Lok Katha: A Move Towards a Debate on Development

In a world of around 7 billion human beings (US Census Bureau) around 3 billion live of less than $ 2 a day and half of them live on less than $ 1 a day. They account for around 45 percent of the total world population who wage a daily battle to survive the day. The figures for some individual countries account for around 91 percent in Nigeria (till early 1990s), and 86 percent in India till 1997 (World Bank as reported in Monthly Review, Vol-55, Issue-9: 2004).

There are several countries where the economies in last two decades have witnessed remarkable growth in GDP. For example, GDP in China and India grew at a rate of around 10 percent during 2010-11, in Congo, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan it grew at more than 8 percent per annum. Ironically, these are also the countries where the largest proportions of the national population live below poverty line. Population to the tune of 76 percent in India, 74 percent in Congo and 78 percent in Ethiopia fall below the internationally defined poverty benchmarks.

In India, as per the report of the NCEUS 2005, around 4/5th of the total population could not afford the spend Rs 20 per day during the period 2003-04.

In most of these countries, the poor or the greater mass of the population hold a significant role in deciding policy makers and their participation (unqualified) ensures that the economy moves on in a smooth path. Unfortunately, these greater masses remain silent in most of the debates on economic development. Their voices remain feeble and underrepresented in the orchestra of growth discussions.

Unfortunately, the mainstream media and the academic structure in different parts of the globe remain silent on these issues while undertaking their activities of knowledge sharing and capacity building for reasons not beyond the interests of the market farces. As a result, the new generation of learners remain biased towards only the shiny side of the world they see. The other side of the mirror always remain unnoticed. The purpose of Lok -Katha is to analyze the contemporary views on growth and development from the perspective of the under-privileged and to orient the new generation of learners towards issues that often remain unspoken. Lok-Katha is a phrase consisting of two Indian words such as 'LOK' or the people and 'KATHA' or the story.  

Lok-Katha will work as a forum to represent these voices in different ways. Our policy reviews will seek to demystify the policies of the governments both in India and at the international level from the perspectives of those who remain underrepresented in most of the policy dialogues. More so, our effort will be to speak out the views of the common people in their very own ways. Our writers only try to put things into perspective with the help available information from the perspective of the poor and the marginalized.