Poor Life in India despite Economic Growth - Dissertation Example

Quality of Life Poor in India despite Economic Growth India has continually recorded a drop in index when the quality of life its citizens have despite its steady and progressive rise in its economic growth. Li report (2014:48) indicates that India has fallen below the bar which it was at 6-7 years ago and at the moment it stands at position 134 from 128 out of the 182 nations assessed. It has failed to adequately provide for the basic needs of its citizen contrary to the expectation one would have looking at its economic prosperity and continued flourish in money matters (National Institute of Rural Development, 2005:24). The quality of life can is measured by social indicators such as illiteracy level, conflicts (religious, political and socio-economic), disparities, governance among others that reveal the conditions of living of the citizens. This paper aims at evaluating various aspects of social life as portrayed in India that indicates and account for the reason why quality of life in India has continued to deteriorate regardless of India’s economic prowess over the years. The quality of life that citizens in a particular country enjoy significantly depends on the rule of power that governs them and the political temperature of that particular nation. A country may be recording high Gross Domestic Product but if the government that is in power does not effectively control and allocate the resources with integrity and accountability then a good percentage of common citizens in that nation will continue to wallow in abject poverty and social miseries. An investigation into quality of life of a person goes beyond just economic stability and critically examines the social factors that revolve around an individual or a community. This is counterchecked and compared with the social indicators so as to be able to determine the exact state of the people. Social indicators can be defined as those aspects of an individual or community that can signify the welfare status of the person or people in their social, economic and psychological dimensions (Bdhide, 2004:34). India is a highly populated country with about 1.27 Billion people as at July, 2014 standing at second position in the world in terms of population (Sen and Drèze, 2002:77). This extremely big population requires and expects care and awaits provision of basic and necessary resources from the government without which the quality of life remains and worse enough falls even lower. The government, therefore, is expected to use its power and state resources to ensure development within the country is enhanced. India however has faced myriad challenges when it comes to internal development due to a number of issues ranging from capitalism, religious conflicts between Islam and Hindu, corruption, big gap between the rich and the poor, child labour, poor social dynamics (do not embrace change) to gender inequality among others that have since retarded its development (Sen and Drèze, 2002: 80). Government Power in Development Legitimate power vested on the government of India by the law to control, manage, oversee, distribute and account for resources and development projects has had both its merits and demerits in shaping up India as it is today (Bdhide, 2004:40). The government is charged with primary role to coordinate, direct among other duties ensure that a country is developing well and that the people living within that country are sufficiently supplied with the basic needs. Through policy making and implementation, it ensures that what it finds best for the growth and development of the country is put in place. Indian government has had various achievements although the power has also brought disadvantages (Bdhide, 2004:44). Achievements Policies and Programmes The power that the government enjoys has enabled it to formulate policies and programmes that have seen positive development outcomes for the people of India right from the early years of the country’s independence (Sen and Drèze, 2013:66). Development requires sound, realistic and accurate well-though strategic policies and programmes that are put in place to regulate guide and monitor the activities that are undertaken to realise the developmental goals. The government of India through its powers has formulated the ‘Antipoverty Programme’ which was aimed at helping those who are poor to afford and sufficiently be access the basic needs. This programme has been more of a campaign mounted to kick out poverty from India by empowering the poor. Programmes such as ‘food-for-work’ among others have been initiated into non-urban areas where the level of poverty s high so us to assist people who are needy to gain stability and guide them on what and how to produce food. Policies that govern international trade, investment and exportation/importation have also been put in place in an attempt to benefit the local traders by enhancing investments, scholarships and other support programmes (Sen and Drèze, 2013:71). Security Since the government is mandated to ensure security in the country, the power vested on it to investigate, arrest, charge, prosecute and detain criminals both internally and externally has enabled it provide a peaceful environment in which business transaction and development agendas can be conducted. This peaceful nature of India as whole attracts local, regional and international investor, human personnel, students, researchers among others. The economic growth that India has steadily recorded is as a result of security and safety of India as no progressive serious war has been witnessed in India unlike most countries (Sen and Drèze, 2005:74). Disadvantages Although the government control over resources and authority over people has seen various advantages, several negative issues have come up largely contributing to the high poverty level and low quality of life in India. The government has an advantage of and authority to control and be the primary custodian of the state resources but when the people in power are not able to discharge their duties effectively in managing the resources and raising the standards of living of the citizens, the there can be no development no matter how much GDP the country produces and this will automatically translates to low living standards and poor social facilities (Sen and Drèze, 2013:76). Corruption According to Kapila (2008:110), Indian government has been rated low in transparency watch and the rate of corruption in the country is greatly high. It has lost a big sum of money just two years ago that has greatly shaken its economy. Corruption gratifies those in positions of power while it hampers the common citizen who depends on the government for infrastructural and social facilities from receiving the quality services as he/she has to feel the direct consequences of the loss. There are three grand corruption cases that have since left a big gap in the economy of India and the whole world went talking: Land case, telecommunication case and Coal case. These corruption