Alternative economic survey 1995-96

The Alternative Economic Survey (AES) is a document which has, since 1992-93, come to be pre T pared annually by a group of independent experts on economic and social affairs. The Economic Survey released by the Ministry of Finance prior to the annual budget exercise used, in bygone days, to highlight some of the problems faced by the Indian economy. Of late, the survey has regrettably tended to take on the nature and character of a propagandist document, seeking to present a one-sided view of the economy, and to extol the successes of Government's policies, specifically relation to the "economic reforms" package initiated since July, 1991. The earlier tradition of the Economic Survey sounding danger signals in regard to t d the fiscal, monetary and external payments situation, has now given place to the presen tation, in the text, of only selective data, and to a "doctored" interpretation of the data in support all Government policies. This is understandable; all Government documents can be expected to be in support of extant Government policies, but the playing down of the lurking dangers facing the economy is unfortu nate. From 1992-93, a Group of individual experts decided to present an alternative view of the Indian economy. The Alternative Survey Group believes that an alternative set of policies is better suited for the Indian

economy, but the AES is not concerned with the presentation of the alternative, rather, the purpose is to bring out the actual state of the Indian economy today, as revealed by the "official data" Fortunately, The Economic Survey does present a whole array of statistics pertaining to the Indian economy, in the form of Appendices. The AES makes use of only these, and other official data (such as contained in the budget papers, RBI documents and diverse Government r reports and statistics). This is an important point, all data used for preparing the AES are official. It is only the interpretation of the diverse official data that is different in AES from the conclusions presented in The Economic Survey.

The Alternative Survey Group is a collection of individual experts on social and economic problems,

from the academia, with a sprinkling of journalists, social activists, retired Government experts and other

specialists. Each individual contributor is a specialist on the subject he/she writes on. The Group contains

reputed professionals who have taken on the task of unfolding before the Indian people a more realistic

picture of the Indian economy than presented in the official Economic Survey An important qualification must be stated. There is no "editing" of the views of the individual experts for the AES. As a result the AES does not present a sanitised, wholly "focused" report, with all chapters directed to "prove" something. In the official Economic Survey, the underlying theme is to present the success of the extant economic policies of the Government. The AES has no brief, except to present a realistic picture of the present state of affairs in the Indian economy. As a result, the reader may occasion ally find that the collection of essays in the ensuing volume does not focus on one single theme. That is part of the design. The AES presents the individual views of a wide variety of experts who are generally of the opinion that an alternative set of policies may be in the larger interests of the Indian people. The reader will also find several essays on themes which find no place in the Economic Survey,

This annual exercise, first attempted in 1992-93 and repeated annually thereafter, is thus an attempt to present a wholly independent, unofficial view of the state of the Indian economy, the problems it faces, the priorities in regard to state action (which become obvious from the social milicu brought out in the AES). The Alternative Survey Group believes that the people of India should have the benefit of being with not only official propaganda (in regard to extant policies) but also wholly independent analysis of the true state of the Indian economy, and the problems and dangers it faces. There is occasional reference to alternative choices possible, but that is not the main purpose of the volume, the purpose is -ssentially to bring out the true state of the Indian economy, as analysed by independent experts.