Amartya Sen calls for balancing social, economic policies
Our Corporate Bureau
New Delhi, Dec 29: Noted economist Amartya Sen has underlined the need for positive governmental action and rapid social progress for furthering economic growth in India.Delivering a lecture on "India; What prospects ?" organised by the Confederation of India Industry (CII) here on Monday, Harvard University economist Sen suggested that the country should adopt a policy with proper balance between economic and social sector. Sen, who was his usual self at the meeting, warned that India's economic development, without much progress in the social sector, would have serious implications. The country needs to have an integrated approach towards progress, he opined. Social progress would imply education, health care, land reforms and gender issues while economic progress would involve consolidating the scope for competition, incentives and openness, Sen felt. According to him, the country has suffered in the last fifty years because it ignored the need for such an integration and had developed a tendency
of neglecting social development. The country's prospects depends on how forcefully it seizes the basic interdependence, Sen said. The two basic problems, according to Sen, were external challenges of globalisation and internal threat of domestic disparity. These two issues, Sen added, were closely linked with each other and an appropriate approach to globalisation would require that adequate attention be paid to the aspect of domestic disparity. Elaborating, Sen noted that if India's individual states were independent, the league table of indicators of quality of life would show Indian states figuring right at the top as well as the bottom. He added that India had the dubious distinction of having both the largest number of poor in the world and also the largest middle class on earth.In his opinion, India needs greater attention from the government in order to find a remedy for its poverty. He also spoke for greater public participation which is difficult in the face of illiteracy, ill health and
socio-economic inequalities. Sen also talked about the possibility of losing out in the process of globalisation on account of neglect of social sector. He pointed out that individuals with no literacy or numerical skills could not easily transcend the barriers to enable meaningful participation in global economic arrangements. At the same time, he argued, such individuals would be at greater risk of losing their jobs in the wake of global competition from countries, "without India's self-perpetuated handicaps." According to the noted economist, "new world order required economic and social policies that were directed towards absorbing the displaced in the new employment and new economic activities." Comparing India with China Sen said that the widespread literacy coupled with extensive land reforms in China enabled it to gain a widely shared economic expansion. But India was not in a position to reap such benefits as it lags behind in social development, he added.The weakness of India's social policies
is a failure of both the government and the opposition parties, he said. Sen added. H said that the country's prospects depended on the success of its democracy and expressed concern over lack of politicisation of disparities as it would determine whether the globalisation was needed or not. On the high fertility rates, Sen opined that public discussion has an important role to play in reducing them as well as other social issues like education of women.
Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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