Poor healthcare roadblock to West Bengal's economy: Amartya Sen

The public health sector in West Bengal is still in a poor state, in terms of both availability and quality, said eminent economist and nobel laureate Amartya Sen.

In a public discussion on 'Needs and Resources: Education, Health and Employment' jointly organised by Pratichi Trust, Global Equity Initiative, Harvard University and UNICEF, Sen said the state's primary health sector was a major constraint for the economy.

"A strong public health sector had been the sole facilitator of development for several major economies of the world," he noted.

Sen drew attention to the fact that though social indicators were showing positive movement and that the differences India had with other developed nations were declining, there was a gradual increase in the inequality in performance among the states within the country.

For instance, Kerala has been a star performer in social indicators and it was ahead of other states.

Speaking on state's primary education, Sen pointed that the 'mid-day meal scheme has substantially increased attendance in primary schools, despite the fact that there have been complaints regarding the quality of meal provided.

"The complaints were mainly from the better off families. But for the poorest section, it meant a meal that was otherwise unavailable to them", added Sen. He laid stress on parent-teacher initiative for better performance of such schemes.

Among the other discussed issues were the recent proposed 'rural employment guarantee programme'.

Addressing all the debates that have come up regarding the availability of fund Sen explained that if the if the revenue GDP ratio could be improved to the desired level there would be adequate fund available for such distribution of income, whose multiplier effect would be immense.

According to Sen, presence of a strong 'organisation' and skills to develop it further is relatively more important than availability of economic and financial resources for economic development.