Demonetisation is part of govt’s amnesia about the poor: Harsh Mander

The severe impact of demonetisation on the country’s poor was an instance of the problems in government policy in the post-liberalisation period, according to social activist Harsh Mander. Speaking at a panel discussion on Sunday as part of the Times Litfest here, Mander said that the economically deprived had been dealt with a severe blow by the policy.
“Over the past few years, the attitude of the government towards the poor has changed.Demonetisation is an indicator of this. Earlier, the government’s concerns were about solving the problems of the underprivileged, Dalits and minorities. Over time, there began what I call an exile of the poor from the consciousness. Consider how they have been banished from popular culture like cinema. That kind of consciousness is characterised by a measure like demonetisation,” said Mander. The panel discussion was on sociologist and development specialist Meera Mitra’s book ‘Breaking Through: India’s Stories of Beating the Odds on Poverty’.
“The book is more than just a treatise on poverty. She (Mitra) has brought out the human dimension of it as well. She has coined the expression ‘by default entrepreneurs’, people who have been forced to become entrepreneurs because jobs do not exist,” said former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi.
“The urgent need for family planning has been brought out, for instance. Women want to be sterilised. The fact that the government is not working on this is a lapse in policy,” Quraishi added.
“Meera’s stories in the book are about people who fought and overcame odds. Is this because of the state or despite it? If you consider the demonetisation initiative, what about the huge section of the population which does not have cards? The government exists to help big businesses function better. The PM did not respond when India fell to 97 from the 80s in the Global Hunger Index, but he issued a statement when there was a slight change in India’s ranking in Ease of Doing Business. The absence of public compassion in the middle class and the government is the central problem today,” Mander said.
Raising concerns about the situation of the section of citizens who have just elevated themselves above the poverty line and are still vulnerable, and have therefore been hit very hard by the currency shortage, Mitra however said that growth was having a direct impact on the Generation Next of the underprivileged. “My book has stories of how this generation has taken advantage of the opportunities that growth has brought,” the sociologist added.