
Hiren Gohain, however, raises an impor­
tant issue: why are n g o s , rather than the
party, in the forefront of organising peo­
ple today against the fallout of policies
of finance capital? He sees in the party’ s
apparent withdrawal from extra-parlia­
mentary struggles an act of commission.
In one specific area, which I had men­
tioned in my article of 16 July 2011 and
shall discuss shortly, I believe he is
right. Besides, it is also true that the
v o l x l v i i n o 10 EBB5H E con om ic & P olitical w e e k l y
 DISCUSSION

practice of “ democratic centralism”of­ on the contrary there is a process of work­ peasants, and the other where capital­
ten has the effect of introducing a cer­ sharing between the two which mani­ ism developed on the basis of feudal or
tain stasis, because it tends to slip into fests itself in growing “ casualisation”or semi-feudal landownership itself (agri­
“centralism”that stifles initiative. But, a growth of “ informal sector employment” , culture then got characterised by what
far more important explanation in my etc, which is an additional potent factor he called “ semi-feudal capitalism” ). The
view for the apparent quietude of the sapping the strength of the workers. first of these, which he called the more
party in the terrain of extra-parliamen­ All this has an enfeebling effect on tra­ revolutionary path, ensures a much larg­
tary struggles is the impact of “ globalisa­ ditional communist parties because their er expansion of the home market, and
tion”itself on the class situation within usual mode of operation becomes hence a more vigorous development of
the country. increasingly infructuous. They have to capitalism. But in societies embarking
Any centralisation of capital has the innovate new strategies which take time late on capitalist development, where
effect of giving it an edge over labour in and are not easy. The task is made further the bourgeoisie is incapable of smashing
class struggle, and this is no less true of difficult by the fact that the middle class, feudal and semi-feudal landownership,
the centralisation that makes capital from which communist intellectuals are it is only semi-feudal capitalism that
into a global entity. If capital can move usually drawn, has been to a significant could develop under its leadership. In
globally while workers are not organised extent a beneficiary of the neo-liberal such societies it is the working class
in global unions, then they are handi­ regime and provides less fertile ground at alone that can provide the leadership for
capped in confronting capital. Globalisa­ present for radical ideas. The middle undertaking the task of smashing feudal
tion of finance adds to this handicap, class may get agitated over specific issues or semi-feudal landownership, whence
since it forces the nation state as long as affecting it, or even general issues like arises the possibility and the necessity of
it remains trapped within this vortex of corruption or pollution, which are no building a worker-peasant alliance.
globalised finance to follow economic doubt important, but it is unwilling to The worker-peasant alliance was
policies to its liking (which is euphemis­ join workers and peasants in any class absolutely central to Lenin’ s thought.
tically called “ retaining the confidence action. Thus we have a denouement Julius Martov, the Menshevik leader for
of the investors” ). Globalisation of capi­ where “ identity politics”of various hues whom Lenin had much affection, had
tal therefore necessarily weakens the flourish, and so may struggles on specific once asked: since the proletariat is
working class in every country. issues, but traditional communist politics numerically a small minority, how can it
An additional factor contributes to it, becomes more difficult to sustain. establish its rule over the society as a
namely, the progressive strengthening As against this, however, the possi­ whole? Lenin’ s reply was that it could do
of the private sector at the expense of bility of mobilising the peasantry against so only in alliance with the far more
the public. The public sector gives the the process of primitive accumulation of numerous peasantry. It follows not only
working class a better opportunity to capital increases greatly. Since this has that when the proletariat gives leader­
assert itself than the private sector, of been an area of traditional communist ship to the democratic revolution (which
which the remarkable strikes by the politics, the opportunity for the party to entails smashing feudal and semi-feudal
French public sector workers is an obvious engage in extra-parliamentary struggles landlordism) it will not stop at the stage
example. Even in the us while almost a in this sphere arises to an extent not of building capitalism and will go on to
third of those employed in the govern­ seen since the 1930s and 1940s (which socialism, but also that the kind of capi­
ment sector are unionised, the corre­ too had witnessed acute peasant dis­ talism for which the conditions are cre­
sponding ratio for the private sector is a tress). But this is where I think the pur­ ated under the leadership of the prole­
mere 7%. Privatisation, including the suit of the goal of so-called “ develop­ tariat at the democratic stage of the rev­
outsourcing by the railways for instance ment” , under the influence of the Chinese olution will be entirely different from
of many of their services to private example, and in a bid to appease the what the bourgeoisie would have built in
contractors, has a debilitating effect on urban middle class, has come in the way, these societies. A two-stage revolution
working class strength. especially in West Bengal. And the West therefore not only does not mean first
But that is not all. The process of primi­ Bengal developments in turn have made building capitalism and then proceeding
tive accumulation of capital, in the form the party lose some credibility in the to socialism, it also does not mean, even
of a squeeze or dispossession of petty pro­ eyes of the peasantry elsewhere in the transitionally, creating conditions for
ducers, including the peasantry, which is country, leaving it in a more difficult some standardised capitalism. “ Empirici-
unleashed by neo-liberalism, combined position to lead peasant struggles. sation” , by contrast, entails subscribing
with the phenomenon of “ jobless growth”, to a “ stage theory”that inter alia also
has the effect of swelling the relative size An Alternative Trajectory sees capitalism as one single homo­
of the reserve army of labour. This direct­ Lenin had drawn a distinction between geneous category, a standardised entity;
ly saps the strength of the working class. two trajectories of capitalist develop­ this I believe is fundamentally opposed
But what is more, the reserve army in ment, one which involved the elimina­ to the Leninist idea.
contemporary capitalism does not exist tion of feudal or semi-feudal landowner- One can draw some conclusions from
as an entity apart from the active army; ship and the distribution of land to the this even for a context in which the Left

