12th Five Year Plan Taking "Inclusive Development" from Myth to Reality

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12th Five Year Plan

Taking "Inclusive Development" from Myth to Reality

Vol - XLVII No. 52, December 29, 2012 | Mazher Hussain

The Planning Commission of India posted the draft Document of the 12th Five year Plan on its website in the first week of December 2012 for feedback from the public before it is adopted by the National Development Council (NDC) on 28 December and declared the Five Year Plan for the country from 2012 to 2017. The stated vision of the Plan Document is “of India moving forward in a way that would ensure a broad-based improvement in living standards of all sections of the people through a growth process which is faster than in the past, more inclusive and also more environmentally sustainable”. This mantra of “faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth”’ is indeed ideal and laudable, but the question is how can we make it possible? More importantly, what could be the consequences if we fail?

Mazher Hussain (mazherhussain11@gmail.com ) is with COVA, a national network working on communal harmony in India and peace in South Asia. He was also a member of a Steering Committee of the Planning Commission, Government of India, for the preparation of the Approach Paper for the 12th Five Year Plan.

Planning Commission of India first started talking of “inclusive growth” as an objective while formulating the 11th Five Year Plan which was in operation from 2007 to 2012. But we find that while this 11th Plan succeeded in achieving a remarkable rate of growth, it also witnessed impoverishment and exclusion of large sections of the populations from benefits of development. This was because of the singular focus of the planners on growth and not on distribution with the assumption that accelerated growth would trickle down to benefit all. Unfortunately this has not happened. On the contrary, the disparities seem to have increased.

11th Plan: Exclusion and Deprivations

Despite an average 7.9 per cent growth in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) during the 11th Plan Period -sometimes peaking to 9 per cent- the performance of India in terms of the Human Development Index (indicative of inclusive growth and the extent of population benefiting from development) saw a downward slide from 128th and 127th positions in 2000 and 2005 respectively to 134th position in 2009 and 2011. While a handful are reaping benefits and have entered the billionaires club, millions are being forced into deprivation and disempowerment. For the first time in history, four Indians found a place amongst the 10 richest people of 2009, but three out of every ten poor people in the world in the same year were also Indians - an unusual phenomenon of continuing poverty and marginalisation in the midst of galloping plenty.

While Planning Commission of India accepts GDP as a measure for assessing growth, it has not taken any steps to adopt any tool to quantitatively measure “inclusive growth”. Models and measures are indeed available to determine inclusivity of growth in the form of Gini Coefficient (the measure of income inequality) and HDI (Human Development Index) etc., but what seems to be lacking is the appropriate development philosophy and political will to adopt them. With such systemic privileging of “growth” and gross omission of any measures to assess “inclusion”, our planning process has taken a trajectory that has resulted in the doubling of inequity in incomes in India during the last 20 years, making it the worst performer on this count of all emerging economies according to a report of OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development) released in December 2011. The OECD Report further shows that the top 10 per cent wage earners in India now make 12 times more than the bottom 10 per cent. Ironically, this was also a period when the GDP of the country started increasing at an unprecedented rate making it one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Further, despite all assertions of social inclusion, India spends an abysmal 5 per cent of its GDP on social protection schemes as compared to more than 15 per cent by Brazil, and during the last two decades India’s Gini Coefficient has climbed from 0.32 to 0.38 with 0 being the ideal score.

Conflicts: A Product of Inequity and Marginalisation

The deprivation and exploitation of millions of poor seems to be turning them against the system as they find themselves more and more excluded from the benevolent and protective character of the State. This disenchantment and exclusion of the masses is getting translated into a variety of social and political conflicts and manifests itself as agitations, riots, resistance, militancy and even demands for secession organised around caste, class, communal, regional and ethnic lines. Already one-third of the country is afflicted by some form of serious conflict due to the exploitative and unsustainable philosophy of growth we seem to be pursuing. Even the Planning Commission has explicitly stated in its Plan Document for the 12th Five Year Plan that “agitations around land acquisition, deforestation, water use, air and water pollution, and also our response to natural disasters have become more and pose challenges which this Plan must address squarely.”

If left unaddressed, all these conflicts could lead to increased violence between more and more groups and communities, set ablaze most of the country and have the potential of bringing down the legitimacy of the state and cause irreversible damage to the national polity. Hence, it is imperative that any planning process of the State should also focus on deliberations about how development in different spheres is contributing to generation/enhancement of conflicts and explore the possibility of using the planning process for mitigation of conflicts rather than provide conditions for their accentuation as seems to be the case now.

Adoption of Multiple Parameters

The Plan Document asserts that “our focus should not be just on GDP growth itself, but on achieving a growth process that is as inclusive as possible” and rightly accepts that “strong inclusive growth is the only scenario that will meet the aspiration of the people”. But in terms of its approach and methodology, it unfortunately continues its primary focus on providing impetus to “growth” ( fixing a target of achieving 9 per cent GDP growth), but adopts no methodologies to measure and monitor “inclusive growth” despite explicitly mentioning that “the extent of inequality is measured by indices such as the Gini coefficient”. If the Planning Commission is indeed serious and honest about “inclusive growth” then it should also fix targets for Gini coefficient, HDI and other such measures also. Otherwise it would appear that “inclusive growth” is being used more as a slogan for effect than a parameter for the planning process.

