By IANS
New Delhi : Vice-President Hamid Ansari Friday said the fruits of high economic growth rate achieved by India had not witnessed fair distribution yet and that extent of wealth accumulation at the top was more impressive than the reduction of poverty at the lower strata of the society.
Urging the government to accept wealth accumulation and poverty reduction as two sides of the same coin, Ansari warned: “If, as in India, the richest segment of the population captures a larger share of the economic development, the extent of poverty reduction would be lower for the same quantum of economic development.”
Addressing the India Today conclave -‘State of the States’-, Ansari pointed out those countries where public policy choices had ensured better human development, also saw economic development and progress.
“Public expenditure on education in India is around 3.3 percent of GDP, and on health is around 1.2 percent. This is low by any standards, and especially for the extent of poverty that exists in India.”
“Much more needs to be done,” he said.
Ansari’s warning followed a speech by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram claiming that India would be able to remove “abject poverty” within 20 years if the current growth rate continued.
The Indian economy expanded by 9.4 percent last fiscal.
Addressing the conclave, which included chief ministers and representatives of 15 states, Chidambaram said it was a “myth” that the states did not have money.
“Never before has the state had this much money,” he claimed, adding that the responsibility of implementation of projects for reaching the money to the poor lay on state governments.
The chief ministers, especially from opposition-ruled states, who took part in the discussions on ‘Politics and Economics of Inclusive Growth’, resorted to blaming the government.
While the Congress chief ministers claimed that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was providing enough funds for health, education and agriculture, the opposition-ruled states alleged that the central government had ignored the rural sector and villages.
Ansari, who painted a grim picture of India’s inclusive growth, urged the central and state governments to work for “equitable distribution” if not “equal distribution” as Mahatma Gandhi put it.
The vice-president also distributed awards for the best performing states in various categories such as agriculture, consumer market, education, governance, health, infrastructure, investment, macroeconomics, most inclusive growth and overall performance.
Punjab won the award for overall performance in the large state category and Puducherry among the small states, while Assam bagged the award for improvement in overall performance.