Poverty

[l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no]

Birgit Kellner wrote:

>What you seem to suggest is that the perception of India as being poor is
>more or less caused by its adoption of a Soviet model. In other words: First
>India adopted a Soviet model, then there came poverty, and then this poverty
>was (correctly) perceived in other parts of the world. This, again, suggests
>an absolute breaking point, an economical demarcation line, a "start from
>zero", in 1947. Although this is way off my field, I would severely doubt
>this, based on "Hausverstand" (common sense).

It is quite probably a fact that India experienced poverty long before
1947. As Dominik pointed out a few days ago, Indic literature abounds in
poor brahmans, beggars, prostitutes etc. We should also remember the
extensive "social programs" advocated in the Arthashastra, where it is
clear that the king had the responsibility for all sorts of poor people
like widows, orphans etc., not to mention the perspective that the king's
alleviation of poverty was an insurance against revolt. But at the same
time, it is clear that the "Soviet model" adopted by India in 1947 did not
do much good for the country. This is recognized by leading Indic
economists, and the policies of today are designed to get away from the old
model. But we should not forget one of the crucial problems: India is
slightly smaller than the United States in terms of area, but has to
nourish three times as many people. Half the population of India are still
analphabets, and the social system leads to a great deal of internal
competition that dissipates economic energy. Such factors are also
relevant.

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse



Lars Martin Fosse
Research Fellow
Department of East European
and Oriental Studies
P. O. Box 1030, Blindern
N-0315 OSLO Norway

Tel: +47 22 85 68 48
Fax: +47 22 85 41 40

E-mail: l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no