Endgame

It is rightly said that growth for the sake of growth is the philosophy of a cancer cell. Whether we are the RBCs (Red Blood Corpuscles) or cancer cells for Mother Earth, the option can change with the Twelfth Plan. All that is required is a politics oriented towards the underprivileged, a will that can resist corporate greed and the power of international capital

Web Link

http://www.epw.in/web-exclusives/12th-five-year-plan.html

International Charter of Religious and Faith Based Organisations

International Charter of Religious and Faith Based Organisations

For Conflict Mitigation and Joint Support Initiatives for the Afflicted / Persons of Concern

For consideration by Roundtable-2 on Promoting Durable Solutions

At the High Commissioners Dialogue on Protection Challenges: Faith and Protection

12-13 December 2012, Geneva, Switzerland

Draft prepared by Dr. Mazher Hussain, COVA, India

1. All Faith based and religious groups would collaborate at the organisational and program levels for relief, rehabilitation, reconciliation and repatriation of the affected/ persons of concern*.

2. Will pool resources- financial, personal and organisational – to mount and undertake joint operations and initiatives during natural disasters, conflict situation or any emergencies requiring a humanitarian response and work collectively for the relief, rehab, reconciliation and repatriation in any conflict situations across community lines and on the principles of service to humanity.**

3.Will create appropriate atmosphere in their areas of operation to facilitate reconciliation and return of refugees, especially belonging to other faiths.***

4. Pledge to promote universal compassion, acceptance of differences and discourage stereotyping and spread of hatred against other faith / denominational groups.

5. Take collective actions and collaborate to prevent misuse of religious beliefs to promote conflicts.

*All faiths and religions proclaim it as a duty to help and support those in need and the oppressed. Most faith groups undertake initiatives and programs to help the needy but usually it is members of their own congregations that they reach out to and not others. The sentiments become sectarian and are not humanitarian. This has adverse consequences where the conflict also has a religious / faith dimension (and most conflicts have or tend to acquire such a dimension) as this leads to a situation where people of the other faith are seen as oppressors and people of our own faith perceived as the saviours for the help provided- enhancing the stereotypes that further feed the conflict and make reconciliation difficult. All faith groups must pledge to work across sectarian lines as this could prevent misuse of faith / religion for creating and sustaining conflicts and create necessary conditions for reconciliation and return where required..

** If faith based groups come together during natural disaster etc, then it becomes much easier to continue and enhance their collaboration in a situation of conflict involving their faiths directly or indirectly.

*** Faith leaders, with their unique position and influence in their communities, can play a critical role in breaking stereotypes and create conditions necessary for reconciliation and even safe return.

**** Faith and religion have become the biggest contexts and vehicles for the spread of stereotyping, hatred and conflicts. Unfortunately most faith and religious leaders unabashedly and openly engage in this, lending further credibility to divisive and fissiparous forces. Even if some faith / religious leaders start contesting such misuse of religion and faith, this could initiate a new and welcome trend. This will gain greater credibility and acceptance if leaders of different faiths come together to take joint stands and issue common statements to promote values of accepting diversity and differences, universal compassion and humanitarian outlook.

***** While some religious / faith leaders facilitate or engage in misuse of religion / faith to create and foster conflicts, many others are averse to such practice but remain silent. Unless religious leaders protest and challenge such misuse openly, consistently and collectively, most conflicts will continue and new ones will get added.

The demolition that rebuilt a community- The Hindu 6 Dec 2012

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December 6, 2012

The demolition that rebuilt a community

The destruction of Babri Masjid bridged the class divide among Muslims, giving them a unitary identity and new political awareness

MAZHER HUSSAIN

Defining moment:Demolition of Babri Masjid in progress on December 6, 1992.— Photo: AFP

Rarely has the destruction of a single building impacted history as much as the demolition of Babri Masjid. Apart from becoming a watershed in the history of Indian politics, it has emerged as the defining moment for the Indian Muslim community — as significant as the partition of India, but while partition impacted and continues to impact Indian Muslims negatively, the Babri demolition gave new life and direction to the community.

Intra-community linkages

At partition, most of the Muslim middle class migrated to Pakistan, leaving a few rich and many poor Muslims behind with little or no social, educational or cultural interaction between them. The vast majority of poor Muslims felt orphaned. Coupled with this was the structural exclusion of the Muslim community from the general domain of development by the establishment and society at large, restricting access to educational, economic and development opportunities that reduced the community’s circumstances to a level below that of Dalits, according to available data. Even the Constitution of India excludes Muslims from the domain of entitlements by extending reservations on religious lines — available only to caste Hindus and not to Muslims or Christians.

