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overwhelming results of the Andhra Pradesh assembly
elections seem to have left the English-language media
in a state of shock. The self-proclaimed pundits of
the electoral process appear bewildered and searching
for answers. How, they ask, could such a ''development-oriented'',
''modern'' Chief Minister, who was so friendly to the
markets and so open to foreign investment, be thrown
out of office? How could women voters, who had been
so assiduously wooed by Chandrababu Naidu through various
schemes, reject him so comprehensively?
Of course the answers come very easily to anyone who
has actually looked at what has been happening to economic
policies and economic realities in Andhra Pradesh over
the past decade. The regime of Chandrababu Naidu marked
a transformation of the Telegu Desam party – from a
party which looked to the interests of the poor, as
its founder NTR had emphsised, to one which was completely
oriented to the interests of large capital, especially
foreign capital.
Naidu, as the darling of large sections of the English
language and foreign media, presented the image of a
computer-savvy, efficient ''Chief Executive Officer'',
who supposedly managed to make Andhra Pradesh the most
dynamic state in India. Hyderabad was increasingly being
described as a "cyber capital" while Andhra
Pradesh was presented as a fast-growing state which
is rapidly integrating with the world economy to its
own benefit.
The reality was just the opposite. In fact, far from
being the most dynamic, this state has been the worst
performing in the southern region since the early 1990s.
The growth of real income, or Gross Domestic Product,
has been only around 5 per cent per annum since 1995.
This was the lowest among all the southern states, and
also much lower than the much-maligned state of West
Bengal!
Similarly, employment growth was lower than the national
average over the period between 1993 and 2000, which
was already the worst rate of any period in post-Independence
history. In terms of literacy and school enrolment,
Andhra Pradesh is well below the national average and
ranks among the worst States in India. School dropout
rates are among the highest in India. The infant mortality
rate is higher than the national average, and has shown
an increase in recent years. The rate of incidence of
major illnesses is nearly double the national average,
and there is a faster rate of spread of communicable
diseases.
Meanwhile, all this has occurred in the context of the
growing indebtedness of the State government. This debt
is increasingly contracted from abroad (including from
the World Bank and the British aid agency the DfID)
and on more onerous terms. Currently all borrowing is
effectively only to pay interest, since the State government's
primary budget balance has now been in surplus for several
years. In other words, there has been a huge increase
in the State government's debt, which has not been used
to improve basic economic conditions in the State. This
not only condemns the State to future repayments but
also ties the hands of future State governments with
respect to economic policy.
Clearly, the quality of life for most people in Andhra
Pradesh did not improve and probably worsened under
the stewardship of Chandrababu Naidu. And it was not
in spite of, but because of his economic policies, which
displayed the most extreme form of ''market fundamentalism''
that we have yet seen in India.
There has been sweeping privatization and commercialization
of public sector assets, as well as closure of some
important public service systems such as bus transport
companies. The electricity reforms not only raised the
price of power for farmers, but also denied the poor
access but cutting off those who could not pay their
bills. The ''reforms'' have meant a drop in health and
educational expenditure, the erosion of workers' rights,
and a collapse in the state's agricultural support and
marketing systems. The crisis in agriculture was sought
to be met by very expensive contract farming systems
that used foreign capital and technology and reduced
cultivators to wage labourers on their own land. The
extensive public food distribution system built up by
NTR was run down and food was made more expensive for
the poor. Forest communities, landless labourers and
small farmers all suffered from policies that privatised
government support systems and granted big landowners
and large corporations carte blanche over land and forest
exploitation.
All this was dressed up as a modern approach to development
in the document ''Vision 2020'', which was primarily designed
to please foreign donors, but also supposed to tell
the people of Andhra Pradesh that all this was actually
good for them. But even an internal document of the
British aid agency DfID described Vision 2020 as "confused",
"unfocused," and "inconsistent"
and noted that it says "nothing about providing
alternative income for those displaced."
The increase in inequality and in material insecurity
inevitably led to much greater dissatisfaction and provided
more support for the Naxalite movement in the state.
The violence of that movement was met with massive state
repression, including extrajudicial executions, torture,
sexual assault and illegal detentions, often against
innocent people.
The complete failure of the Naidu regime to look after
the people of the state was highlighted during the drought
year of 2002-03, when the massive rural distress was
not effectively countered. Although the state government
managed to extract a lot of food grain stocks from the
Centre because of its special relationship with the
NDA, this was not distributed properly and corruptions
meant that it did not reach the people most in need.
The insensitivity of the state government to the rural
poor became even more starkly evident. Even today, water
is probably the most critical issue in Andhra Pradesh,
yet the Naidu government has shown little effort to
confront this problem.
All this meant that anyone who was at all familiar with
the condition of people in Andhra Pradesh knew for some
time now that the Naidu regime was deeply unpopular
with the people. In such conditions, claims of ''India
Shining'' and ''feel good'' must have seemed especially
cruel jokes on the people, and they have treated them
with the contempt they deserve. This assembly election
is therefore a clear mandate for a redirection of economic
policy keeping in view the interests and concerns of
ordinary people, and leaders across India should take
note.
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