cases among other have affected the quality of life that the people of India gets because in as much as individuals work hard day and night to produce, their efforts end up in one or few individual’s pockets who only care about themselves (Kapila, 2008:82). The quality of life of few people escalates, therefore, leaving the larger population writhing in agony and misery. Development in rural places cannot be achieved when the people in positions of power are pocketing the state resources for themselves at the expense of the citizens. If these money were channelled to projects such as healthcare, education or infrastructure then the lives of the Indians would have changed massively. Gender Inequality Gender inequality in India is a major factor that has hindered the development of India and it’s a factor that has led to low quality of life (Mathu, 2007:210). There is a great division in India based on gender and only about 25% of women in India are literate. Gender inequality is the handling of people of different sexes differently based on their biological make-up and the social provisions. It is evidenced when certain gender is favoured at the expense of another and benefits are given to one specific gender and denied the other. For example, Indian women in the education are not provided with sufficient and quality education, therefore, increasing the illiteracy level in women compared to me (Mathu, 2008:221). In education, literate men are about 82% while women are 75%. This gap shows that there are no policies and structures in place to ensure that women and girl receive equal chances as men and boys. Failure to get good education means that women are more likely not to have high quality life as compared to men as they will not be able to get well paying jobs and command great income so as to improve their lives. Gender in equality in education, therefore, explains why the quality of life of women is low (Mathu, 2008: 224). In the economic arena, women have received constant discrimination in recruitment and hiring at work places. For example, the military among other jobs are biased on what role a woman can play in such (Mathu, 2008:225).Women are hardly hired and when they are, they cannot engage in certain roles and duties such as the combative works in the armed forces in India. At work places there are high rank positions that they cannot rise to and have to stay in the low paying ranks. Inheritance rights are so much restricted and limited that women do not get an advantage and these entirely make women be economically restrained thereby inhibiting their personal developments and well-being (Ram and Thakur, 2005). The social policies and the unwritten laws that require women to pay dowry to the person they are marrying have made women seem like a great burden to their parents since they (parents) have to pay the ‘groom price’. This makes the family prefer the son child to girls and most of the opportunities are availed to the boy (Prasada, 2006). Girls, therefore, grow up lacking services such as education, proper love and care among others that negatively define her future. Religious Conflicts: Hindu versus Islam India has Hindu as the dominant and largest religion but Islam also exists and from the early times there have been social and cultural wars and tensions between the two religions. Lately there have been three religious wars that largely spread its impact and touched on the greater development of India namely; two ‘Assam-Punjab’ and ‘Hindu-Muslim’ (Paswan, 2006:11). For ‘Assam-Punjab’, it was an ethnic-religion war that stroke twice lately while Hindu-Muslim is basically religion-based conflicts that have continued till now. These wars have their roots back in history of India and Arab invasion. There can never be development and social well-being where continuous conflicts are witnessed and these have resulted greatly to the poor quality of life of Indians (Paswan, 2006:18). So many people have been killed in these clashes and a big number displaced. The wars were evidenced in the recent election in February in which the aftermath was all conflicts leading to the eviction of some people to move out of the country to seek refuge in some other places. The factions that have been in constant fight for the last 3 years include the ‘Assamese, Bengalis and some other local tribes although this war was not purely religious but ethnic. The Hindu-Muslim on the other side has always progressed until now and its purely religious war between those who subscribe to Islam versus the Hindu (Sen and Drèze, 2002:121). Caste System One of the major reasons why India continue to record low quality of life is the caste system in which great social stratification and disparity is evident. Communities in India have since been dived and categorised in units known as ‘Jatis’. These castes are placed in four categories namely; ‘Brahmins, Shudras, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas’ People born in India, therefore, inherit inequalities if he/she happens to come from a caste that is regarded as low. They are, therefore, treated separately from another community or caste in terms of resource allocation (Mathu, 2008:122). Social stratification and inequality witnessed in any society greatly hold back its development. India does not only experience gender inequality but social inequality too. This means that resources and any privileges are channelled towards one particular while ignoring the other. If one, therefore, happens to have come from a disregarded caste the person is unlucky as he/she cannot access services and commodities that can improve his/her quality of life (Dashmishra, 2011:100). If the government is working towards facilitating the economic growth as it has always been without including all the sections in the society in equal governance and resource allocation then other side that has been discriminated will never have an improved quality of life. The caste system instead of bringing cohesion and integration, it separates and creates hatred among the citizens of India. Growth and development in a country is only achieved when people are working as one in harmony and cohesion but the caste system disintegrates the country (Gunasekaran, 2008: 188). Child Labour According to Paswan (2006:88), Child labour in India has been a major drawback that has halted the full development of individuals in the country. In India, children are integrated into business and industries at very tender ages and these deny them the opportunity to receive full quality education. Most parents ‘sell off’ their children to work for other people so they may generate income .When these young kids are taken away, they miss opportunities to study and define their careers thereby ending up within the poverty circles their parents had drawn (Sen and Drèze, 2013:99). The government has not done much to eradicate this vice and, therefore, most children do not learn adequately to their potential. Gap between the Rich and the Poor The gap between the poor and the rich is very wide in India and this has marginalised