Economic & Political w e e k ly QS59 m a r c h 10, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 10 79

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DISCUSSION

is leading a state government within an
overall scenario of capitalist develop­
ment. Such a Left government of course
can neither build socialism nor even see
the capitalism developing under its aegis
as being only a short transitory phase
(since the country as a whole has to ex­
perience a revolution to make it transi­
tory). Even so however it can and must
make the capitalism developing under
its aegis different from the capitalism
developing in other states under the
rule of bourgeois political formations. It
must act not only towards building up
a worker-peasant alliance, but also to
effect the widest possible expansion of the
mass market. Carrying out land redistribu­
tion at the expense of the feudal and semi-
feudal elements is, of course, an obvious
task for such governments, a task that still
has not been completed, even though
much progress has been made in land re­
forms. (In Kerala for instance, despite con­
siderable progress in land reforms, the
plantation sector still remains outside
their purview.) But even apart from land
reforms, a whole gamut of social welfare
measures directed towards the people at
large has exacdy the same effect of ex­
panding the size of the mass market.
It follows then that the strategy of the
Left must be - both where it is leading
state governments and where it is not - to
work towards building up the worker-
peasant alliance through struggles and
through governmental intervention by
way of land reforms and other redistri­
butive measures. The capitalism that
develops under its aegis will not be a rep­
lica of what bourgeois political formations
are promoting in other states, but some­
thing that emerges out of this process of
land reforms and other redistributive
measures. What is necessary for the Left is
not shunning elections or forming state
governments where it can, but using this
opportunity for an alternative trajectory
of development. To what extent it suc­
ceeds in doing so will determine its future.
History of the Communist Party
Finally, even though I have avoided get­
ting into details of individual articles in
this response, there are two factual mat­
ters that I must set right. The first relates
to Kripa Shankar’ s claim that “ the Com­
munist Party of India opposed the Quit
India Movement at the behest of the
Soviet U nion” . This is simply not true.
The c p i ’
s stand on the Quit India Move­
ment was a decision entirely of its leader­
ship. In fact when the four-member c p i
delegation went to Moscow to discuss in­
ternal party differences with the Com­
munist Party of the Soviet Union, Stalin
was critical of the c p i for having taken
the stand it had done following the at­
tack on the Soviet Union. (I have heard
this personally from M Basavapunniah
who was a member of the delegation.)
The second issue relates to Arup Baisya’
s
claim that “ those who joined the Com­
munist Party of India remained outside
jail during the Quit India Movement in
1942” . This too is simply not true. There
were hundreds of communists who were
in the Congress, but had opposed the
Quit India Movement within the Con­
gress and hence had ipso facto exposed
their communist identity (they were to
be expelled from the Congress in 1946
because of this exposure). But despite
being opposed to the Quit India Move­
ment, they accepted long terms of im­
prisonment as participants in this move­
ment. My own father who became a
communist in 1936 but continued to
remain in the Congress was in jail until
the end of 1944.
While one can be critical of the com­
munists, sweeping statements of this
kind which lack factual basis do not
help the discussion. At no time in history
has the project of human emancipation
faced an enemy as complex as it faces
now. This enemy, viz, international cap­
ital, is intangible, but its reach is enor­
mous. Vanquishing it requires not only
the maximum possible mobilisation of
the people but also an unprecedented
command over theory on their part.
And it requires a degree of unity among
the forces o f resistance that can come
about only through sustained and seri­
ous discussion.

