We seem to be stuck on our country's GDP growth rate. We read growth forecasts everyday and keep congratulating ourselves. We don't stop there. We keep comparing our growth rate with China. In our vanity, we even hope to surpass China's economic growth rate.
Amartya Sen, the world-renowned scholar and Nobel laureate for economics finds this fixation "very stupid". He points that such comparisons between the two rising economies are dangerously misguided. Our policy elites are blindly obsessed with achieving higher growth targets. But it is important to understand whether that also translates into improved human development indicators. He suggests greater attention be given to feeding the population. Especially given the high food prices currently. Sen says that higher growth is a "positive thing" in the context of social justice and poverty reduction. Directing greater public revenues towards health and education is also vital.
We quite agree. For the facts are quite alarming. According to the 2010 HDI, India ranks a low 119 among 169 countries. On the other hand, China has been ranked higher at 89. It is not surprising that Indians suffer some of the severest nutritional deficiencies in the world. Stunted development affects about half of the nation's young children. We need to pose ourselves some important questions. Is this India's "demographic dividend'? Do we expect to grow on the strength of an undernourished population?
The above is from the newsletter I receive.
Amartya Sen has just uttered what Partha and I were discussing this evening.
How useful is the high growth rate touted by our Finance Minister and the Prime Minister.
How useful are these figures for the 80 crore people who who live below the poverty line and do not get even one square meal per day.
They are just making a fool of the world.
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