The China fallacy

As the only more populous country on the planet than their own, China holds great fascination for Indians. Not everyone may agree that China followed the best course of development since opening up its economy to foreign capital, but to many Indian political leaders and their supporters, that nation could do no wrong.

The ruinous effect of an intensive, polluting and industrial development philosophy on China's environment is well documented by international journals, including those with strong socialist leanings such as The Guardian of UK.

Now comes another critique of China's false development from another Leftist intellectual, Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.

Professor Sen told a Chennai audience at the Voluntary Health Services on February 10, that life expectancy at birth had dramatically improved in the period before the country launched its economic liberalisation programme. After that, the rate of growth had actually reduced.

To quote Professor Sen, "I referred earlier to the extraordinary fact that China managed to achieve astonishing progress in general health and longevity before the economic reforms in 1979 -- a period in which economic growth was in fact rather moderate in comparison with what happened after the reforms. And yet afte the economic reforms, which ushered in a period of sustained growth and super rapid economic expansion in China, unprecedented in the whole world, the progress in life expectancy actually slowed down dramatically."

"To some extent this can be expected since by 1979 China already had quite a high life expectancy at birth, around 68 years, and certainly further expansion becomes more and more difficult as the absolute level of longevity becomes high. But the fact is that China's life expectancy is still relatively moderate in comparison with many other societies in which the progress of longevity expansion has continued to occur at a very high rate."

It is of course natural that Professor Sen spoke about the long catching up that India has to do, even to get to where China is, and not much importance need be attached to the average increase in longevity in India, which has been three times as fast as in China since 1979. He also referred to the earlier commitment that China had shown to public health (something which has been sorely missing in the Indian context despite the visionary policies recommended by Sir Joseph Bhore in 1946).

Significantly, Professor Sen refers to Kerala as forging ahead of China in the area of health, and achieving a four or five year advantage in life expentancy over China since 1979. It is higher than every province of China (with the obvious exception of urban conglomerates such as Beijing and Shanghai).

Let us remember that Kerala has been one of the exceptional states in the Indian Union with the natural blessing of a verdant, unpolluted, tropical climate. Much of the State except for the Palakkad Pass is skirted by the Western Ghats Mountains and is therefore favoured by nature with plentiful rainfall and vegetation. Is it possible that Kerala's protected natural environment, unsullied by intensive manufacturing-based development is partly responsible for its better health indicators? The literate, health-conscious and politically aware citizenry is of course responsible for the positive outcomes overall.