Minimal Visible Inequality is Human Development
- In Economics
- 03:17 AM, May 24, 2017
- Bhanoji Rao
The index of human development combines standardized measures of health, education and purchasing power. It is easy to see that a morbidity free long life is a major component of human capability. The other essential component is education of a minimum of 12 years and more if possible. Together, health and education provide the capability with which one has to derive purchasing power. Lacking in such capabilities, one is pushed to depend on society one way or the other. There is a significant uncertainty in converting capability into cash; some win a lot and many are in the middle, while others languish at low levels of income.
The fact that a few have done well on all three constituents of human development is of little national value since the country as a whole is nowhere near the top ranks in terms of human development.
Pushing up the general averages by a notch or two or celebrating the victories of a few in cricket or music or nuclear energy is not the same thing as lifting the vast majority of our people to heights of knowledge from depths of ignorance, to vistas of health from the morass of morbidity, and to contentment from multiple deprivations.
Public policy has to step in and provide the wherewithal for human capability across the board. This is because even in circumstances of sustained high rates of economic growth, as long as capabilities are highly unequal among the people, income and wealth distributions will not be moderated by the forces that generate growth. In addition, neither the development of free markets nor global economic integration can make a contribution to fairness in the distribution of human capabilities. The rich as well as the upper middle class will do whatever possible to preserve their class and category: in terms of the hospitals and doctors they visit, the schools their wards attend and the homes they own or rent. It is thus utopian to think that the free markets, globalization and economic growth resting on them will correct the imbalances in the distribution of health, education and housing.
What should be the role and content of public policy in regard to enhancing human capabilities and correcting the inequality in their distribution across people?
The issue is one of fairness in the provision of education, health, and housing with proper water and sanitation provision. If the distribution of these amenities is really fair, it will be there to see for one and all, it will be equality that is visible.
Inequality is most visible when some children go to the posh private school while others go to the less endowed; when some patients go to an indifferent government hospital, while others go to the caring corporate hospital; and when some live in a make shift dwelling while others live in spacious homes.
The most crucial is the visibility of inequality in education. It is unfortunate that Indian children at age 5 or 6 get segregated into those going to the posh private school and those going to the relatively less endowed government/municipal school. This inequality at the very inception of education, with the almost unambiguous effect of perpetuating inequalities in life outcomes, may be taken to mean an entrenched culture of inequality.
In the area of education, an urgent need, therefore, is to launch a programme to build new and identically well endowed government schools, with excellent facilities for mid-day meals and the provision of free textbooks plus uniforms for those who can’t afford. On the top of them all, proper incentives should be used to attract first rate teachers. In their absence, it will simply mean the perpetuation of the culture of inequality.
In health, we need a programme to build world class polyclinics in place of the present primary health centres and taking steps to ensure they are well staffed. Taking up such projects over a period of time is neither expensive nor difficult if only the cult of inequality does not come in our way.
In an advertisement issued in the media by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on October 2 a few years ago, the following quote from the Mahatma was reproduced: “I shall work for an India … in which there shall be no high class and low class of people; an India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony.” Public housing, and private housing with appropriate homes for the poor in and around the same cluster, will go a long way in ensuring the fulfilment of the dream of the Mahatma. That housing is a nation building activity is confirmed by the breathtaking house and township development activity by the Government of Singapore.
The former Prime Minister of Singapore in his book From Third World to First, The Singapore Story: 1965-2000, Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew, (Singapore: Singapore Press Holdings, 2000), has this to say on the key role housing plays in nation building.
“My primary preoccupation was to give every citizen a stake in the country and its future. I wanted a home-owning society. I … was convinced that if every family owned its home, the country would be more stable.” (p. 116)
“There were enormous problems, especially in the early stages when we resettled farmers and others from almost rent-free wooden squatter huts with no water, power and modern sanitation, and therefore, no utility bills, into high-rise dwellings with all these amenities, but also a monthly bill to pay. It was a wrenching experience for them in personal, social and economic terms.” (p. 120)
National and international development policy makers, aid agencies and NGOs should appreciate the vital need for creating a stake for people in the nations they live in. More than nation building, proper housing is a pre-condition to providing water and sanitation in general and toilet facilities in particular.
Schools that unify children and housing estates that unify citizens are my dream for my country. I shall consider that I am blessed if the general public, intellectuals and policy makers were to share the same dream.
The urgent task ahead is the reduction of the visible inequalities in education, health and housing, thus contributing to broad based evolution of human capabilities.
As for the macroeconomic environment to assist in the cashing in of the capabilities, the higher level of equality in capabilities will help raise the economic growth rate domestically and acceptability internationally of the manpower and products they make.
Now let me summarize the main points. First, government programs should aim at first class school infrastructure. Identical infrastructure, qualified and well paid teachers, in-school health checks and preventive care is equality of opportunity. Second, world class government polyclinics and effective medical insurance for all are suggested on the health front. Finally, apartment complexes with some with one room, kitchen and bath for the lowest income class (supplied under full or partial subsidization) promote visible inequality and ensure sustained water and sanitation for all.
Development is freedom. It is freedom from stark visible inequalities.
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