pioneer: NDA's shining years

mar 27th, 2007

guess where the incidence of poverty is the lowest? j&k. yes, at 5.43%, much better than the rate in kerala for instance, at 15%.

as i have been saying for years, the j&k fellows have colonized india, and coerce 10x the grants from the center that other states get. and yet they are not happy, the ingrates. they should compare themselves to their fellows being ground under the punjabi heel in PoK.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Moksha

NDA's shining years

 

The Pioneer Edit Desk – March 26 2007

 

Poor were liberated from poverty

 

As prices soar and evidence of economic mismanagement piles up, we are hit by a welcome blast from the past. The latest data from the National Sample Survey Organisation, which was collected during the 60th round coinciding with all but one year of the Vajpayee era (2000-2005), finally proves wrong those who grudged the NDA its 'India Shining' slogan. The data shows that overall poverty declined from 26.1 per cent in 1999-2000 to 21.8 per cent. The fall in rural poverty was even sharper: From 27.1 per cent to 21.8 per cent. This should silence those who hold that the NDA's growth process was "not inclusive". Now, if we take our political comparisons further, it will be seen that three of the five poorest States from that era were not ruled by the NDA for either the entire period or more than half of it - Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. Though Orissa and Jharkhand, who come out poorest and fourth poorest respectively, were ruled by the NDA, it should be recalled that Orissa is unfortunate to have suffered long spells of bad governance when the Congress was in power in that State. As for Jharkhand, it is too early for that State to rid itself of the baggage of its past existence as a part of Bihar. If we were to look at the next five most-poor States - Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal - we would find that none of them was governed by the NDA. During the NDA years, NSSO statistics show that unemployment was also in check. The increase was very marginal for both men and women. Obviously, the NDA's big picture vision and its emphasis on infrastructure spending with assets to show at the end of the day - in sharp contrast to the UPA regime's foolish expenditure on ill-conceived social welfare schemes - yielded better all-round results than what we can look forward to now.

 

That apart, we need to acknowledge that in the 14 years beginning 1991, when economic reforms were thrust upon a near-bankrupt India, we have been able to shed more poverty than in the preceding 45 years. This is quite remarkable, but the success is obviously lost on those who continue to cavil against liberalising the economy and stepping up the reforms process. A duplicitous Left, which has the Congress where it wants, has virtually brought the reforms process to a grinding halt and thus negated the gains of the NDA years. Meanwhile, fanned by the UPA regime's bogus economics based on pandering to those who believe poverty is a badge of honour the national economy is today "over heated" and needs to be cooled by scaling back growth and thumbing down emergent middle class aspirations. That in the process the poor are bound to suffer the most and impoverishment shall receive a boost is of little consequence to the Prime Minister and his aides who insist that they know the best. They clearly don't.