‘Scholars, academics should inform public policies; put ideas out forcefully’

SHILLONG: Shamika Ravi, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, asserted that governance is a problem in the North East which is a reason for its sluggish economic development.
Ravi was in the state to deliver a keynote address at the Inaugural function of the 19th Annual Conference of the North East Economic Association (NEEA) and National Seminar on Friday organised by the Department of Economics, North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong.
“Governance is a problem because funds have been coming in but a lot of funds have been under-utilised. To have inclusive growth, it is important for local economies to grow,” she told reporters on Friday, adding that the local economies will have to have a local economic reform agenda, which is state specific.
New Ideas
Speaking on the Act East Policy, Ravi said the policy will work on the ground provided the northeastern states take ownership of the policy. A lot of infrastructural connectivity projects are being driven from the Centre but new ideas for making that infrastructure work positively need to emerge locally. “Each of the states will have to take it as a challenge and an opportunity to make additional connections and new projects,” Ravi said.
According to Ravi, each state has different interests and different capabilities.
Look East and Act East have to be much more than infrastructural connectivity and this is where the local governments have a role to play. Commenting on rural-urban migration, she said movement of population from rural to urban areas is not a cause of concern even as she stressed on empowerment of local urban bodies in the long run.
“It is a natural transformation of rural people moving to urban areas. I don’t think we should try to hold them back. We should create more local opportunities to enable the youth to harness the potential of each state.”
She pointed out that the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas, from small cities to big cities indicates economic growth. “Economic activities are not always locally available. So in the short run, those movements would happen,” Ravi said.
No food insecurity
On food insecurity Ravi maintained that increased automation and productivity and with the Green Revolution in place, there is no need today for 50 per cent of the rural population to grow food for the remaining 50 per cent.
“We need to plan better but I don’t think India is anywhere close to food insecurity. We have abundance of food crops but problem is that we don’t have a robust policy for food distribution,” she said.
Ravi cited instances when the country experienced high inflation rate despite the food storage being full. “It goes to show that distribution is a bigger concern. Procurement (of food) is not a concern right now,” she said.
Suggesting diversification of food, Ravi said the North East has lots of potential as it has lots of local crops. “The northeastern region has to have its own contextualised local policies. People should be allowed to move out of agriculture. We should not hold them back,” she added.
Delivering the key note address at the programme, Dr Ravi said that the country has transformed enormously in the last 27 years since 1991 after the economy started opening up in many ways from a controlled economy.
Stating that the biggest constraints that the country is facing are not of capital, she said, “We are still an essentially poor country though we often believe that we are a first world country. The truth is we are still remains a developing country.”
Stating that the northeastern states on an average are doing rather well compared to the rest of the country in terms of Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Ravi, however, lamented that according to statistics life expectancy in Meghalaya for both male and female is significantly lower than the all India average and that should be a cause of concern.
Speaking about the education sector in the state, Ravi said, “Meghalaya, like the rest of the country, has managed to enroll its children in the primary school system,” adding that the enrolments rates are high but the biggest problem in Meghalaya is that very few of these students are moving to the secondary school, which means that enrolment starts but dropout remain very high she said.
Ravi further stated that the cost of skilling a population is very high if the quality of education is very low and said, “Skilling cannot be a substitute for education. Education is fundamental,” she said.
She spoke of the importance of investment in human capital which is investment in health and education sectors which according to her are the two areas which will lead to higher productivity.
On the Aadhaar, Ravi said, “We have crossed the debate on whether or not we need Aadhaar. It is important for this region to wake up to the reality. Aadhaar is not a perfect tool. It has to be constantly improved and this is where technology, privacy and other concerns become very fundamental and those debates have to go on.”
Some of the recommendations she gave were to have clear policy priorities for every state government with time-frame for project implementation, monitoring and evaluation wherein scholars and academics have to play a key role.“This also raises the accountability of the government,” Ravi said.