some states making them to record more poverty index while those that are rich rise even more. The rich states include Gujarat, Punjab, and Maharashtra etc. And the other side of the poverty line include states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. This gap has been a major influence of economic development in some parts of the country and completely economic stagnation in other parts making life in these economically stagnant states extremely poor (Sen and Drèze, 2005:69). Various essential services and facilities such as medi-care centres, infrastructure, learning institutions among others are not provided and if available, they are of very poor qualities. This regional imbalance results to two extremely different sets of lifestyles where one is on the lower end and another on the extreme higher end (Sen and Drèze, 2013:115). The economic and social inequality can extensively account for the poor quality of life that India experiences as there is no balance in resource allocation and provision of services. Whenever there is a wide economic gap between citizens in a country, the development is usually skewed towards one region while the other regions deemed poor are left suffering. This does not only create anger and hatred between the two groups but also rise in criminal activities becomes inevitable in such societies. Those who do not have would want to do anything they can to be as those who have, driven by their anger and hatred (Sen and Drèze, 2013:117). The rise of insecurity, therefore, implies that the government will use additional resources and energy to provide security, resources that would have otherwise been used elsewhere for development. Capitalism India has over the years been engulfed by the wave of capitalism that emanated from Western Europe and over 3 decades now, production and economic activities have been under capitalism system (Haynes, 2011:119). Capitalism is the economic system in classified people controls a nation’s economic industry rather than the state as they make gains. India’s industries and agricultural sectors are under capitalism, This system has exposed the citizens who work in these sectors to great economic exploitation. This is because the private owners trade to maximise their profits no matter how much they exploit and underpay the other people who work in that sector (Haynes, 2011:120). Most of the people who have been exploited for long are the people who work in the agriculture sector. When the state is in control of the industries and production, protection can be offered to the team players in that particular industry but when foreigners or the rich merchants are the ones left to control production, people in that sector suffer a lot (Selin and Davey, 2012). The workers are underpaid, supplies are not paid enough amounts that are commensurate with the products they offer, consumers have high chances of being supplied with sub-standard good and services among others. The small capitalist within the country may also be barred from escalating up the ladder since competition s discouraged. This generally undermines the development of people in the country leading to poor quality of life since people work more but receives less payment and low quality goods and services (Gunasekaran, 2008:244). Environmental Degradation Environmental degradation is a key propagator in facilitating paucity and poverty as most of the industrial products have their raw materials derived and sourced from the environment. When the same environment is under threat then the production system halts (Ram, 2005:110). India has witnessed a rapid growth in population and this has posed a problem with the environment. Regions where people are densely populated usually record serious environmental problems such as water population, soil infertility, and lack of rainfall among other because of the unhealthy practices people in populated regions are likely to engage in (Ram, 2005:111). If the government cannot formulate policies and put structures that can protect the environment then environmental degradation will be seen right from the wildlife, trees, and water air and soil pollution to weather and climatic changes. A deterioration or change of these do no not only affect the health of people of India but also negatively influences their social and economic growth. Lack of raw materials for industrial means people will become jobless and production is lowered .A good number also depend on the natural resources solely for survival and this means that lack of the same will affect these people significantly (Bhide and Srinivasan, 2004:123). Conservative and anti-change mentality According to Winters (2007:110), India culture is a conservative culture in which people stick rigidly to the status quo. New advancements and developments that come along are rejected in most cases and this has made them lose a lot in terms of development. Since the society is dynamic and a lot of changes are realised every day, only those who embrace change can improve their quality of life. The traditional methods of doing things have been grasped tightly by most Indians and changes in medical, technological and economic sectors are embraced hesitantly with doubt. This mentality has made most of the citizens ignore many things that would otherwise improve their lives unlike in countries such as China which have embraced technologically with both hands (Winter, 2007:113). Conclusion and Recommendations As it has been evidenced, most of the problems that have resulted to low quality of life in India despite their hard work to push the economic index up lies more with the government. There are no or few policies that regulated the problems such as Child labour, environmental degradation, national cohesion, conflict and wars among others. The problems are more of administrative that personal and therefor issue such a corruption, conflicts and division. Environmental degradation, child labour among other needs policies that are strict and can be implemented. The capitalism also does not work for the betterment of India and, therefore, it should be dropped as well as the Caste system. The government and all stake holders who are determined to see India grow should not only focus on economic development but also the welfare of Indian Citizens. If these are addressed, India with its consistent economic growth will provide such a high quality life for its citizens. References Bhide, S. & Srinivasan, J.T. (2004) Development policies, priorities, and sustainability perspectives in India, Bangalore, Institute for Social and Economic Change. Dashmishra, M. (2011) Political economy of development and environmental degradation in India, New Delhi, Concept Pub. Co. Gunasekaran, S. (2008) Determinants of infant and child mortality in rural India, Delhi, Kalpaz Publications. Haynes, D.E. (2011) Small town capitalism in Western India: artisans, merchants and the making of the informal economy, 1870-1960, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 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