10 Social Equality

India has become a land of Disparities. Our relatively developed bigger cities are full of slums. A State like Maharastra, home to industrial cities of Mumbai and Pune, also has a huge number of poor farmers in the Vidarbha region. Eastern UP is lagging behind western UP and so on. To top it all up, since VP Singh played the Mandal card, casteism has increased in society and is being blatantly abused.

We Indians are so prone to "premature triumphalism" that we start self-congratulating ourselves at the smallest of achievements. We have become so accustomed to seeing poverty all around us that we have become blind and insensitive to it. (It takes a Danny Boyle to create the Slumdog Millionaire!)

The recent anti-north Indian violence in Mumbai, and the growing frequency and audacity of Naxalite attacks in central/eastern India should alert us to the dangers of growing disparities. Unless poorer people find a way to channel their anger in a constructive manner, we could have a fertile ground for breeding regionalists, secessionists and other form of rebellion.

But, what is the solution to this? Why should a progressive industrial state bear a burden of hinterland and badly ruled states within India?

I think we need to look at the model of welfare states in Europe. Clearly, India, as a developing country cannot sustain the high level of personal taxation as prevalent in Europe. But, could we have a basic level of welfare to keep people out of total poverty, and be provided some basic services?

1. Poverty Alleviation: What does it cost to support the 30% of our brethren, living in absolute poverty ? Thats about 300 Million people, perhaps about 75 Million Households. If we just give each household 1 dollar a day, and let them do what they want with it, it would cost 27,375,000,000 dollars annually. (about 28 billion). Thats not too high, compared to the general level of government expenditure in any case, which has been done inefficiently in the past. (our recent budgets have been to the tune of around 200 B Dollars).

Once we have a unique ID system, we could also have a "smartcard" that is automatically and electronically credited every month, and could be used in shops etc. This is infinitely less wasteful then having layers of corrupt government officers distributing welfare money to the poor.

2. Social Reforms: Lets face it, our society has been full of ills like caste system, status of women and so on. Can we do something now so that these ills disappear from the face of earth in the next few generations?

Maybe, Encourage Interfaith, Inter-caste, and intra-regional marriages. Obviously, this is a private affair, and state has got no business to interfere in it. However, a person who marries outside his or her community is in fact doing a good deed in terms of promoting national integration. Such people usually face a social stigma, which can be offset by the state. Perhaps government can pay a "marriage gift" to such couples?

All caste based organizations need to be discouraged. (Just Ban them on grounds of being discriminatory?). If we take the other steps to fix the other root causes and provide general welfare to ALL poor, there should be no need of any affirmative action that is caste based.