People's Democracy

Credibility Of Govt At Stake

OVER two hundred academics, artists, filmmakers and social activists have written a letter to the Prime Minister emphasising the urgent need for implementing the Employment Guarantee Act. Among those who signed the statement include Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat, Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Aruna Roy, Prabhat Patnaik, C P Chandrashekar, Jayati Ghosh, G K Chadda, Harsh Mandar, Imrana Qadir, Jean Dreze, Nirmal K Chandra, T M Thomas Isaac, T S Pappola, Utsa Patnaik, Y K Alagh and Zoya Hasan.

The following is the text of the letter:

WE are extremely concerned by the crisis of livelihood in large parts of rural India. We therefore appeal to the central government to take expeditious steps to pass an Employment Guarantee Act immediately, as promised by the National Common Minimum Programme, and to ensure the requisite devolution of funds to state governments.

As you know, in recent years employment growth in the countryside has slowed down dramatically. Per capita agricultural output has been declining, farm incomes are falling and many indicators of per capita consumption, including calorie consumption, are also falling. Rural indebtedness has been growing, and this had led not only to increasing land alienation by the small and middle peasantry, but also to extreme distress leading to widespread suicides among farmers. There are reports of severe malnutrition and even starvation deaths from all over the country. In this context, guaranteed employment is absolutely crucial to ensure some economic security among the rural poor. Aside from protecting the rural population from hunger and destitution, an Employment Guarantee Act would also contribute to many other social objectives, including the creation of durable assets, the protection of the environment, the empowerment of women, and the slowdown of rural-urban migration. In addition, of course, there would be strong multiplier effects of such employment, which would therefore have a positive effect upon rural livelihoods which would be much larger than the actual expenditure.

Thus, an Employment Guarantee Act is urgently required, along with the devolution of requisite finances to the state governments. We urge the central government to take immediate steps to ensure rural employment guarantee in the entire country without restricting the region or persons to be covered by it. A failure to do this could result in further suicides and starvation deaths all over rural India. It would also undermine the credibility of the present government.