Abstract
This report provides an overview of the macro-scenario in the country, and with ample usage of graphical representations the data is presented well, making it a readable book. This is an annual report, being brought out by ACCESS for the past decade with the purpose of documenting the policies, performances of certain sectors and natural calamities in one year. The primary focus of the report is to map the livelihoods of the poor and marginalised in the country with respect to the macroeconomic developments. In the year 2016–2017, the country witnessed a number of critical events, namely demonetisation of high-value currency, farmer unrest in some states, floods in some parts, introduction of GST among other important policies for the poor. This report adequately addresses these aspects throughout its nine chapters. The chapters focus on broadly government programmes, the agrarian sector, tribal regions, employment and corporate social responsibility.
Citing relevant data from the Economic Survey, the authors present the overall decline in the GDP in the past year, especially in the index of industrial production. Also, there has been continuing jobless growth with a declining employment-to-population ratio, which requires urgent attention. The gap between enrolment to training courses of skill development and the employability of those persons with such skills is large. The authors discuss the government programmes, particularly the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, National Food Security Act and the Public Distribution System. They rightly point out how households find it difficult to access these government programmes in spite of having Aadhar verification because of failure of connectivity, biometric matching and defects in biometric identifier equipment (p. 45). While Aadhar is presented as an efficient system erasing out possibilities of fraud, it is ironic that because of low connectivity or inefficiency of machines, the system remains inefficient. Various government programmes are built to reduce poverty and inequality, as it is a critical agenda for the Human Development Index and the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, failure to deal with food and nutrition issues has persisted, possibly because of poor implementation systems. Corporate social responsibility has gained ground and corporate bodies are implementing CSR projects with NGO partners. The authors express hope to see CSR (which is still in its infancy) moving from ‘“vanilla” projects to more complex ones with superior development impact’ (p. 12). If, in spite of numerous government programmes, drives towards digitisation for efficiency and development projects of CSR and NGOs, inequality and poverty remain unabated, do we need a different perspective to address such inter-linked crises?
Incorporating tribal populations in the mainstream economy is considered to be the only path towards development. Following this perspective, the authors point out that ‘while culturally tribals have a rich heritage, they lag behind on key development indicators and are poorer than the rest of the population’ (p. 89). They write, ‘as a part of the process of development of the nation’ tribal populations have faced large-scale loss of livelihood, displacement and involuntary migration, and identify it as a ‘serious problem that remains to be addressed’ (p. 93). Is it because this is a book in the format of a report that the authors do not point out that it is the tyranny of development projects that are usually the cause of underdevelopment of the tribal population? They argue that it is the incomplete rehabilitation mechanisms that add to their misery. Rather, it is the very process of the development itself including mining industries and infrastructure projects for which the tribal populations have to bear the cost of that development.
In the agrarian sector, on the one hand, the search for low-cost, low-resource and high-return agriculture has led to a resurgence and popularity of organic methods of farming. On the other, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), service providers and technology are being used as a replacement of middlemen. The authors explain why ‘policy thinking on agriculture is currently muddled’ (p. 84) unable to deal with farmer suicides, an ageing farming population and withdrawal of youth from agriculture. The purpose of FPOs is to ensure better income for the producers of food by aggregating producers into collectives. While these FPOs undertake a number of activities such as productivity enhancement, input supply and facilitating for finance, it needs to be seen whether such a model of transforming agriculture to a business enterprise will lead to better livelihoods of farmers. Crisis in the agrarian sector cannot be dissociated from ecological crisis, energy crisis and unavailability of food for the poor. The authors argue that for organic farming to be successful and achieve economies of scale, it needs to be done on large tracts of land. Interestingly, this sounds like old wine in new bottles, where the term ‘organic’ simply implies producing ‘healthier’ products for people who can afford it. While there is a huge demand for organic food worldwide and it is presented as a sustainable method of farming, does it provide healthy food for the poor populations of the country and also a secure livelihood for farmers?
The achievement of the report lies in identifying sections of the Indian economy that need urgent attention. Without going into deeper analysis, and carefully crafting a neutral position on several debatable issues, the book serves the purpose that it aims to do. However, it is evident that the authors abide by a neoliberal logic of development and have chosen not to highlight the pitfalls of GST and demonetisation on small traders, persistent farmer suicides, exploitation of tribal populations and so on. For a sociologist, this book provides a glimpse into concrete and persistent problems, urging to think how a ‘sociological’ perspective can provide a different lens to address these inter-linked problems.