Pratap Bhanu Mehta is vice-chancellor of Ashoka University. He was earlier president, Centre Policy Research, New Delhi, one of India's top think tanks. Before he started engaging with contemporary affairs, he taught political theory at Harvard, and briefly at JNU. He has written extensively on intellectual history, political theory, law, India's social transformation and world affairs. He is the recipient of the Infosys Prize, the Adisheshiah Prize and the Amartya Sen Prize.
There’s a deep asymmetry of power in our society
Apparently, a marginal infusion of cash in the hands of the poor will destroy them. But the slightest tinkering with taxes in contexts where it is hard to even imagine what the marginal value of income is, will apparently cause economic catastrophe.
Any proposal to directly alleviate poverty in India brings out the inner lawyer in many of us. There are two characteristic tactics. One is to attack such measures by rhetorical re-description. Words like “dole” and “dependence” are bandied about as if money in the hands of the poor will somehow corrupt their moral and productive fibre. There is a second set of tactics that is more appropriate: Ask questions about practical considerations. How do we ensure such schemes are affordable? How do we make them compatible with macro-economic stability? How do we ensure they reach the intended beneficiaries? But often such well-meaning questions are wielded as weapons to avoid the core issue, pretexts to avoid questions of justice. The Congress party’s Minimum Guarantee proposal has many practical challenges. But what it reveals about us is more interesting.
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