But around the phenomenon of demolition of Babri Masjid and the agitations and violence that preceded, accompanied and followed it, a sense of commonality, belonging and empathy developed within the Muslim community due to the shared sense of insecurity and increased profiling irrespective of their class or location. This resulted in the emergence of a connect between the elite, the emerging middle class and poor Muslims, leading to increased and sustained intra-community interaction and collaboration in the social, educational, economic and political spheres. This in turn led to the establishment of organisations and institutions at different levels to further the educational, economic and social development of Muslims in general and of poor Muslims in particular. So many and so varied avenues for development were never available to poor Muslims before and most of these were being provided by rich and middle-class Muslims. Even if this did not greatly improve the situation of the community, it at least arrested the slide into greater impoverishment.

A new Muslim identity

In the phase before the Babri demolition, most elite and educated Muslims did not fully identify with the community. The general perception about a Muslim was that s/he was a poor, illiterate and orthodox person. Educated and elite Muslims often heard a comment that “you don’t look like a Muslim, you don’t act like a Muslim” and they felt happy at not being bracketed with a community perceived as backward. With the dissociation of the educated and elite Muslims from the community identity, its image suffered even more, making Muslims easy targets for ridicule and hate, and exclusion from the spheres of development, entitlements and even claims of equal citizenship.

The Rath Yatra and the accompanying communal frenzy that gripped the country, leading to riots and culminating in the demolition of Babri Masjid, succeeded in creating a common Muslim stereotype that encompassed all sections and classes. Further, while derision was initially restricted to poverty and backwardness of the community, in the communally surcharged atmosphere of the 70s to the 90s the culture, practices, traditions and even the religion of Muslims became targets for hate.

Every Muslim — including the elite — started to feel insecure and realised the injustice of it all. Educated, middle class and elite Muslims revolted against such profiling and began asserting that yes, they are indeed Muslims and proud to be so. Atheist Muslims too started accepting their socio-political Muslim identity even as they rejected faith. Thanks to Hindutva forces that destroyed the mosque, all Muslims were united as one community with a single identity. (Post 9/11 and with Islamophobia, this process has started acquiring international dimensions). The irony was that the Hindutva slogan of those times “ Garv se kaho hum Hindu hai ” (say with pride I am a Hindu) remained a slogan, but got Muslims to accept their “Muslimness” and assert it openly.

This broad, all-encompassing “Muslim” identity became the trigger for numerous initiatives for the development of the community funded generously by and, and in some cases, with active and sustained participation of educated and rich Muslims. Not just that, it also resulted in the initiation of new political processes in the community and the country with far reaching implications.

Political transformation

With Babri Masjid went too the traditional Muslim leadership that had made the Babri issue the primary Muslim agenda for almost a decade and had kept the community confined within the concerns of security. Muslims started searching for new leaders and new agendas — this time, of justice, equality and development. As a result, they accepted even non-Muslims like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav and N.T. Rama Rao as leaders.

The Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid movement and the resultant formation of the BJP government at the Centre made Muslims realise the importance of who rules and its impact on the security, identity, culture and economy of the community. This led to greater political awakening and participation of Muslims in political processes, ending their earlier indifference to politics. For all Muslims, politics became a matter of life and death.

With the community’s greater participation in the electoral processes, the political influence of Muslims is slightly more than their numbers because of the increased turn-out and tactical use of the vote. The Muslim vote has emerged as an important political factor with two objectives: keeping BJP out and securing rights and entitlements that are due to them as citizens.

For the first time after independence Muslim concerns entered the domain of rights and entitlements. It is this awakening of the Muslim community to their rights as citizens and growing demands for a politics of entitlement that compelled the Congress government to constitute the Sachar Committee and that led to the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Commission.

Given all these developments, it would be no exaggeration to say that demolition of Babri Masjid initiated the reconstruction of a community that constitutes over 14 per cent of the population and the reorientation of the political direction of a country.

Tailpiece

Had the domes of Babri remained intact, BJP could have been still setting the political agenda of the country and ruling the roost while the Muslim community would have continued to be mired in issues of protection and security.

Hindutva forces were able to use the domes of Babri Masjid as images of revulsion to mobilise masses for political gains. But with the domes destroyed, they seem unable to project the vision of the Grand Ram Temple to energise enough numbers to propel them to power once again.

Twenty years down the line, it seems moot to ask if the act of vandalism December 6, 1992 just brought down a Masjid, or has it also frustrated forever the desire of the Hindutva forces to rule the country.

(Mazher Hussain is Executive Director of COVA, a national network working on issues of communal harmony in India and peace in South Asia.)

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Link for friends who may have missed the Panel Discussion involving Swapan Dasgupta, Yogendra Yadav, Christope and Mazher Hussain on NDYV 24/7 the  Buck Stops Here..

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-buck-stops-here/ayodhya-has-india-moved-beyond...