Vice President of India, Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat calls poverty a blot on any civilized society. I post an excerpt of a press release on pib.nic.in:
Shri Shekhawat while releasing the book “Poverty and Hunger: Causes and Consequences” by Dr. Ratan Das, an eminent Gandhian and Sarvodaya leader said that success of any programme of poverty alleviation is intimately interlinked with the quality of public governance. Needs and aspirations of the poor and the deprived can be met only when the public administration becomes people-oriented, with a focus on the welfare of the common man. Reforms in public governance are fundamental to any strategy towards alleviation of poverty. He said that the efficacy index of our policies for development should be measured by the success achieved in alleviation of poverty and in increasing the access of the poor to basic education, healthcare and secured employment. That alone would usher in a just socio-economic order that brings cheer to the poor and the deprived.
Shri Shekhawat said that there is a wide-spread feeling that globalisation has not brought about intended economic benefits to the people. He said that the real content and elements of growth have to be inclusive of increase in employment opportunities and economic uplift of all sections of society. He stressed that growth does not just mean the percentage increase in GDP. We need growth that promotes development and brings down disparities by bridging the gap and divide between the rich and the poor.
I agree with Shri Shekhawat that the value of a government and society depends on how it treats all of its citizens, including the poor. However, I still believe the motto which says, “That government governs best which governs least.” I think the governments of the world can best relieve poverty simply by getting out of the way and stop contributing to the problem. The people of the world don’t need the government’s help to support themselves; they just need the government to stop holding them down by catering to the wealthy few who wish to retain undue wealth by oppressing the masses.
Currently, the major governments of the world work in cahoots with highly profitable megacorporations. These megacorporations use their profits to lobby and bribe politicians and thus use the coercive and violent powers of the government to rob the common-people. For example, by giving politicians a cut, military companies get profitable multi-billion dollar contracts paid with taxpayer dollars; while working-class people die in needless wars. In another example, the private-owned prison industry supports the war on drugs so that they can make profits while non-violent working-class people get thrown in jail and working-class taxpayers get robbed.
We don’t need government to end poverty, hunger, and other social problems. We can do that ourselves. The wealthy leaches that make up the megacorporations need the coercive powers government to steal and leach off the hard-working masses of people. We can take care of ourselves and our communities; we just need to stop the governments from allowing these megacorporations to leech off us and our labor.