Systems of Success and Survival

During my graduation, I had minimal personal interactions with university professors despite a favorable student-faculty ratio. My priorities were sports, event management, on-campus jobs, community service, and fun with friends. Everything other than studies. Even so, I maintained good grades until COVID-19 disrupted my studies. And an era of online lectures began.
In my 7th semester, I interacted with Mr. Rajat Kathuria – (Head of the School of Humanities & Social Sciences Department) and former Director of ICRIER (Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations). I initially sought his help for sports sponsorship rather than academics, knowing his background as a top ranked Table Tennis player in 1980’s. Despite that, our conversations were diverse – we discussed India’s economic state and avenues of social mobility in length. He once asked me an intriguing question, “Ajendra, what do you think is the most important reason for Indian poverty?”

I replied probably Attitude of people is a differentiating factor. My response had an influence of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s Ignited Minds. Now I reflect on this question during my fellowship while working with school teachers, local leaders, Self-Help Groups, social experts, students, and parents. I now believe that attitude and aspirations are shaped by inherited systems.

A poor tribal girl studying in Ashramshala gets a choice either to get a passing grade in 10^th class or to get married. Whereas a boy from a prosperous family gets a bike for getting passing grades. Children have no control over the social environment they grow up in. Poor parents make rational choices given their constrains as Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo discuss in Poor Economics.

Rural communities function within so-called systems of sustainability, but in reality, these are systems of survival. Villagers focus on immediate needs, living day-to-day. While outsiders may romanticize their communal lifestyle as meditative and content, my experience tells a different story. Community time was their only form of engagement until mobile phones arrived. The real issue is that this system conditions people to live in survival mode, making them vulnerable and dependent on short-term solutions like subsidies and direct benefit transfers (DBTs) rather than empowering them for long-term progress.

I do not advocate for eliminating social welfare schemes. With 800 million people reliant on the Public Distribution System (PDS), 11 crore households benefiting from Jal Jeevan Mission, and 10 crore families accessing Ujjwala Yojana for LPG, these programs are essential. Additionally, 14 crore workers depend on MGNREGA for employment security. In a profit-driven capitalist world, government intervention is crucial to prevent starvation and extreme deprivation.

Anil K. Gupta, in Grassroot Innovations, aptly states: “Minds on the margins are not marginal minds.” It is the system that shapes people’s outlook. The wealthy are driven by pleasure and fulfilment, while the poor are conditioned to be fearful of pain of failure. Their attitude is shaped by the social milieu.

We need a different approach. An approach to create a system of sustainability as advocated by Edward Barbier which increases the material standard of living of poor at grassroot level. The challenge for governments and social organizations is to build bridges that transition people from survival systems to success systems.