By Patricia Mukhim
Each time we hear economists invested in the Modi government praise him to the skies for making India the 5th largest economy in the world, my heart shrinks in fear because it appears that the more we speak of a rising Gross Domestic Product (GDP) the higher the inflation rate and the less money we have to spend. Take the case of vegetables which are crucial to our survival. The humble potato is no longer affordable. In Shillong it sells at Rs 60 per kg. Tomatoes cost Rs 80 per kg and we might soon have to give up onions completely. They are now selling between Rs 90-100 per kg. I am not sure how these vegetables are priced in Guwahati or Aizawl or Dimapur/Kohima, not to speak of Imphal (which appears to be existing in a different planet) or for that matter Agartala. In Meghalaya we see truck loads of onions and sugar going daily to Bangladesh via the informal trade. Smuggling makes it sound too gross. No matter what the situation in Bangladesh, trade via the largely porous borders carries on as usual.
The other day I visited the border haat at Balat, East Khasi Hills, which is one of the two border markets between Meghalaya and Bangladesh. The other one is at Kalaichar in West Garo Hills. The Balat border haat looked deserted and the gate that allows entry and exit by BSF personnel after duly checking each person looked as if it has not been opened for ages. Above all there was barbed wire put up around the gate too which means that the gate has not been used. The little building nearby meant for frisking the merchants who go and set up their stalls at the haat looked unused and dilapidated. Somewhere along the fence there was a hole that is big enough for humans to crawl past to India or to Bangladesh depending on which side you want to enter or exit the respective countries.
The other day at a workshop in Women’s College Shillong the theme of the discussion was the much touted, Act East Policy and how much we have progressed vis a vis that policy or whether we are stuck in the mud. I am unsure who made us in the North East believe that the Act East Policy is about us. When Myanmar is in a state of flux, how is it possible to think of trade via that country. For states like Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram for whom Bangladesh is the natural trading partner, looking south is an imperative but again with Bangladesh in turmoil what we have is a smuggling economy which does not yield any revenue for the GDP.
I am digressing here because the point I wished to make here is about the futility of using the GDP as a measure of the country’s economic growth and progress. Michael Green a former senior official with the British Government’s Department for International Development has critiqued the idea of using the GDP to measure a country’s economic growth and hence its success. Green says its not the best way to measure a good society and an equitable one. Green developed the Social Progress Index, which measures things like basic human needs and opportunity.
Michael Green says that analysts, the media and big thinkers love to talk about the GDP which simply means the value of all the goods and services produced by a country each year. But does the GDP measure unemployment, the disaffection of those dipping below the poverty line every year and how inflation is affecting the less empowered citizens? It does not. Michael Green says, “With GDP, if your richest 100 people get richer, your GDP rises, but most of your citizens are just as badly off as they were before.” Hence Green has developed a new yardstick – the Social Progress Index launched in 2014. The Social Progress Index is a more holistic measurement of human needs, satisfaction, happiness, among others. It is not a cold, calculating yardstick like the GDP but looks at three principal dimensions. These are – Basic Human Needs (food, water, shelter, safety); Foundations of Wellbeing (basic education, information, health and a sustainable environment); and Opportunity (do people have rights, freedom of choice, freedom from discrimination, and access to higher education?)
Michael Green and his team worked assiduously to collect data from about 133 countries to come up with a measurement of the world’s most socially progressive countries. As can be expected the Scandinavian countries scored the highest with Norway leading the way. Some economists have said that the GDP does not measure important aspects of our lives that are not captured by acts of spending and investing. Even damage to the environment in the process of “development” is not measured. The English banker Josiah Stamp correctly stated that the GDP values only those things important to rich people. Former President, APJ Abdul Kalam was once reported to have said, “What is this GDP business?” and one can’t blame him for asking this question. How does a rising GDP actually help us in any way when our purchasing power is only going down with more and more consumer products and even basic groceries going out of our reach?
Dr Bimal Jalan, former RBI Governor once said, “If you hire a maid and pay her salary the GDP goes up. But if you marry the maid and stop giving her salary, the GDP will go down.” However, for want of an alternative model the GDP though imperfect is the least inaccurate measure for a country’s economic growth. The major lacunae in the GDP is that goods and services that cannot be valued at market prices are not included. Hence household work which taxes women the most is not accounted as part of the GDP. Even the fruits and vegetables grown by farmers for domestic consumption but don’t go to the market are not added to the GDP.
American scholar Eric Zency who uses the principles of ecological economics has come up with a model he called the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) which he says needs to replace the GDP. And looking at the current state of affairs in our own country it is high time we stop blowing the trumpet about our rising GDP which has propelled only a few people to the position of billionaires even while more and more Indians are dipping below poverty line.
In my state of Meghalaya, education, which is supposed to be the gateway to a better life, is in shambles with more children dropping out of school and tending to sheep and cattle. Their problem is also that the present system of education is far removed from their daily experiences. And poverty has only exacerbated their anxieties so child labour is valued over education. This is the reality of new India!
If the Government of Meghalaya has a programme for bringing children who have dropped out, back to the classroom, the same teaching pedagogy will not work. We need to put education on its head and start asking kids what they actually want to learn instead of forcing a curriculum that’s alien to them, down their throats. What’s being taught to them is not what they need to know. The homes they return to are not what they read about in their textbooks. I wish every state had the autonomy to craft out its own curriculum based on the economic opportunities in that state with some stress on national politics, history, society and ecology.
One reason why the word “culture” is oft repeated in Khasi society and in every song sung is because culture represents a glorious, imagined past while the future is dismal and for many who live lives of quiet desperation there‘s really not much to look forward to. We need HOPE and education is supposed to be our hope. But what kind of education? One that meets our aspirations to excel in our innate potentials and brings out the best in every child! That’s good economics too because it would stop urban migration and hold back the best brains to develop good farming practices even while leveraging on some of the niche products of Meghalaya.
Yesterday, Dr Vijay Kumar sent me a message showing Meghalaya pineapples selling at AED (United Arab Emirates dirham) 17.95 which is roughly Rs 400 per piece at the LuLu mall in Dubai. This is Meghalaya’s way forward and such farming practices should be taught in schools, so people can take up horticulture and agriculture to a different level where it can make good economic sense. That’s the only way forward for Meghalaya. We need an ecologically sensitive economic model, not the extractive economy that has plagued Meghalaya for decades!