Simple is Beautiful

Poverty: On the poverty alleviation front, apparently, India may need to take a leaf from Bangladesh where the micro credit scheme launched by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is helping in easing a considerable number of Bangladeshis out of the poverty trap.

Such cross-border lessons in poverty alleviation are particularly important in view of the fact that the Congress-led government in India is now intent on reviving the "Garibi Hatao" or "Eradicate Poverty" slogan of the Indira Gandhi era, which proved popular among the Indian masses and helped in consolidating the political fortunes of the Indira Gandhi administration in the early Seventies.

The point to ponder is that regional economic giant, India, which is believed to be on the threshold of becoming a major global economic player, is compelled to look anxiously at its grassroots sector, where farmer suicides are proving a major worry. Once again, the observer is forced to focus on the growth vs equity debate when considering these contradictions.

India is certainly doing well on the economic growth front but is yet to deliver fully on equity or economic justice. In other words, growth is not percolating down to the masses to the desired degree and this is causing the centre considerable concern. Hence the revival of the "Garibi Hatao" slogan. An inability to deliver on the equity front could have adverse political repercussions for the Congress administration. This is why it needs to be in very earnest in poverty eradication.

This should really be a South Asia wide concern. Ever since the "open economy" model was adopted by the majority of countries in the region, many countries have boasted impressive growth statistics. However, ground realities make a mockery of these developmental pretensions.

Within most of these countries, for instance, the wealth gap among classes is widening. So are intra-state regional economic disparities. In Sri Lanka, for instance, growth is concentrated mainly in the country's Western Province.

Small wonder that these countries continue to be heirs to socio-political unrest and turmoil. Therefore, economic justice would continue to press its claim to be addressed seriously by the states of the SAARC region. States could ignore it only at their peril.

This where Bangladesh's contribution to poverty alleviation needs to be considered earnestly. It is a case of the "last being first". At one time Bangladesh was considered one of the least of the developed among the South Asian Eight. Not any longer.

To be sure, Bangladesh cannot boast of glittery affluence or dynamic growth but slowly and steadily she has been making progress in the war against want. Now we learn that the basic essentials of the people are being met by the State: food, nutrition, education, housing etc.

Bangladesh's fight against poverty would surely have gained considerably by Muhammad Yunus' Grameen Bank experiment, which is now being replicated in many parts of the developing world, including Sri Lanka.

Yunus' poverty alleviation methodology is what needs to be closely studied at this juncture. In delivering people from poverty it would not do to make them passive recipients of State handouts. Rather, what is important is to make them active, creative agents of their delivery from poverty.

This is emphasized by poverty-alleviation think tanks in Sri Lanka such as, the Colombo-based South Asia Perspectives Network Association (SAPNA) and India's TERI, an institution committed to the cause of Sustainable Development, to name just two such organisations.

Micro credit which plays a central role in Yunus' poverty alleviation methodology and which is of primary significance in the Grameen Bank concept, essentially, helps the poor to launch, small, sustainable livelihoods or small businesses, which do not promise magnificent wealth, to be sure, but help them to make ends meet and be self-reliant to a degree.

The conferring of the Nobel Peace Prize on Bangladesh's Muhammad Yunus is a timely reminder by the world community that 'Small Businesses' hold the key to South Asia's deliverance from poverty. 'Simple is Beautiful', is the message.