Cause of Poverty

On Jun 2, 2013 I posted a blog Nurturing Laziness. Recently I saw a comment. This post is in response to all the comments that further my belief that nothing should be given free or be subsidized  Anything that comes free loses its value. One has to work and achieve. To deserve and to desire are two different aspects. One may dream but that dream has to be a function of ones efforts and not just wishful thinking. To work and earn, to buy the food is a priority and the very act of turning this priority in to non-priority takes away the incentive, the desire to work. Empty stomachs will work better if work is made available. Food subsidy is a form of charity for selected group. Charities are generally counterproductive. Their main beneficiaries are not the intended recipients, but the givers. May be it’s a vote bank politics. Frankly, the idea of charity itself is corrupting to both parties in the transaction and that is bad for a nation. I would once again like to emphasize that the programs that are specifically designed to teach an individual to fish, rather than to just hand out fish are essential. Conduct the programs that teach job skills.

Nurturing Laziness was posted much before government came out with ordinance to offer food at subsidized rates to those below the poverty line. Unfortunately for India just 33% population above the poverty line will have to shoulder the responsibility to feed those who are below the poverty line. It’s sad, in many ways. How come a country has over two third of its population below the poverty line even after 66 years of independence? Who should take the responsibility for this? I have no idea of numbers of 1947, that would tell us if there is any percentage increase in the poverty figures, but one thing is certain that today in absolute numbers we nearly have twice the Indian population of 1947 below the poverty line. I try to find answer to a simple, why are we still poor as a nation. One question but there are hundreds of answers. I firmly believe that in most cases poverty if not a function of bad luck. It may be so for those who are born with physical or mental disabilities, but largely not for others.

We as a nation have failed to have disciplined ourselves. Discipline needs training, efforts, restrains, motivation and willingness. If anyone of these is missing then we are not on the track. Singapore is an excellent example of a disciplined nation. American President’s daughters get a ticket from police for alcohol-related misdemeanors or Queen Elizabeth’s grandson fights a war in Afghanistan are actualities from developed nations. We do see an element of discipline and national character in this. Discipline eliminates poverty. Poverty is simply a sign of bad habits. It’s a sign of a lack of self-discipline. Laziness causes distress or pain to those who are not willing to learn skills that can get them right jobs. Poverty is a sign of having no self-respect. In the vast majority of cases, those who suffer from poverty are not victims of anything other than their own bad habits (smoking, drinking and drugs included).

Giving free food or necessities of life will deprive of the motivation to achieve higher goals. Endowing groups, or individuals, because they happen to have so called bad luck culminating in poverty, or those who are perpetual losers, is actually immoral. I happened to read a Jew philosopher Maimonide’s “Eight Levels of Charity”, the great philosopher and thinker has different ideas about helping people. Top on his list is to support a fellow Jew by endowing him with a gift or loan, or by entering into a partnership with him, or finding employment for him, in order to strengthen his hand until he need no longer be dependent upon others. No wonder a small country like Israel is so strong and self-sufficient. One need not depend upon the government to provide everything. It is bad for developing nation and also for the developed nations. We have seen what’s happening in EU, in country like Greece. The “Obamacare” and resultant shutdown of American government from Oct1, 2013 is not a good sign. People have come to believe that an instrument of coercion, the state, has to take care of them. This is possible if country has large natural resources and these are so large that the state has not even to tax the subjects. Few Middle East countries can do that but not others. If government has to provide then government has to generate revenue and the easiest way is to tax those above poverty line. Wealth creates wealth, taking away wealth by means of taxes results in slowdown of wealth creation. Taxation is always a debatable issue in any country. All that is needed is rationality. A small number of poor can be supported by large number of rich subjects, not like India where 33% population has to bear the burden of feeding 67% population who may lack further motivation to work. This will diminish the pool of workers, production will suffer and soon the 67% will soon swell to 76% and even more. The farmers will not get due price for their produce as subsidized food is available. This will sway the farmers from agriculture and will finally lead to drop in agriculture production. We are playing with fire that is likely to be out of control.

I would refrain from any political commentary, even though it is a root cause for indiscipline and the resultant effects. India has to mature, understand the importance of discipline. On the front of inculcating discipline we are a big failure. Simple things like obeying traffic rules (remember these are for our own safety), following schedules and appointments, punctuality etc. have lost their meaning. Nearly 55 years back, I had to compete with 120 students to get selected in NCC. We took pride being the cadets and later on NCO’s. Twice a week we had parade at Kasturchand Park ground in Nagpur and it was a spectacular site. Bypassers would pause and watch the parade. While in college I continued to be in NCC, for a year in Engineers and later on in Infantry. My fellow cadets were from engineering and other professional colleges. Those five years in NCC made us tough, more disciplined. Today I hardly find any existence of NCC. There is overall apathy among the students to join NCC. It is so unfortunate that there are many vacancies in our armed forces and very few really seem to be interested to join the armed forces that demands discipline and integrity. On the other hand there is a huge rush to join police force and state civil services, which have questionable credentials. Why should one opt to be a policeman rather than a Jawan? Both are in the service of the nation, but discipline, honesty and integrity levels are so different. I don’t think much needs to be written on this. There is no substitute for discipline and it has to spread like virus.

We are losing out fast. China has already trapped us from all side, be it Pakistan (POK and Gwadar) or Mayanmar or Sri Lanka (Hambantota port). Our supremacy over the Indian Ocean is gone. We had great opportunity in last decade to be a super power. Former American President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinsky in his book, Strategic Vision – America and Crisis of Global Power published in 2010 has recognized India as complicated mixture of democratic self-governance, massive social injustice, economic dynamism and widespread political corruption. Three years down the line after the book was published many changes have taken place in India. Major scams have surfaced, politics has further corrupted, social injustice against women and children is on rise, democratic principles are being misused – supporting criminals in politics, No RTI for political parties are recent example. The high flying economic development is nose diving with no one in position or not willing to control. On the top of this subsidized food is to be supplied to over two third population of the country, that’s going to add further misery to the crumbling economy. We need to have fiscal discipline. Time has come to wake up, take a stock of the situation and take certain harsh decisions. Subsidized food has to go. Socialism has limitations. One of the major problems of socialism is corruption. It finds its roots and flourishes in socialistic regimens. Even the Russian President has been vocal on this. On the official web portal of the Russian President, a message was posted on Sep 10, 2009 which acknowledged that corruption has debilitated Russia. The message further states, Quote ”Until today this erosion has been due to excessive government pressure in many significant aspects of economic and other social activities” Unquote. Can we learn something from this?

I am aware that I drifted from my comments about subsidized food. I standby with my statement that nothing should be given free or at a price that is almost free. This is a multifaceted issue and cannot be looked in isolation. Each aspect is to be looked into with diligence. There is a gap between truth and belief that needs to be understood and bridged. Let there be a better tomorrow.