Dear friends,
We wish to share with you the following article from the Down to Earth, written by Sachin Kumar Jain.
Asian Human Rights Commission
Hong Kong
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-FAT-008-2014
April 1, 2014
An article from the Down to Earth forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission
INDIA: India growth story marred by disturbing inequity
Sachin Kumar Jain
68th Round of National Sample Survey makes it amply clear that the wave of economic growth has not percolated down from the 0.003 per cent of population of ruling elite (as per Income Tax records, only 42,800 persons have taxable Income more than Rs 1 crore in India). 99.996 per cent population is spending between just Rs 25.90 and Rs 37.36 per capita per day (average MPCE) in rural and urban areas respectively
India’s much-vaunted economic growth story is a little hard to digest if one were to closely scrutinise the results emanating from the 68th round survey of the National Sample Survey Office. The survey carried out during July 2011-June 2012 reveals some alarming facts about how little money people have to spend on food, nutrition and health. If our society is truly growing economically, as claimed, and the state is withdrawing from its role in very basic social and essential sectors like education, health, transportation and nutrition, one would assume that expenditure on these services would have increased. But data shows expenditure on food has decreased proportionately over a period of time; at the same time overall expenditure is also not showing any impact of economic growth. This report gives a statistical base to the assumption that economic growth has maintained huge inequality in per capita expenditure on very essential needs such as food, health and education. The level of inequity is very-very high on in the context of per capita expenditure on education and health.
On education, the bottom 5 per cent population in rural India is spending just Rs 7.54 per month whereas top 5 per cent in urban India is spending a 120 times higher amount of Rs 908.12 per month. This disparity is one of the reasons why the largest section of the society, the poor, is denied Right to Education with quality. The spending difference on medical expenditure in these two categories is 40 times. Just to inform you on expenditure levels for availing conveyance services, the top 5 per cent population in urban India spends 116 times more than the bottom 5 per cent rural population. Even today, the average Indian is struggling hard to get right to quality education and basic health services and because of uneven growth they not able to spend on it. It also indicates that withdrawal of the state from essential sectors is really causing distress in almost every segment of society.
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About the Author: Mr. Sachin Kumar Jain is a development journalist and researcher who is associated with the Right to Food Campaign in India and works with Vikas Samvad, AHRC’s partner organisation in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The author could be contacted at sachin.vikassamvad@gmail.com Telephone: +91 755 4252789.
