Tabling the Mid -Year Review 2007-08 in Parliament, Finance Minister P Chidambaram called for according greater attention to disadvantaged groups so that they could also share economic opportunities. Even as the economy continued to expand at 9 per cent and above, the government admitted that growth need to become more inclusive so that benefits could percolate to the aam adami. 

Mr Chidambaram has certainly used the right vocabulary. But once again his approach to achieve the underlying objective of bringing in inclusive growth hinges on a faulty policy approach. No wonder, despite all the pious intentions expressed time and again, the economic condition of aam adami continues to deteriorate. Still worse, the government seems to be at a loss to understand and in fact has no clue as to why growth is not turning out to be inclusive. 

To justify his faulty understanding of the inclusive process, Mr Chidambaram quotes the questionable decline in poverty percentage that was put up by Planning Commission some years ago. Stating that “growth has generally been inclusive,” the review said the percentage of people below poverty line has declined from 36 per cent of the population in 1993-94 to 28 per cent in 2004-05. Looks impressive, isn’t it? But hold on; let us see what period is he talking about.  The decline in poverty figures that he quotes – which was more or less the result of statistical jugglery – actually was the handiwork of the erstwhile NDA government. And if you remember, the “India Shining” campaign that flopped miserably had used poverty reduction as a poll gimmick.   

What Mr Chidambaram fails to realise is that there is nothing wrong in accepting the realities howsoever harsh these may be. By accepting the ground realities we are only taking the first genuine step to rectify or address the crisis that stares at us. On the contrary he conveniently brushes aside the shocking findings of a recent report of the National Commission on Enterprises in Unorganised Sector. Submitted by economist Arjun Sengupta, the report had very clearly and conclusively stated that nearly 77 per cent of India’s population, close to 840 million, is actually surviving on less than Rs 20 a day. 

With Rs 20, you will agree it is not possible to manage two square meals a day. The number of hungry therefore is 836 million – almost equal to the 852 million hungry that the UN Millennium Development Goals (and the FAO) wrongly computes as the number of people living in hunger throughout world. 

Look at it from another perspective. After China and India, the third largest population in the world is that of the hungry and that too living within India. Doesn’t that make for poignant reading? Isn’t it enough to hang our heads in shame? But no, instead the newspapers are agog with reports of billions of dollars of foreign investment flowing in, and the daily projections of an unprecedented growth rate that will eclipse poverty. 
So far, the government has maintained that an estimated 320 million people are languishing in hunger. In my understanding, this is a gross understatement. After all, how can we assume that with Rs 20 a day a person can fill his stomach? He has to meet his other expenses also from the Rs 20 that he/she earns a day. 

The challenge therefore is to provide more income in the hands of the masses. And look at how the government intends to do it: “Most of the additional job opportunities in the XI Plan period were expected to come in trade, transport and construction sectors.” It also accepts that that most of these (additional) jobs will be in the informal sector characterised by relatively poor working conditions and lower wages than in the formal sector. 
This is where the government makes the first mistake. With nearly 57 per cent of the population or some 650 million people directly engaged in agriculture, there is no other way for inclusive growth but to focus effort on making agriculture not only sustainable but also economically viable. It is therefore the right opportunity for the government to lay a strong foundation for revitalising agriculture and pulling the farmers out of the prevailing crisis. A majority of the 840 million people who survive on less than Rs 20 a day comprise of farmers. Improving the lot of farmers is the surest way towards making growth inclusive.

Instead, farmers have not only become a burden on an ungrateful nation but are being steadily pushed out of agriculture. Village India has disappeared from the economic radar screen of the policy makers. In fact, successive budget proposals have been essentially geared at laying out the infrastructure for corporate takeover of Indian agriculture. Privatisation of mandis, opening of food retail trade to foreign direct investment and pushing aggressively the highly controversial “contract farming” is part of the agricultural reforms being undertaken. 
Removing farmers from agriculture will not lead to inclusive growth. Finance Minister should make a sincere effort to restore the pride in farming and agriculture. Only then can growth become truly inclusive.