Econom ic&PoliticalwEEKLY
R EV IEW O F RU RA L A FFA IR S
January 28,2012
Agrarian Transition and Emerging Challenges in Asian Agriculture: A Critical Assessment - P K Viswanathan, G opal B Thapa,
Jayan t K Routray, M okbul M A h m ad
Institutional and Policy Aspects o f Punjab Agriculture: A Sm allholder Perspective - Su kh pal Sin gh
Khap Panchayats: A Socio-Historical O verview - A jay Kum ar
Rural W ater Access: Governance and Contestation in a Semi-Arid Watershed
in Udaipur, Rajasthan - N C N arayan an , Lalitha Kam ath
Panchayat Finances and th e Need for Devolutions from th e State G overnm ent - A n an d Sah asran am an

Temporary and Seasonal Migration: Regional Pattern, Characteristics and Associated Factors - Kuna1Keshri, R B B h a ga t

For copies w rite to:

Circulation M an ager,
Economic and Political Weekly,
3 2 0 -3 2 1 , A to Z Industrial Estate, G anp atrao K adam M arg, Low er Parel, M u m b a i 4 0 0 0 1 3 .
em ail: circulation@ epw .in

80 MARCH 10, 2012 v o l x lv ii n o io DOS Economic & Political w e e k l y

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 CURRENT STATISTICS EPW Research Foundation
According to the advance estimate of agricultural production in 2011-12, foodgrain production is to touch an all-time high of 250.4 million tonnes compared with the previous peak of 244.8 million tonnes in
2010-11.This is essentially from growth (2.9%) in cereal production, while there is expected to be a sharp fall (5.3%) in the production of pulses. Among commercial crops, while sugar cane and cotton is expected to
marginally rise by 1.6%and 3.3%, respectively, the production of oilseeds is expected to decline sharply by 6.0%.
M acroeconomic Indicators
Index Numbers of Wholesale Prices* Variation (%): Point-to-Point
Weights January Over Over 12Months Fiscal Year So Far Full Financial Year
(BaseYear:2004-05 = 100)A
2012 Month 2011 2010 2011-12 2010-112010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07
All Commodities 100.0 157.7 0.5 6.6 9.5 5.5 8.6 9.7 10.4 1.6 7.7 6.7
Primary Articles 20.1 199.7 0.9 2.3 18.4 6.1 17.7 13.4 22.2 5.4 9.6 12.8
Food Articles 14.3 191.4 0.3 -0.5 16.7 6.9 17.6 9.4 20.6 8.0 5.6 13.2
Non-Food Articles 4.3 182.8 2.4 0.6 26.6 -4.5 21.0 27.3 20.4 0.6 16.3 10.6
Minerals 1.5 324.5 1.9 24.8 16.1 21.6 12.3 15.2 37.9 -2.8 28.2 13.8
Fuel &Power 14.9 172.8 0.1 14.2 11.4 9.6 8.0 12.5 13.8 -3.4 7.4 1.1
Manufactured Products 65.0 141.2 0.4 6.5 5.3 4.1 5.1 7.4 5.3 1.7 7.1 6.3
Food Products 10.0 153.4 0.3 5.6 -0.1 5.7 2.5 2.4 15.1 6.3 8.4 4.3
Food Index (computed) 24.3 175.8 0.3 1.6 10.3 6.5 11.9 6.8 18.5 7.3 6.7 9.6
All Commodities (Monthlyaverage basis) 100.0 155.2 - 9 .2 9.6 9.1 9.6 9.6 3.8 8.1 4.7 6.6
AThe date of first release of data based on 2004-05series wef 14September 2010.
* Consequent upon the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) held on 24January 2012,weekly release of Wholesale Price Index (WPI)for the commodities/items under the Groups "Primary Articles" and
"Fuel and Power" is discontinued with immediate effect. WPI shall, henceforth, be released on a monthly basis only. The last Weekly WPI for the week ending 14January 2012._______________
__________________________________________________________________________________________ Variation (%):Point-to-Point _____________________
Cost of Living Indices Latest Over Over 12Months Fiscal Year So Far Full FiscalYear
Month Month 2011 2010 2011-12 2010-11 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
IndustrialWorkers (IW)(2001=100) 19712 -1.0 6.5 9.5 6.5 8.8 8.8 14.9 8.0 7.9 6.7 5.3
Agricultural Labourers (AL)(1986-87=100) 6181 -0.0 4.9 8.7 5.6 9.9 9.1 15.8 9.5 7.9 9.5 5.3
Note:Superscript numeral denotes month to which figure relates,e g,superscript 12stands for December and 1stand for January.
Variation
Money and Banking (Rs crore) 10February Over Month OverYear Fiscal YearSo Far Full Fiscal Year
2012 2011 2011-12 2010-11 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09
Money Supply (M5) 7211890 19320(0.3) 887930(14.0) 712400(11.0) 721260(12.9) 896817 (16.0) 807920(16.8) 776930(19.3)
Currencywith Public 1016530 15930(1.6) 108810(12.0) 102330(11.2) 140220(18.3) 146704(19.1) 102043 (15.3) 97040 (17.1)
Deposits Money with Banks 6193190 3360(0.1) 780030(14.4) 611550(11.0) 581760(12.0) 750239(15.5) 707606(17.2) 683375 (19.9)
of which: Demand Deposits 663950 -5960(-0.9) 14650(2.3) -53710(-7.5) -68670(-9.6) -310(-0.0) 129281 (22.0) 10316(1.8)
Time Deposits 5529240 9320(0.2) 765380(16.1) 665260(13.7) 650430(15.8) 750549(18.2) 578325 (16.4) 673059(23.5)
Net BankCredit to Government 2318960 43630(1.9) 462310(24.9) 336190(17.0) 187460(11.2) 313584(18.8) 391853 (30.7) 377815(42.0)
BankCredit to Commercial Sector 4700680 29090(0.6) 627500(15.4) 465270(11.0) 581760(16.7) 743997 (21.3) 476516(15.8) 435904(16.9)
