Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen delivered inaugural address at
90th anniversary of Reserve Bank Employees' Union in Kolkata on Saturday the 16th February 2013.
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Saturday exhorted trade unions to expand
their role to address injustice in general, covering aspects like
inequalities in income, healthcare, education and nutrition.
Speaking at the 90th anniversary celebration of the Reserve Bank Employees'
Association, he said unions could take their role further as their
identity cut across religious sects, and urged them to address issues
such as malnourishment, income disparity and public healthcare.
Turning to the issue of disparate incomes, he said that on per capita
income the Indian rural labour had fallen enormously behind. Unions were defined narrowly in the past after revolutions in countries
like China, Prof. Sen said. “Injustices remained even after the
revolution… If workers seize power… injustices do not go away… they come
in many forms.”
He said that in India the issue was particularly important as inequality
here had accompanied debilitating deprivation, “which has brought in
its wake issues of healthcare and undernourishment... At the root of it
is the inability of the private income-wage earner to keep pace with the
economy.”
Prof. Sen felt that a two-pronged attack was necessary in this regard —
one at the political level and the other at the level of the unions, who
have very good ground to press for more public spending on things like
public healthcare and education.
“The political role for removing injustice by unions has to be through
movement, which presses for things like public health, nutrition, in
addition to [addressing] the issue of secularity... Wages should also
rise not just for civil servants, but for the working class as whole.”
Calling for a criticality of approach towards unions, the Nobel laureate
said there was also a feeling that they were not concerned with the
accountability of the worker. This was not what was needed to remove
injustices for which the co operation of the unions was needed, he said.
“View social justice of the country as a whole and see what unions can
do as a cooperative partner without forgetting issues like workers
interests.”
Delhi gang rape
Prof. Sen mentioned last year’s Delhi gang rape incident, saying such
incidents should have been a bigger issue much earlier. “One Billion
Rising is a very welcome development… Everyone must welcome the
anti-rape movement. But there is also need for taking up the issue of
poor Dalit women who are often violated.”
courtesy : The Hindu / 17.02.2013
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