Politics of Public Policy in India: Institutional Internalization of Inequality in Policy Legislation and Including the Excluded

The poverty-inequality focus in development discourse has generally been an acknowledgment of the gaps between the poor and the affluent, seen as an economic condition linked to livelihoods and employment deprivation. Or, it has been seen as a condition rooted in the broader socio-cultural moorings of the society, creating entitlement and capability deprivations. But, how do inequality concerns get reflected in, and impact public policies, and in turn the policies that address social exclusion? The processes shaping conceptualization of inequality concern within the policy frame have not been adequately comprehended in the development discourse. In the process of governance, this creates an institutional landscape of competing pressures that forms the core of the politics of public policy formulation and public service provisioning. This paper discusses the institutional internalization of the politics in public policy legislation in India, within the frame of the demands of citizens for development and inclusion.

This paper was originally prepared as part of a Research Fellowship to the first author with the International Centre for Development and Decent Work (ICDD), University of Kassel, Germany. We are thankful to Prof. Dr. Christoph Scherrer for the Research Fellowship, and to the anonymous reviewers of the working paper. This is an original article. It has not been published nor sent for publication in a journal or book. The paper appeared as a ‘Working Paper’ (Paper No 17), under the working paper series of University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany.

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Notes

Reference here is to the general resources used to generate capabilities, including infrastructural and social sector resources like education and health.

This has a reference to an understanding of development seen in terms of gains from globalization, and has a resonance on opportunities that shape income distribution.

In India 70% of the population is dependent on agriculture. At the time of independence, almost half of the arable land was cultivated by tenants (those who are not in direct relationship with the state, but pay rent either in cash or kind to the landowner—tenancies may be recorded or unrecorded, short term for only a crop or extending over life time, and legal or illegal) and sharecroppers who paid rent to the landowner. Tenancy reforms during the first two decades after independence aimed at giving the tenants permanent rights to the land they cultivate, subject to a limited right of resumption to the landowners. Though the implementation of tenancy laws led to some tenants acquiring ownership rights, the incidence of tenancy still continues to be substantial. The banning of tenancy and various lease restrictions has only pushed the phenomenon underground, rendering the tenants’ position even more precarious, often making them victims of a corrupt bureaucracy. For details, refer to N.C Saxena, ‘Tenancy reforms versus open market leasing—what would serve the poor better?’, A Discussion Paper, Planning Commission of India, New Delhi (Website: planningcommission.nic.in/hindi/reports/articles/ncsxna/index.php?), Accessed on 05-05-2014.

National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-2 and 3 (1998–99 and 2005–06, respectively), India. For details see http://www.rchiips.org/nfhs/. The NFHS-2005–06 is the third round of the National Family Health Survey in India (equivalent to demographic health surveys, or DHS, in other countries). The fourth round of the NFHS survey is in progress and the results are expected to be in the public domain in 2017.

Estimates from four different National Sample Survey (NSS) rounds for the agricultural years 1993–94, 2004–05, 2009–10, and 2011–12 show that economy growth in India is a story of exclusionary growth confined to the better-off sections (Suryanarayana and Das 2014).

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Authors and Affiliations

1. Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India Madhushree Sekher
2. International Institute for Population Policies, Mumbai, India Suchandrima Chakraborty

1. Madhushree Sekher