Gospel of Indian Economics: Software Engineering to Social Engineering

The Bhagavat Gita says “He who eats without performing his duty, eats
stolen bread." The gospel of Jesus on bread labor preaches not to labor
for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.
"As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who
eats me will live because of me". (John 6: 56-58). This gospel of bread
labor resonates the economic truth of India. We all know the bubble of IT
and service sector will not sustain for long, and a holistic development is
the path towards economic growth. Structural reforms in agricultural
sector are required for India to achieve superpower status.

Man cannot live by bread alone, but by the benevolence of the farmer. The
gospel of bread labour has been emphatically endorsed by the mandate given
by the people of India to their rulers. Mahatma Gandhi was the greatest
exponent of the doctrine of Russian revolutionist Bonderoff’s “bread
labour”, Leo Tolstoy’s pet theory. In 1925, Gandhiji wrote in Young India
that Intellectual labour should never gain precedence over bodily labour.
He stated that without the agricultural products those of the intellect are
impossible.


In the Indian Union budget 2003-04, the central government budgetary outlay
for IT ministry is Rs 15,682 crores while that for the agricultural
ministry is only Rs 3,242 crore. There has been a structural change in the
triads of economy, agriculture, manufacturing, and services. A study by
the Indian Chamber of Commerce attributes the 51% contribution of services
sector to GDP. In the quest for double-digit GDP growth rates the
fundamentals of Indian economy are tampered, with agriculture growing at
single digit rates of 2 to 3 percent, while service sector growing at
double digits. According to NASSCOM strategic report, the most optimistic
estimates for IT share of GDP is a measly 2-3 percent in 2003 to 7 percent
by 2008. This is despite the fact that IT and services have got the best of
benefits, environment, and priority over agriculture during the last five
years.

While there is no debating the issue about the contribution of the sunrise
services sector, the issue of sustainability and the core sectors of
agriculture are ignored at large. The sunshine sectors and manufacturing
can never achieve the dizzy heights without agriculture output growth. It
is a cardinal sin to shy away from a sector, which accounts for 25 percent
of the total GDP of a country. There have been exceptional years between
2000-2003 when the sectors have performed independently with the services
outperforming every sector. However, the growth inputs for services sector
is not the same as for the agricultural sector. Agriculture is getting the
step-motherly treatment and has been relegated to a poor mans impoverished
income generator. Governments are being blackmailed by the paperless money
in stock markets and a miniscule 2 to 3 percent of the population that
invest in equities. Markets are not the real bulwarks of development and
do not reflect the sentiments of the people.

“India cannot live by farmers alone; they need IT, too.” is the adage that
caught the imagination of the world during the computer aided economic
growth era of the 1990’s. Subsequently, state governments in India in
their quest to upstage each other in development poured money into
e-governance and IT projects.

Despite the advent of the best of computer systems for land records
management, birth and death registrations, license issuance, and tax
management long queues and disgruntled citizens complaining about
corruption and red tapism are common. IT systems in government have still
not been able to weed out corruption from the system. The processes are
still archaic and there is a mismatch between the system and the social
process. The transition from the files and papers to computerized
government information requires a change in work processes and work
attitudes. What use is computerization when getting a government
certificate or paper still requires the mandatory greasing of palms, and
long waits for decisions and approval? The Indian government employees,
especially those of the lower cadre view IT as a threat to their jobs.
This breeds resistance to change and failure of IT based processes. Social
processes need to be changed. Social engineering is a sociological
approach in political science to study and engineer the social conditions
to suit development. Hammer and Charpy, in their book “Reengineering the
Corporation” argue that IT is an enabler and not the reason for change.
The same view holds good when it comes to viewing IT in governance and
development. E-governance and IT deployment are only the enablers of
economic development. The ministries should undertake a Social Process
Re-engineering task through sustained education, training, and awareness
programs for the citizens and government employees.


The IT savvy outlook of the past government of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka
failed to accrue the benefits of IT and convince the citizens due to lack
of social discipline and process inefficiencies. Computerized electricity
and water bills cannot be termed development when there is interrupted
supply of power and water, and poor services. A citizen does not value the
slick computer interfaces and quickness unless it is backed by efficient
support services and transparent authorization. Political knee jerk
reactions and Stock Market sentiments should not dictate long-term economic
development in our country.

The law of bread labour can set forth a revolution akin to the IT
revolution where both the intellectual and agricultural labor forces co
exist. The present government should not encourage agricultural sector at
the cost of other sectors. Gandhiji preached restoration and not
condemnation as the way forward. We should not condemn and damn the
benefits of IT and software but restore and restructure the economic fabric
by instigating fresh reforms. Reforms should not create polarizations in
society. There is hope and faith in the democratic framework of India that
creates a balanced approach to economic development.

Please mail your comments on this article.

Good Night
Madan