Indian Economy at 75: Trapped in a Borrowed Development Strategy | Arun Kumar https://mainstreamweekly.net/article12603.html Saturday 13 August 2022 Mainstream, VOL LX No 33, 34 New Delhi, August 6, August 13, 2022 [Independence Day Special] Extracts..
Unorganized Sector Invisibilized
In the unorganized sector labour is not organized as trade union and therefore, unable to bargain for higher wages, when prices rise. It constitutes 94% of the work force and has little social security. No other major world economy has such a huge unorganized sector. No wonder when such a large section of the population faces a crisis in their lives, the economy declines, as witnessed during the pandemic. India’s official rate of growth fell more sharply than that of any other G20 country.
Policy makers largely ignore the unorganized sector In 1991, a new policy paradigm was ushered in. Namely, ’individuals are responsible for their problems and not the collective’. Under this regime, government’s role in the economy was scaled back and individuals were expected to go to the market for resolving their problems. This may be characterized as ’marketization’. This brought about a philosophical shift in thinking of individuals and society.
The big mistake has been to choose trickle down policies that have not delivered to a vast number of people who live in uncivilized conditions. Poverty has changed its form and the elite imply that the poor should be grateful for what they have got. They should not focus on growing inequality, especially after 1991, when globalization entered the marketization phase which marginalizes the marginals.
The growth at any cost strategy has been at the expense of the workers and the environment. This has narrowed the base of growth and led to instability in society — politically, socially and economically. The situation has been aggravated by the recent policy mistakes — demonetization, flawed GST and sudden lockdown.