The first set of findings from the Socio-Economic
Caste Census (SECC) 2011, released by the government earlier this month, raise
some serious concerns. Unfortunately, there has been a limited discussion on
relevant policy questions that the SECC raises. Despite some limitations and
drawbacks, the SECC remains an extremely valuable data source for policy
makers. We must evaluate whether our present policies are in sync with the
status quo presented by the SECC. Our politicians and commentators need to look
beyond caste data and give due attention to the socio-economic dimension of the
study.
The SECC shows that the main income source of
about half of the rural households (51 percent) is manual casual labour. More
than half of the rural households (56 percent) are landless. The figures among
SCs are worse than the national average as 67 percent households depend on
manual casual labour and 70 percent are landless. .
Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar who have been
agitating for release of the caste data should probably show some concern about
these figures as they are particularly worrying for Bihar. The state has the
highest proportion of households dependent on manual casual labour. It is the
main source of income for more than 7 out of 10 households in the state. Also
the proportion of landless households is greater than the national average in
Bihar at 65 percent.
These figures clearly point towards an urgent
need for generating alternate rural employment. People currently working as manual
labourers need to be provided better paying stable employment. This is only
possible by shifting people out from agriculture to the secondary
sector/manufacturing. This has become the prime objective of the central
government as the Prime Minister Modi declared that his government would focus
on generating jobs in the coming years. The three flagship initiatives –
Digital India, Skill India and Make in India are essentially focused on job
generation. It is impossible to create employment without successful
implementation of these three programmes. Also, among the 30 percent who depend
on cultivation, many would only be small and marginal farmers due to inadequate
land or low productivity. Some of these individuals might prefer shifting out
of agriculture if alternate employment opportunities are available.
Income from non-agricultural activities is the
main source of income for only 1.6 percent of rural households. Rural self
employment could be a major employment generator if adequate access to credit
is provided to small entrepreneurs. The government’s MUDRA Bank programme which
has been launched specifically with the objective of providing credit to micro
business owners and self employed people could bridge this gap.
Expanding irrigation network for increasing
agricultural productivity
The SECC showed that close to 40 percent of the
land in rural India is unirrigated. In major states like Uttar Pradesh,
Maharashtra and Karnataka, this figure is greater than the national average at
55 percent, 47 percent and 50 percent respectively. Also, only 37 percent of
the land has assured irrigation for two crops.
The heavy dependence on the Monsoon increases the
risk factor for farmers and makes their income unstable. Thus, expansion of
irrigation is necessary for increasing farm incomes and reducing risks for
farmers. Also, land is a scarce resource and is bound to get acquired for
infrastructure and industrial development. If we want to ensure that a decline
in land under agriculture does not lead to fall in food production, we must
work on improving agricultural productivity. This requires assured irrigation
facilities for the farms. The government has been taking steps in this
direction and the Cabinet recently approved Rs. 55,000 crore Pradhan Mantri
Krishi Sinchai Yojana with the objective of expanding irrigation facility
across the country.
Mobile Coverage for JAM Trinity
Overall mobile coverage is quite substantial as
71 percent of the rural households in the country have mobile phones.
Disaggregating this figure reveals high inter-state differences. Apart from the
North-East states, some major states like West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and
Madhya Pradesh have low coverage. In fact in Chhattisgarh, less than one third
of the rural households have mobile phones.
The government plans to extend the benefits of
government schemes in the form of direct cash transfers through the ambitious
JAM (Jan Dhan – Aadhar – Mobile) Trinity. The basic idea is to link the Aadhar
Card of all beneficiaries with their bank accounts and provide access to
banking services through the mobile phones. This would help in reducing
leakages of subsidies and bring down the subsidy bill. Over the years, Aadhar
has made considerable progress and Jan Dhan Yojana has been successful in
expanding bank account coverage. A larger level roll out of the JAM Trinity is
not possible without wider mobile coverage. The states with low coverage also
have a high proportion of the country’s poor. Thus, they require special focus
and concentrated efforts under the government’s Digital India initiative.
One must be cautious that the SECC findings are
based on revealed data and such studies often have underreporting. Thus, the
data points should essentially be considered to be lower bounds. Even after
accounting for this, we must realize that the study shows a dismal picture of
the status quo requiring critical interventions for change. The Modi government
has initiated these changes through a combination of programmes. While Make in
India is expected to generate jobs and help increase incomes, others like Jan
Suraksha are aimed at providing immediate risk protection.
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