Net Foreign Exchange Assets 1468650 -52210(-3.4) 86950(6.3) 75310(5.4) 100240(7.8) 111858(8.7) 367718(-5.2) 57053 (4.4)
Banking Sector's Net Non-Monetary Liabilities 1290110 1180(0.1) 290070(29.0) 165360(14.7) 149410(17.6) 274078(32.2) -9050 (-1.1) 94672(12.4)
of which: RBI 540360 -29350(-5.2) 166880(44.7) 172010(46.7) 71840(23.8) 66660(22.1) -86316 (-22.3) 177709(84.5)
Reserve Money (17February 2012) 1437700 -13960(-1.0) 143790(11.1) 60880(4.4) 138260(12.0) 221170(19.1) 167652 (17.0) 59696(6.4)
Net RBI Credit to Centre 534290 3650(-) 219140(-) 140250(-) 103570(-) 182460 149819 176397
Scheduled Commercial Banks (10February 2012)
Aggregate Deposits 5800460 1760(0.0) 754490(15.0) 592490(11.4) 553150(12.3) 715143(15.9) 658716(17.2) 637170(19.9)
Demand 593260 -5930(-1.0) 18010(3.1) -48440(-7.5) -70360(-10.9) -3905 (-0.6) 122525(23.4) -1224(-0.2)
Time 5207200 7690(0.1) 736470(16.5) 640930(14.0) 623510(16.2) 719048(18.7) 536191 (16.2) 638395(23.9)
Investments (for SLRpurposes) 1731410 41790(2.5) 259340(17.6) 229800(15.3) 87320(6.3) 116867(8.4) 218342(18.7) 194694(20.0)
BankCredit 4382390 27910(0.6) 594610(15.7) 440310(11.2) 543000(16.7) 697294(21.5) 469239(16.9) 413635(17.5)
Non-Food Credit 4300810 32730(0.8) 577030(15.5) 423010(10.9) 527480(16.5) 681500(21.3) 466961 (17.1) 411825(17.8)
Commercial Investments 166870 -6620(-3.8) 11570(7.5) 19269(13.1) 37229(31.5) 28872(24.5) 11654(11.0) 10911 (11.4)
Total BankAssistance to Comml Sector 4467680 26110(0.6) 588600(15.2) 442279(11.0) 564709(17.0) 710372(21.4) 478615(16.9) 422736(17.5)
Note: Government Balances as on 31March 2011are after closure of accounts.
Index Numbers of Industrial Production December* Fiscal YearSo Far______ Full FiscalYearAverages
(Base 2004-05=100) Weights 2011 2011-12 2010-11 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07
General Index 100.00 178.8(1.8) 166.8(3.6) 161.0(8.3) 165.4(8.2) 152.9(5.3) 145.2(2.5) 141.7(15.5) 122.6(12.9)
Mining 14.157 136.2-(3.7) 124.1-(2.7) 127.6(6.9) 131.0(5.2) 124.5(7.9) 115.4(2.6) 112.5(4.6) 107.6(5.2)
Manufacturing 75.527 190.7(1.8) 177.3(3.9) 170.7(9.0) 175.6(8.9) 161.3(4.8) 153.8(2.5) 150.1(18.4) 126.8(15.0)
Electricity 10.316 149.8(9.1) 148.5(9.4) 135.7(4.7) 138.0(5.6) 130.8(6.1) 123.3(2.8) 120.0(6.4) 112.8(7.3)
* Indices for the month are Quick Estimates.
Fiscal Year So Far 2010-11 End of Fiscal Year
Capital Market
24 February 2012 Month Ago Year Ago Trough Peak Trough Peak 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09
BSE Sensitive Index (1978-79=100) 17924(1.7) 16996 17632(8.5) 15175 19702 16022 21005 19445(10.9) 17528(80.5) 9709(-37.9)
BSE-100 (1983-84=100) 9370(2.3) 8841 9158(5.9) 7805 10262
1 8540 11141 10096(8.6) 9300(88.2) 4943(-40.0)
BSE-200 (1989-90=100) 2198(1.6) 2065 2164(5.8) 1824 2427 2034 2753 2379(8.1) 2200(92.9) 1140(-41.0)
S&P CNX Nifty (3 Nov 1995=1000) 5429(3.2) 5127 5263(8.3) 4544 5912 4807 6312 5834(11.1) 5249(73.8) 3021(-36.2)
Skindia GDR Index (2Jan 1995=1000) 2517(-13.9) 2271 2922(15.7) 1875 3441 2477 3479 3151(9.3) 2883(134.2) 1153(-56.2)
Net Fll Investment in (US $ Mn Equities) - period end 107168(6.6) 102978 100526(38.3) - - - 101454(31.5) 77159(43.1) 51669(-18.6)
December* Fiscal Year So Far Full Fiscal Year
Foreign Trade
2011 2011-12 2010-11 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 2004-05
Exports: Rs crore 131776 1024707(29.9) 789069(29.6) 1118823(32.3) 845534(0.6) 840754(28.2) 655863(14.7) 571779(25.3) 456418(21.6) 375340(27.9)
US$mn 25016 217664(25.8) 172965(36.0) 245868(37.5) 178751(-3.5) 185295(13.6) 163132(29.0) 126361(22.6) 103091(23.4) 83536(30.8)
Imports: Rs crore 198873 1651240(34.5) 1228074(23.8) 1596869(17.1) 1363736(-0.8) 1374434(35.8) 1012312(20.4) 840506(27.3) 660409(31.8) 501065(39.5)
US$mn 37753 350936(30.4) 269175(29.8) 350695(21.6) 288373(-5.0) 303696(20.7) 251654(35.5) 185749(24.5) 149166(33.8) 111517(42.7)
Non-POL US$mn 27474 245347(26.5) 193964(33.2) 249006(23.7) 201237(-4.2) 210029(22.2) 171940(33.5) 128790(22.4) 105233(37.1) 76772(33.2)
Balance ofTrade: Rs crore -67097 -626533 -439006 -478047 -518202 -533680 -356449 -268727 -203991 -125725
US$mn -12737 -133272 -96210 -104827 -109621 -118401 -88522 -59388 -46075 -27981
* Provisional figures.
Foreign Exchange Reserves (excluding Variation Over
gold but including revaluation effects) 17Feb 18Feb 31 Mar Fiscal Year So Far Full Fiscal Year
2012 2011 2011 Month Ago Year Ago 2011-12 2010-11 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07
Rs crore 1299100 1249006 1245284 -29270 50090 53820 76760 73038 57826 33975 359500 189270
US$mn 263990 276451 278899 58 -12461 -14909 16760 19208 18264 -57821 107324 46816
Figures in brackets are percentage variations over the specified or over the comparable period of the previous year. (-) not relevant.
[Comprehensive current economic statistics with regular weekly updates, as also the thematic notes and Special Statistics series, are available on our website: http://www.epwrf.in].

