Feb.23 : President Pratibha Patil’s address to the joint session of the two Houses of Parliament on Monday was reassuring in respect of several key areas in the social sector, notably schemes for advancement in rural areas in terms of housing, road connectivity, availability of gas and other petroleum products, as well as setting up of schools and colleges in the backward areas. The growth and development in this broad sphere is critical for the country’s future progress. However, where the address — spelling out the policies of the Union government — disappoints are precisely areas that pinch ordinary people the most, namely prices and the fight against terrorism.
The address gives the impression of glossing over the serious price rise question, which had begun to rear its head a year ago. The President’s speech points out almost casually that the cause of the trouble lay in production shortfalls and the increased international prices of these commodities (which made imports meaningless). A year down the road, this sounds as an excuse, not a satisfactory explanation. The reason is that no concrete and meaningful steps were executed to check the unconscionable shooting up of the price curve. Worse, reports have come in which suggest that stocks in some cases, particularly for sugar, were allowed to remain uncollected, permitting unscrupulous business interests to make a killing. Another shocking observation is that the price rise in foodgrains is linked to increased demand owing to improved incomes in the rural sector on account of better procurement prices to farmers and greater public spending (say, through partial rural employment guarantee) on development programmes. This reflects a cruel irony. Surely, a rollback in prices cannot entail withdrawal of such schemes. The question may also be asked why a rise in rural purchasing power has not led to a comparable rise in the prices of non-food items. The government must do better than this. It had over a year to put in motion policies to tackle high prices at the level of production and distribution of essential commodities.The issue of terrorism also concerns all Indians. After 26/11, the government has taken steps to better organise the internal security apparatus, and these find detailed mention in the President’s address. However, insofar as the playing out of terrorism in India is to a considerable degree linked to developments in our neighbourhood, especially Pakistan, the nuanced reference to this factor that was needed unfortunately finds no articulation in the address. As such, the mention made of the forthcoming foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan later this week fails to expand our understanding of the factors in play. What is worse, the recent terrorist strike in Pune has been carefully insulated from the foreign secretary-level dialogue. What signal this will convey to Pakistan can only be speculated upon. The President’s address also surprises by its reference to the situation in Kashmir. While it rightly suggests that the infiltration level from the Pakistan side is up, it asserts quite astonishingly that the security situation in Kashmir shows “significant” improvement. What parameters suggest this is left to the imagination.The address has one especially bright spot — the emphasis supplied to the field of education, as widely understood. This naturally includes school and higher education as well as skills formation more generally. What is heartening is that investment in education has been seen as being important to inclusive growth. The address needed to say something concrete on raising agricultural production in the country, the absence of which will negatively impact growth and social development. While the positives in the document are only too obvious, the address on this occasion does leave the impression of being too mundane in its conception.