- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - امس 05:45

On overhauling Cepep

HAVING Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, the largest member of the Commonwealth family, spend two days visiting our tiny Caribbean state was something to cheer about. We have a natural connection with India because about 40 per cent of our population originated there and remains culturally affiliated while many more of us have that Asian DNA coursing our veins. Strengthening relations with India also makes sense because India’s GDP ranks fourth in the world (same as Japan and just behind Germany), a world in which key alliances are shifting, and in which TT is a tiny but interested player. Strategic alliances, therefore, mean everything to us. Beyond the commercial and politico-economic benefits of closer ties with such a big, natural ally we must factor in that India is also that remarkable thing, the world’s largest democracy, with a population of 1.5 billion. We in TT have proven that we value democracy and that ours is deeply rooted. We are a secular state with freedom of worship and congregation, freedom of speech and movement and we defend human rights. We have regular (even during covid19), free and mostly fair elections and barring the aberration of the 1990 attempted coup, we can be proud of how we have maintained stability and managed the repeated peaceful transfer of power even when election results have been close or tied. The only real challenge we face to democracy and the authority of the state is the growth of criminal gangs and widespread, unprosecuted corruption; and the biggest threat must be the ongoing stresses within the judicial system that could potentially lead to its collapse. For the moment, though, citizens have put aside those very big challenges to focus on immediate personal, social and economic matters that are affecting the sense of autonomy, trust and prosperity of some citizens in particular. Some of those people have engaged in public protest to challenge a brusque government decision to summarily abort, with one month’s pay in lieu of notice, the make-work CEPEP programme that will deprive over 10,000 people, reportedly mainly women, of any earnings. It has become a political flashpoint. The minister in charge, Barry Padarath, has indicated an overhaul of the programme is to follow, for which he earns full marks. Our government has stated its intention to place citizens at the centre of national development and pledged that everybody would win during its time in government, which is the main reason the former opposition party (UNC) achieved an electoral win, with the support of its non-traditional voter base. Cepep allows largely unskilled people to earn income for performing non-essential but useful public tasks. It is not intended to be a job for life, however, apart from providing regular cash, it affords some dignity and autonomy to individuals who might otherwise be fully unemployed. On the downside, such schemes have few long term benefits for workers since they do not develop skills that can lead to enhanced employment opportunities, and may even jeopardise their chances of finding real jobs. At best, such make-work schemes can be staged stepping-stones into regular employment; at worst, they lock workers into a low pay existence because workers stop seeking more lucrative forms of employment and eventually join the brigade of the permanently unemployed. Opening up the economy to easier trade and creating new jobs were winning electoral promises. To achieve those goals requires a lively labour market. It is unfortunate, then, that overhauling Cepep has been presented as an urgent correction of racial bias and political inequality committed by the former government that privileged non-Indian citizens. Non-Indian contractors who employ Cepep workers outnumber contractors in Indian areas, therefore, the contracts are to be redistributed to achieve ethnic balance. Its urgency apparently requires plunging some of TT’s poorest people into a precarious existence while adjustments happen, rather than seamlessly transitioning them into real skills development programmes. Another member of Parliament dubbed the soon-to-be-unemployed as “collateral damage”. Politics has to be a balance between achieving one’s goals and doing public good. The art is in persuasion rather than alienation. It is about association and mutual commitment that exist in the public domain between people, about a polity. The government displaying such cruelty will not advance our society or engender trust. Poverty and inequality in TT are structurally ingrained and poverty alleviation should not be at the expense of some. Around 2,000 ethnic identities exist in India speaking around 18 languages. India’s ancient caste system locks people into essentially non-egalitarian groups with historically predetermined economic roles. But as the 19th Century political historian Alexis de Tocqueville observed, when social conditions improve, people's dissatisfaction increases because their expectations also rise. As India’s economy grows exponentially, even the Untouchables are rejecting the social order and escaping into more fulfilling lives. It is an example of what people can do with opportunity The post On overhauling Cepep appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.