Economic & Political w e e k l y DBQ m a r c h i o , 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 10 8l

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 STATISTICS
00
N> Trends in Agricultural P rodu ction Ninontonnes)
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12(2AE)
Crop Season 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05
1 Food crops
Rice K h a rif 72.78 80.52 (10.6) 63.08 (-21.7) 78.62 (24.6) 72.23 (-8.1) 78.27 (8.4) 80.17 (2.4) 8 2.6 6 (3.1) 84.91 (2.7) 75.92 (-10.6) 80.65 (6.2) 90.18 in.®
(-2.5) 14.03 (6.4) 14.27 (1.7) 13.18 (-7.6) 15.33 (16.3) 12.57 (-18.0)
Rabi 12.20 12.82 (5.1) 8.74 (-31.8) 9.91 (13.4) 10.90 (10.0) 13.52 (24.0) 13.18
(10.4) 93.35 (1.7) 9 6.6 9 (3.6) 99.18 (2.6) 8 9.09 (-10.2) 9 5.98 (7.7) 102.75 (7.1)
Total 84.98 93.34 (9.8) 71.82 (-23.1) 88.53 (23.3) 83.13 (-6.1) 91.79
(2.7) 8 0 .8 0 (0.1) 8 6.8 7 (7.5) 88.31 (1.7)
W h e at Rabi 69.68 72.77 (4.4) 65.76 (-9.6) 72.15 (9.7) 6 8.6 4 (-4.9) 69.35 (1.0) 75.81 (9.3) 78.57 (3.6) 8 0.6 8

(0.7) 3.71 (-8.8 ) 4.11 (10.8) 3.05 (-25.8) 2.76 (-9.5) 3.44 (24.6) 3.03 (-11.9)
J o w ar K ha rif 4.56 4.23 (-7.2) 4.22 (-0.2) 4.84 (14.7) 4.04 (-16.5) 4.07

Rabi 2.97 3.33 (12.1) 2.79 (-16.2) 1.84 (-34.1) 3.20 (73.9) 3.56 (11.3) 3.44 (-3.4) 3.82 (11.0) 4.19 (9.7) 3.9 4 (-6.0 ) 3.56 (-9.6) 3.06 (-14.0)

