Economic Survey: A wake-up call for govt

As the farmers search the skies for rain clouds and await the largesse from Indra, the rain god, the mid-term Economic Survey revealed that the disturbing news that the economy will not grow to the expected 7.5 per cent and will be closer to 6.75 per cent. This should be a wake-up call for the mandarins in the Prime Minister’s Office. India is headed for yet another low growth rate next year if the monsoon fails or is patchy. Surely, the government has been briefed on the fact that Central India is dry as a twig and even fodder for the animals is wilting. Farmers in Vidarbha and Marathwada in Maharashtra, who are  experiencing a drought-like situation at present, also fear that the soya production will not be up to the mark as late sowing diminishes the quality of the crop which needs 110-120 days and has lost 50 days due to late rains. Even the loan waiver decided by bureaucrats sitting in their offices is of little help as the process is painful. Farmers have to fill forms, get them scrutinised, etc. so the waiver will take several months to become effective. Had it been done earlier it might have been of some help in assuaging the intensity of rural distress in the country. The news of a 17-year-old girl in Parbhani committing suicide as she didn’t want her uncle who is already in debt to get deeper in debt by providing for her marriage, underlines the seriousness of rural distress. The government seems to be unable to understand the graveness or the grimness of the situation.

The recent Maratha morcha in Mumbai, said to be the biggest ever since Independence, illustrates the extent of the lack of basic facilities in non-urban, rural India. The Marathas are basically a farming community and their demand was for education and services. The young do not want to do farming anymore as it is not remunerative. It is the same story behind the recent agitation of the Jats in Haryana, the Gujjars in Rajasthan or the Patels in Gujarat where the common demand was reservations in services and education. Education is an equaliser and with education facilities the youth in these states can compete equally for jobs.

These are the real vignettes embedded in the Economic Survey. The Narendra Modi government has a lot of promises to keep the least of them  being the 10 million jobs in five years, of which two and a half years have already passed. There has, so far, been the phenomenon of jobless growth but now growth itself is being threatened. None of the schemes like Make in India, Stand up India have taken off and Skilling India leaves a lot to be desired.

The government and the bureaucracy need to take the suggestions provided in the Economic Survey for reviving growth seriously and begin with providing farmers with remunerative prices so that they do not have to live in penury in order that urban, vocal India gets its daily necessities cheaply.