Bhaskar Parichha
‘Inclusiveness’ is a much used and abused term today in the context of development. The concept of inclusive growth is of recent origin and the goal is sufficiently clear: to ensure that every marginalized and excluded group in the society becomes a stakeholder in the development process. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), there are countless groups which are excluded from development because of their ‘gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disability or poverty.’ This needs to be undone.
Odisha has always been dubbed as a state of perpetual poverty, intense backwardness and profound social discrimination. With more than a quarter of its population belonging to scheduled castes ,scheduled tribes and other backward classes, governments over the years have virtually been besieged of removing the ‘poor state’ stigma, but not with much success.
Why Odisha has remained poor? Why the marginalized sections are yet to find a space in the developmental pecking order? What prevents government schemes aimed at deprived sections to become successful? Has the constitutional mandate failed in Odisha? All these and more such questions come to mind as one looks at the state through the social scanner.
‘Inclusive Development of Odisha: Prospects & Challenges’ by Manas Jena answers some of those questions rather vividly. It is one thing to be doctrinaire about dalit issues and quite another to be on-ground. The author has been a rights-based activist, researcher and a democratic voice and this has helped him in a broad understanding of the development processes. He can see where the shoe pinches to a Dalit.
Manas Jena has been writing on issues of livelihood, discrimination and backwardness for quite some time now. His columns in newspapers are exemplary as far as writings on inclusive development are concerned.
The 3-volume book running into some 800 pages is a reliable account of all that’s happening to the poor and the marginalized in Odisha. With a foreword by Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty, ex-professor of Delhi University, the book is an anthology of articles published in different news papers over the past three years. What’s more important is the author has let us have a feel of the ground situation. As the blurb says unmistakably, ‘the focus on concrete issues affecting the poor and the marginalized is a distinct feature of the book.’
And, what the ‘concrete issues’ could be? Fairly a large number, in fact: education, health, women, livelihood, housing, public distribution system, rehabilitation – the canvas is wide enough to capture them in a single thread. The author’s basic argument is that economic inclusiveness is as much necessary as inclusive governance and social inclusion. These three facets are ‘interconnected’ and can’t be seen in isolation. Each of the three volumes has been divided into thematic chapters on the politics of growth, governing natural resources, service delivery, social protection, the rule of law, gender, ethnicity, the politics of policy making et al.
The author has been part of people’s movements, has done policy advocacy and is involved in rights-based work. Highlighting the gaps at the level of policy-making and also their actual execution has been the main driving force of the book. Rich in statistics, the arguments are straightforward and blunt. The, it is not expounding problems alone, possible interventions have also been suggested.
In as much as there aren’t enough writings on inclusive development in Odisha, this compilation will certainly go a long way in identifying the loopholes and finding solutions. The book is expected to be an effective tool in the realization of basic rights of the marginalized and the oppressed people. A sound and painstaking work on inclusive growth and development, to say the least.
Inclusive Development of Odisha: Prospects & Challenges
By Manas Jena
People’s Literature Publication, Mumbai
Rs 499 each volume
(The writer is a senior journalist and currently associated with OdishaLIVE as Consulting Editor. You can share your comment with him at content(@)odisha(dot)live)
