- being able to ask questions about our promises?
- having direct response from the leader of the party?
- your criticism and the response being put on public domain ?
Dear Keshav,
Thank you for your email on Lok Satta’s agenda and commitments. As you said, we share the same concerns, and therefore I accept your criticism in that spirit, and offer my comments and perspectives briefly.
First, we must recognize that access to quality education is the greatest guarantor of human dignity and opportunity to fulfil human potential. India’s failure in this sector is appalling when compared to any other large, modern society with aspirations to global power or economic prosperity. The issue is only partly linked to resources. We certainly need more money, but even more important is the way we deploy resources. Public institutions are not a panacea, but abdication of the state is unpardonable and unacceptable in a civilized society.
We are not guaranteeing equality of outcomes, nor are we assuring equality of opportunity in every minute detail. But the least we should, and can, do is to ensure that the minimum acceptable quality of education is available to even the poorest children, and there are minimum levels of learning attained by every child.
In order to accomplish this goal, we require investment, public-private partnership, independent evaluation and sample-testing, competition, choice, parent control, and a host of other mechanisms. Even now public expenditure per child at school in AP is of the order of Rs 10,000 per annum. While it is not vast, it is by no means an insignificant sum relative to our per-capita income and the purchasing power of rupee.
Lok Satta has a fairly comprehensive approach to school education, and the details are available on the web. Briefly, we need to convert the existing so-called primary schools (two-room, two-teacher, neighbourhood facilities) into play schools for 3-6 years age group, and build/ promote decent schools with 5-10 class rooms and teachers for every 5000 or so population. We have now about 60,000 primary schools. Instead we will have 60,000 play schools and about 15,000 decent primary schools with proper monitoring and support, and free public transport where necessary. A strong inspection mechanism, random sample testing, parental monitoring, and focus on communication and language, civic education, arithmetic and environment will be integral to primary schools.
Similarly, there will be a good quality high school – public or private – available to every 10,000 – 20,000 population, with integration of 11th and 12th grades (Intermediate) with the school. The school will become the hub of the community, and the point of convergence for many services.
Your critique overstates the cost of infrastructure. The truth is, to build about 5000 high schools, we need a capital cost of Rs 5000 crore, which is under 5% of the state’s annual expenditure. The state even now spends about Rs 12000 crore annually on education alone! Money is not the key constraint. Political will, meaningful reform to create the right kind of incentives, and sustained public and media attention are the real constraints.
Regarding weightage to rural and poor students, there are always going to be challenges. But we need to move from the present quotas to weightages, and from caste-based affirmative action to means-based support. The problem of targeting can be addressed by applying criteria like parental education and the kind of school the child goes to, both of which are verifiable. The issue should be seen in the larger context of cracking the complex, zero-sum-game problem of reservations as practiced now without adequate benefits to society.
Regarding healthcare, free and universal care is both necessary and eminently feasible. Please refer to Lok Satta’s detailed documents on healthcare – ‘Public-Private Partnership’ and ‘Towards a national health service’. All these have been costed, and together they will constitute less than 2% of GSDP. Again money is not the key constraint. The design of the system, incentives, and cost-effectiveness are the challenges. You will find many details in Lok Satta Party literature (www.loksatta.org).We are opposed to the AP government’s Arogyasree precisely for the reasons you have stated – that it will bankrupt the state without improving the health of the people. Lok Satta’s primary focus is on primary and family care, and nutrition and immunization are integral parts of primary care.
Lok Satta has been persistently opposing wasteful, populist, expensive measures, and has repeatedly supported painful measures to enchance revenues or reduce subsidies. Our opposition to expensive lift irrigation projects like Pranahita-Chevella, loan waiver to farmers, free power, free television sets, Rs 2000 every month to families, and Arogyasree are very well known. All these are expensive and ineffective in meeting our challenges. Similarly, we are the lone party in India to support increase of fuel prices (petrol and diesel) and oppose farmers’ loan waiver. All these are mere illustrations of Lok Satta’s commitment to fiscal prudence.
I deeply appreciate your concerns. I am sure you will find that your concerns are more than adequately addressed in the overall approach and policy framework of Lok Satta. My speech in the Assembly on the AP Budget, which is available on the Youtube amply illustrates the responsible and innovative approach of Lok Satta.
Let us continue the debate. Meanwhile, all of us need to act together to help transform India. Some minor differences are bound to persist. But the challenge is to avoid the ‘narcissitm of small differences’ and focus on the goals we all believe in.
With warm regards
Jayaprakash Narayan
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