Welfare schemes, policies in India not oriented towards poor: Chidambaram

Kozhikode: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday said the various welfare schemes and policies in the country were "not pivoted to the poor".

Chidambaram said an egalitarian society can be created only if the schemes and policies are oriented towards the poor.

The former Union Minister was speaking on the topic -- 'Inclusive Growth: Myth and Reality' at the M P Veerendrakumar Commemorative event organised by the RJD here.

He said that "unless we understand the economic and social hierarchies, which mirror each other, and reorient our policies towards the bottom, especially the SCs, STs and other depressed sections, it will not be possible to call us an egalitarian society".

The Congress leader underscored that inclusive growth was possible by building an egalitarian society.

He pointed out that the present society was not equal or reasonably equal, fair and just.

"Not that it can never be. You can build an egalitarian society. Purely capitalist and rich countries have built egalitarian societies," he said.

Chidambaram said that egalitarian societies can be built by making healthcare and education universal and free.

"Unfortunately, our concept of egalitarian society does not include universal and free healthcare and education. In most western countries, especially European nations, education is free from kindergarten to post graduation. Healthcare is free from a minor illness to major surgeries," he contended.

"So we can build an egalitarian society by making our policies oriented towards the poor." Chidambaram also cited the example of gas cylinders being provided under the Ujjwala scheme -- for providing LPG connections to women of BPL families -- and alleged that it was not pivoted to the poor.

He claimed that the middle class benefited from it, but not the poor.

"This is a classic good example of how our policies are not pivoted to the poor. There are many such examples which can be given," he claimed.