7.15 (-6.3 ) 7.93 (10.9) 7.24 (-8.7) 6.70 (-7.5) 7.00 (4.5) 6 .0 9 (-13.0)
Total 7.53 7.56 (0.4) 7.01 (-7.3) 6.68 (-4.7) 7.24 (8.4) 7.63 (5.4)

Bajra K ha rif 6.76 8.28 (22.5) 4.72 (-43.0) 12.11 (156.6) 7.93 (-34.5) 7.68 (-3.2) 8.42 (9.6) 9.97 (18.4) 8 .8 9 (-10.8) 6.51 (-26.8) 10.37 (59.3) 9.73 (-6.2 )

(-4.2 ) 31.89 (24.5) 2 8.5 4 (-10.5) 23.83 (-16.5) 33.37 (40.0) 31.84 (-4.6)
Coarse cereals K h a rif 24.86 26.71 (7.4) 19.99 (-25.2) 32.21 (61.1) 26.36 (-18.2) 26.73 (1.4) 25.61
(13.4) 8.87 (6.7) 11.49 (29.5) 9.72 (-15.4) 10.32 (6.2) 10.24 (-0.8)
Rabi 6.22 6.66 (7.1) 6.08 (-8.7) 5.39 (-11.3) 7.10 (31.7) 7.33 (3.2) 8.31
(-0.4) 4 0.7 6 (20.2) 4 0.03 (-1.8) 33.55 (-16.2) 4 3.6 8 (30.2) 4 2.08 (-3.7)
Total 31.08 33.37 (7.4) 26.07 (-21.9) 37.60 (44.2) 33.46 (-11.0) 34.06 (1.8) 33.92
(6.5) 105.78 (0.7) 114.55 (8.3) 113.45 (-1.0) 99.75 (-12.1) 114.02 (14.3) 122.02 (7.0)
Cereals K h a rif 97.64 107.23 (9.8) 83.07 (-22.5) 110.83 (33.4) 98.59 (-11.0) 105.00
8 6.6 4 9 0.20 97.30 (7.9) 101.47 (4.3) 106.45 (4.9) 103.70 (-2 .6 ) 112.51 (8.5) 111.12 (-1.2)
Rabi 88.10 92.25 (4.7) 80.58 (-12.7) 87.45 (8.5) (-0.9) (4.1)
203.45 (-7.5) 226.53 (11-3) 233.14 (2.9)
Q
O-
Total 185.74 199.48 (7.4) 163.65 (-18.0) 198.28 (21.2) 185.23 (-6.6) 195.20 (5.4) 203.08 (4.0) 216.02 (6.4) 219.90 (1.8)
2.72 (-4.9)
(0.4) (7.8) 2.35 (-0.4) 2.74 (16.6) 2.31 (-15.7) 3.08 (33.3) 2.27 (-26.3) 2.4 6 (8.4) 2 .8 6 0 6 .3 )
Tur K ha rif 2.25 2.26 2.19 2.36
3 (-3.1)
7.66 (-6.8)
4.24 (-22.5) 5.72 (34.9) 5.47 (-4.4) 5.60 (2.4) 6.33 (13.0) 5.75 (-9.2) 7.06 (22.8) 7.48 (5.9) 8.2 2 (9.9)
Gram Rabi 3.85 5.47 (42.1)
1.20 (20.0) 0.95 (-20.8) 0.90 (-5.3) 0.9 4 (4.4) 1.12 (19.1) 0 .8 4 (-25.0) 0.81 (-3.6) 1.40 (72.8) 1.29 (-7.9)
Urad K ha rif 0.77 0.98 (27.3) 1.00 (2.0)
(0.0) 0.47 (-9.6) 0.27 (-42.6) 0.38 (40.7) 0.35 (-7.9) 0.5 0 (42.9) 0 .3 4 (-32.0) 0.33 (-2.9) 0.42 (27.3) 0.3 6 (-14.3) 0 .4 4 (22.2)
Rabi 0.52 0.52
Total 1.29 1.50 (16.3) 1.47 (-2.0) 1.47 (0.0) 1.33 (-9.5) 1.25 (-6.0) 1.44 (15.2) 1.46 (1.4) 1.17 (-19.9) 1.23 (5.1) 1.76 (43.1) 1.73 (-1.7)

M oong K ha rif 0.79 0.87 (10.1) 0.64 (-26.4) 1.43 (123.4) 0.81 (-43.4) 0.69 (-14.8) 0 .8 4 (21.7) 1.25 (48.8) 0.78 (-37.6) 0 .4 4 (-43.6) 1.53 (247.7) 1.47 (-3.9)

