Introduction

Jharkhand, created as an independent state in November 2000, produced Vision 2010 – a statement of policy directions for the new state. The state's first chief minister, Babulal Marandi, had identified increasing socio-economic disparities – more than 56.8 per cent of the population living below the poverty line (as against 36 per cent for India in 1996–97), lack of road connectivity in more than 60 per cent of villages, 54 per cent literacy rate (42 per cent in the tribal sub-plan area that includes 112 out of 221 blocks in Jharkhand, spread in eleven districts out of twenty-two) and 85 per cent of villages having no electricity – as key problems confronting the state, along with the challenge of extremism.

Marandi, during his tenure, had seemed increasingly attracted by the ‘Asian strategy’ for development, particularly that adopted by Singapore. Along with an eleven-member team, he undertook a tour of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand in December 2002 (Prasad, 2002b). Thereafter he proposed a trip for Jharkhand legislators to China and South-East Asia: ‘Legislators will be sent to foreign countries to observe the developments there to change their mindset’ (Indo-Asian News Service [IANS], 2003). These trips have been funded from the state's exigency fund, meant for emergency purposes (Prasad, 2002b).

Turning Jharkhand into another Singapore is indeed a commendable objective, but perhaps it is time to reflect on the key ingredients of Singapore's success and ask whether these are reflected in the actions or even in Jharkhand's vision document. What have been the measures taken to counter the human costs in terms of displacement and shrinking access to natural resources that would accompany a process of rapid growth? With many thousands starving to death or dying of diarrhoea and malaria, the answer sadly is predictable.

I discuss briefly in this chapter the key elements of the East Asian ‘miracle’, and then point towards the lack of both clarity and commitment in the Vision 2010 document as well as in the actions of the state government to date, in terms of these key elements.

Development Strategies in Asia

Remarking on Singapore's achievements in the introduction to his lecture at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, Amartya Sen said, ‘This country's success in economic development as well as in building a vibrant and harmonious multicultural society has been exceptional’ (1999a: 3).