Hunger and poverty : biggest challenges for good governance

(8)    Hunger and poverty are the biggest challenges for good governance in India still today. Evaluate how for successive governments have progressed in dealing with these humongous problems .Suggest measures for improvement.

    Government has broadly followed three approaches to tackle poverty and hunger.

    (a)    Growth oriented development

    (b)    Specific targeted poverty alleviation programmes.

    (c)    Meeting minimum needs of poor.

    Most government policies from the Five Year Plans (FYP) to the 1991 economic reforms had a distinct anti-poverty tone.

    The 1st and 2nd FYPs followed a growth oriented development approach. It was believed that rapid industrial progress and advancements in agricultural production would bring people out of poverty. It aspired to enhance the GDP and per-capital income of the nation. However, growing population and skewed benefits from green revolution aggravated disparities between the rich and poor.

    Later, specific targeted poverty alleviation programmes through employment generation were launched.

• Self employment programmes such as IRDP, TRYSEM etc have paved way for Deendayal Antoyodhaya Yojana, NRLM, NULM which aim to inculcate a culture of self-help, self-reliance and mutual-help by organizing the people into SHGs.
• Wage-employment programs such as Food for Work, NREP have paved way for a right based legislation, Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Programme (NGNREP), which guarantees 100 days of wage employment.

Programmes to provide for the minimum needs such as Mid Day Meal Scheme, Integrated Child Development Scheme, etc have given support of the poor.  

The Public Distribution System has provided subsidized rations to target hunger. The Passage of National Food Security Act, 2014 has brought in a Rights based Regime which guarantees subsidized food grains to 67% of the population.

Over the years, India has made significant strides in bringing people out of poverty and hungers. However, successive governments have been unable/unwilling to effect change of land holdings and ownership of assets. Inequality has also risen due to skewed distribution of economic benefits.

Some measures for augmenting the government efforts are,

• Aadhar linked targeting of poor sections to weed out ghost beneficiaries and ensuring last mile delivery.
• Leveraging JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhar, and Mobile) trinity for financial and economic inclusion to enable access to banking and credit.
• Skill development through programmes such as PMKVY and inculcation of entrepreneurial spirit can being about huge changes.
• Government should encourage and facilitate civil society and corporate participation in order to widen its reach.
• Subsidized food through Canteens (Amma Canteens in TN and Indira canteen in Karnatka) has been widely welcomed by the urban poor. Such programmes can be expanded across the nation.
• Bureaucratic lethargy, apathy corruption should be dealt with strongly.
• Adequate training should be provided to grass root level organization to empower them to be involved in the government schemes.
• Social audit (similar to MGNREGA) should be provided for in schemes to increase impact, participation and accountability.
• Quality education by implementing RTE in its true spirit can have a multiplier effect on the all of government efforts.

Poverty alleviation through eradication of malnourishment, hunger, and illiteracy has come a long way but India still has miles to go before it can rest.