(-4.2) (21.7) 0.25 (-10.7) 0.26 (4.0) 0.2 8 (7.7) 0.27 (-3.6) 0.26 (-3.7) 0.25 (-3.8) 0.27 (8.0) 0.25 (-7.4)
Rabi 0.24 0.24 (0.0) 0.23 0.28
(7.8) 0.87 (-21.6) 1.71 (96.6) 1.06 (-38.0) 0.95 (-10.4) 1.12 (17.9) 1.52 (35.7) 1.04 (-31.6) 0.69 (-33.7) 1.80 (160.9) 1.72 (-4.4)
Total 1.03 1.11
O th e r k h a rif pulses K ha rif 0 .64 0.73 (14.1) 0.32 (-56.2) 1.18 (268.8) 0.61 (-48.3) 0 .5 4 (-11.5) 0.71 (31.5) 0.95 (33.8) 0 .8 0 (-15.8) 0.51 (-36.3) 1.33 (160.8) 0.91 (-31.6)

O th e r rabi pulses Rabi 2.01 2.30 (14.4) 2 .04 (-11.3) 2.47 (21.1) 2.31 (-6.5) 2.31 (0.0) 2.2 9 (-0.9 ) 2 .0 0 (-12.7) 2.23 (11.5) 2.2 9 (2.7) 2.27 (-0.9) 2 .5 4 (11.9)

Total pulses K h a rif 4.45 4.84 (8.8) 4.15 (-14.3) 6.17 (48.7) 4.72 (-23.5) 4.87 (3.2) 4 .8 0 (-1.4) 6 .4 0 (33.3) 4 .6 9 (-26.7) 4 .2 0 (-10.4) 7.12 (69.5) 6.3 9 (-10.3)

Rabi 6.62 8.53 (28.9) 6 .98 (-18.2) 8.74 (25.2) 8.41 (-3.8) 8.52 (1.3) 9.40 (10.3) 8.3 6 (-11.1) 9.88 (18.2) 10.46 (5.9) 11.12 (6.3) 10.89 (-2.1)

Total 11.07 13.37 (20.8) 11.13 (-16.8) 14.91 (34.0) 13.13 (-11.9) 13.39 (2.0) 14.20 (6.0) 14.76 (3.9) 14.57 (-1.3) 14.66 (0.6) 18.24 (24.4) 17.28 (-5.3)

'H Total fo o d g ra in s K h a rif 102.09 112.07 (9.8) 87.22 (-22.2) 117.00 (34.1) 103.31 (-11.7) 109.87 (6.3) 110.57 (0.6) 120.95 (9.4) 118.14 (-2.3) 103.95 (-12.0) 121.14 (16.5) 128.41 (6.0)
? g £
> Rabi 94.72 100.78 (6.4) 87.55 (-13.1) 96.19 (9.9) 95.05 (-1.2) 98.73 (3.9) 106.71 (8.1) 109.83 (2.9) 116.33 (5.9) 114.16 (-1.9) 123.64 (8.3) 122.01 (-1.3)
*n
cO
ro oo\ Total 196.81 212.85 (8.1) 174.77 (-17.9) 213.19 (22.0) 198.36 (-7.0) 208 .60 (5.2) 217.28 (4.2) 2 30.78 (6.2) 234.47 (1.6) 218.11 (-7.0) 244 .78 (12.2) 250.42 (2.3)

I? o II P rincipal co m m e rcia l crops

(-47.7) 73.62 (123.5) 56.17 (-23.7) 38.52 (-31.4) 66.43 (72.5) 5 3.5 4 (-19.4)
G ro u n d n u t K h a rif 49.10 56.22 (14.5) 30.95 (-44.9) 6 8.60 (121.6) 52.62 (-23.3) 62.98 (19.7) 3 2.94
M
o Rabi 15.00 14.05 (-6.3) 10.26 (-27.0) 12.67 (23.5) 15.12 (19.3) 16.95 (12.1) 15.69 (-7.4) 18.20 (16.0) 15.51 (-14.8) 15.76 0 .6 ) 16.22 (2.9) 15.86 (-2.2)
to
Total 64.10 70.27 (9.6) 41.21 (-41.4) 81.27 (97.2) 67.74 (-16.6) 79.93 (18.0) 4 8 .6 4 (-39.1) 91.82 (88.8) 71.68 (-21.9) 5 4.2 9 (-24.3) 82.65 (52.2) 69.40 (-16.0)
<
0 Castor seed K ha rif 8.80 6.53 (-25.8) 4.28 (-34.5) 7.97 (86.2) 7.93 (-0.5) 9.91 (25.0) 7.62 (-23.1) 10.53 (38.2) 11.71 (11.2) 10.09 (-13.8) 13.50 (33.8) 23.39 (73.3)

Sesame K h a rif 5.20 6.98 (34.2) 4.41 (-36.8) 7.82 (77.3) 6.74 (-13.8) 6.41 (-4.9) 6.18 (-3.6) 7.57 (22.5) 6 .4 0 (-15.5) 5.8 8 (-8.1) 8.93 (51.9) 7.69 (-13.9)
r<
X
N igerseed K h a rif 1.10 1.30 (18.2) 0.86 (-33.8) 1.09 (26.7) 1.12 (2.8) 1.08 (-3.6) 1.21 (12.0) 1.10 (-9.1) 1.17 (6.4) 1.00 (-14.5) 1.08 (8.0) 0.92 (-14.8)

