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India is second only to China in its economic growth rate. It has foreign exchange reserves of over US$222 billion. The share market index, the Sensex, recently hit the 15,000 point mark and a proud government is expecting a foreign direct investment flow of more than US$15.5 billion for this fiscal year and more than a 20 percent surge in exports. Yet millions of Indians are being denied the basic amenities of life.
In India, a large number of children are denied basic education, and millions have difficulty finding clean sources of drinking water and nutritious food. While the country has a food surplus, hundreds die from acute malnourishment and starvation each year.
By contrast, a cursory glance at the larger cities in India gives a different impression. They are shining with new buildings and roads and are busy with the emerging middle class, who discuss the latest fashion trends and modern amenities like PDA telephones. India is a country comprising two different sets of dreamers: those who dream about spending their vacation in a foreign country with their spouse, and those who dream about having a decent meal each day.
India is a country of stark contrasts. Only 20 percent of the estimated 1.2 billion population belong to the first category of dreamers. The remaining 80 percent range from those who go for days between meals to those who can manage food every day, but have no hope of sending their children to school as they cannot afford to buy books or pay tuition fees.
To find the reasons for this polarization within India one need not look elsewhere. The rich 20 percent of the population include the country's politicians and bureaucrats. Elected representatives in the state and central governments in India earn a decent salary. In addition to their monthly pay, they have privileges and allowances that include items like free telephones or even free air travel and laptop computers. On completion of their terms, they also receive a pension.
Since 1954, elected representatives' salaries and allowances have been revised at least 26 times. Each revision increased their allowances and income. There is nothing wrong with this in essence, as elected representatives should be paid well for their services. This said, the quality of services provided by these officials has not improved to match their pay. When we take into account the growing divide between the haves and have-nots, and the extent to which the latter are being left unprotected by the state, it appears that the elected representatives are failing to provide adequate services to the majority of Indians.
Every year, elected representatives in India are each allowed some US$434,782 as a Local Development Fund. This money is not handed over to the elected representative directly, but is transferred to their respective district headquarters to be spent in the district on development programs. There are 795 members of the Indian Parliament. This means that a sum of US$345,651,690 is allotted each year by the government to be spent in the country's 604 districts. The question is where has all this money gone?
"Bharat Nirman," or Building India, a term used by former President Abdul Kalam in his speech in 2005 while explaining his vision of a business plan for rebuilding rural India, has thus far not been implemented effectively. All-weather roads were to connect every village in India, to improve transportation and access to remote villages, which would in turn generate jobs and increase income for the rural community. Jobs would initially be created by the construction of roads and later by making use of the new economic opportunities that the roads would bring.
This is all well and good in theory, but two years into the four-year project, nothing noticeable has been achieved. Rural villages remain isolated and disconnected. One excuse is that the original plan was to achieve these goals by 2009, and there are therefore two years left before progress can be criticized. However, with no visible results as yet, it is difficult to see how the plan will be achieved by 2009. Or, if it could be achieved in two years, why has it not already been completed?
Take the case of Asanahar village in Sonbadhra district, Uttar Pradesh state as an example. This village is cut off from the rest of the country; to reach it one must row a country boat for about three hours. The nearest public food distribution shop is about 15 kilometers (about 9 miles) away. There is no school, hospital or post office in the village. Most of all, there is no sign of a road being built to reach it.
Asanahar is not an isolated case. Across the state hundreds of such villages have yet to benefit from government programs. The term Bharat Nirman must seem like a cruel joke to the 700 families in Asanahar village who find it difficult to scrape together a daily meal.
Again, where has all the money gone? Why do Indians remain poor while India is rich? Poverty in India is manmade. It is the result of the mismanagement of resources and widespread corruption. It is common knowledge across India that only around 20 percent of money allotted to a project is actually spent on the project. The remaining 80 percent is lost through bribery and commissions. The actual beneficiaries of development programs in India are not the rural villagers, but the contractors, politicians and bureaucrats.
The blame for keeping the majority of Indians poor should be firmly assigned to such persons. While colonialism undoubtedly has a negative effect wherever it occurs, 60 years after the end of British rule, those who still blame the British for the state of India today should wake up, look around and take time to meet an Indian bureaucrat, politician or contractor. Do any of them appear to be poor?
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(Bijo Francis is a human rights lawyer currently working with the Asian Legal Resource Center in Hong Kong. He is responsible for the South Asia desk at the center. He has practiced law for more than a decade and holds an advanced master's degree in human rights law.)