Rapeseed and m u stard Rabi 41.90 50.83 (21.3) 38.80 (-23.7) 62.91 (62.1) 75.93 (20.7) 81.31 (7.1) 74.38 (-8.5) 5 8.3 4 (-21.6) 72.01 (23.4) 6 6.0 8 (-8.2) 81.79 (23.8) 75.00 (-8.3)
H
n Linseed Rabi 2.00 2.09 (4.5) 1.77 (-15.3) 1.97 (11.3) 1.70 (-13.7) 1.73 (1.8) 1.68 (-2.9) 1.63 (-3.0) 1.69 (3.7) 1.54 (-8.9) 1.47 (-4.5 ) 1.50 (2.0)
o S a fflo w e r Rabi 2.00 2.21 (10.5) 1.79 (-19.0) 1.35 (-24.6) 1.74 (28.9) 2.29 (31.6) 2.40 (4.8) 2.25 (-6.3) 1.89 (-16.0) 1.79 (-5.3) 1.50 (-16.2) 0.99 (-34.0)

S u n flo w e r Total 6.50 6.79 (4.5) 8.73 (28.6) 9.30 (6.5) 11.87 (27.6) 14.39 (21.2) 12.28 (-14.7) 14.63 (19.1) 11.58 (-20.8) 8.51 (-26.5) 6.51 (-23.5) 5.63 (-13.5)

Soyabean K ha rif 52.80 59.63 (12.9) 46.55 (-21.9) 78.18 (67.9) 68.77 (-12.0) 82.74 (20.3) 88.51 (7.0) 109.68 (23.9) 99.05 (-9.7) 99.65 (0.6) 127.36 (27.8) 120.77 (-5.2)

Total nine oilseeds K ha rif 119.40 132.20 (10.7) 89.76 (-32.1) 166.72 (85.7) 141.49 (-15.1) 167.68 (18.5) 140.12 (-16.4) 207.13 (47.8) 178.08 (-14.0) 157.29 (-11.7) 219.22 (39.4) 2 08 .00 (-5.1)

Rabi 65.00 74.42 (14.5) 58.62 (-21.2) 85.14 (45.2) 102.05 (19.9) 112.11 (9.9) 102.77 (-8.3) 90.42 (-12.0) 99.11 (9.6) 91.53 (-7.6) 105.57 (15.3) 97.29 (-7.8)

Total 184.40 206.62 (12.0) 148.38 (-28.2) 251.86 (69.7) 243.54 (-3.3) 279.79 (14.9) 242.89 (-13.2) 297.55 (22.5) 277.19 (-6.8) 2 48.82 (-10.2) 324.79 (30.5) 305.29 (-6.0 )

C o tto n # Total 95.20 99.97 (5.0) 86.24 (-13.7) 137.29 (59.2) 164.29 (19.7) 184.99 (12.6) 226.32 (22.3) 2 5 8 .8 4 (14.4) 2 22.76 (-13.9) 2 40.22 (7.8) 3 30 .00 (37.4) 3 40 .87 (3.3)

J u te # # Total 93.20 105.84 (13.6) 102.74 (-2.9) 102.52 (-0.2) 93.99 (-8.3) 99.70 (6.1) 103.17 (3.5) 102.21 (-0.9) 9 6 .3 4 (-5.7) 112.30 (16.6) 1 00.09 (-10.9) 109.46 (9.4)

M e s ta # # Total 12.40 10.94 (-11.8) 10.02 (-8.4) 9.21 (-8.1) 8.73 (-5.2) 8.70 (-0.3) 9.56 (9.9) 9.90 (3.6) 7.31 (-26.2) 5.87 (-19.7) 6.11 (4.1) 6.67 (9.2)
8 Jute and m e s ta # # Total 105.60 116.78 (10.6) 112.76 (-3.4) 111.73 (-0.9) 102.72 (-8.1) 108.40 (5.5) 112.73 (4.0) 112.11 (-0.5 ) 103.65 (-7.5) 118.17 (14.0) 1 06.20 (-10.1) 116.13 (9.4)

w Sugar cane (cane) Total 2959.60 2972.08 (0.4) 2873.83 (-3.3) 2338.61 (-18.6) 2370.88 (1.4) 2811.72 (18.6) 3555.20 (26.4) 3 48 1.8 8 (-2.1) 2 85 0.2 9 (-18.1) 2923.02 (2.6) 3 423.82 (17.1) 3478.65 (1.6)
# Lakh bales of 170kgs each. ## Lakh bales of 180kgs each.
Source: Agricultural Statistics Division, DES.
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