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Abstract: This article argues that the benefits of development do not automatically benefit the poor segment of the society. Therefore, there must be a deliberate action by the state to formulate policies and commit both the political will and resources to realize the objective of poverty alleviation and promotion of livelihoods. However, for this to succeed, the state must have a corresponding political system and institutions capable of translating the policies to concrete and tangible benefits to the poor. The developmental-state approach practiced by both the Central and the regional government of Tibet Autonomous Region in which the state has as its basic philosophy and reasons for its existence, the improvement of the quality of lives of its citizenry have no doubt, enhanced the reduction of the number of the poor living below poverty line. This is unlike the states that have adopted Neo-liberal strategy of development that only plays a tangential role in alleviating poverty. Hence the impressive efforts made by both the Central and Tibetan Regional Government to promote the livelihoods of the people as reported by white papers on Tibet in 2015. However, this is not to conclude that poverty has been eradicated in the Tibetan region. This article argues that it is not as a result of political ineptitude, politics of exclusion either based on class or ethnicity, corruption by government officials, nor it is as a result of the expropriation of resources from the rural population by governments of both central and regional government, through imposition of taxes, offering of low prices for their commodities or legislating ?non-living‘ wage, which amounts to peanuts for their citizens. Also, the democratic system practiced is not that which can be equated to ?government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich‘ which is largely practiced in liberal democracies, that are only interested in succession politics – voting, while citizens‘ welfare is not of paramount interest especially in developing economies. What is therefore required to take Tibet to the next level is to ensure that political will and resources are put together to further enhance the process of poverty alleviation in the Tibetan region. Specifically, it is suggested that measures should be taken through technological advancement to increase production of agricultural and animal husbandry products, and to add value through the establishment of rural industries to increase the earnings of the rural communities. Setting up mechanisms to diversify the rural livelihoods to non-agricultural jobs on a sustainable basis, provision of subsidized credit facilities and Cash Transfers. The provision of Critical Socio-Economic Infrastructure (educational, health, roads, irrigation, and energy), that will facilitate the process of production and integration of the rural economy. Education especially should be given a prominent priority as it has multiplier effect on impacting on all sectors and guaranteeing self-reliant development as envisaged by the Tibetan regional government. However, the central government has a big role to play in this partnership of poverty alleviation in the Tibetan region, given the natural and resource constraints challenging the development of the region. As more people come out of poverty and have comfortable living standards, it will eradicate dissenting voices and actions and will increase national integration and enhance harmonious relationships with other regions.
INTRODUCTION:
The sharing of the benefits of development has been a cardinal policy of the Chinese government over the years, especially in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). This is largely based on the premise that economic growth of any country does not automatically lead to the promotion of livelihoods and poverty alleviation for majority of the citizens. For many countries, including Nigeria, economic growth has taken place, but the benefits are concentrated in a few hands, it has not trickled-down to the majority of the citizenry. Being a developmental state in which the state takes central control of the development of the economy to ensure that citizens benefit from the dividends of development, rather than states like Nigeria that have adopted neo-liberal strategy of development, in which the state only play a tangential role in ensuring that citizens benefit from economic growth, the Chinese government has taken deliberate action to alleviate the poverty situation in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Living in scattered areas in deserts, hills, mountains and plateaus, it is reported that this region is characterized by the largest number of poor people, and the deepest degree and most complicated structure of poverty. Furthermore, of the 592 poverty-stricken counties named by the Chinese Government on its priority poverty relief list in 1994, 82 percent are situated in central and the western region (Information Office, 2001) Given, its developmental state approach, the Chinese government had from the 1990s introduced the seven-year priority poverty reduction programme (1994 – 2000), the outline for poverty reduction and development of China‘s rural areas (2001 – 2010), and the outline for development – oriented poverty reduction for China‘s rural area (2011 – 2020).
With particular reference to Tibet Autonomous Region, the Chinese government formulated and implemented a series of policies for regional development to promote economic and social development in Tibet. The main policy focus to alleviate poverty among others included the provision of social security package, encouraging the setting up of industries with competitive advantage and the encouragement of outside support with self-reliance. All these efforts were geared toward improving the living conditions of the poor-stricken population. To what extent this effort has realized is cardinal objective of enhancing the livelihoods and alleviating poverty of people of the Tibetan region and what further action is required to take Tibet to the next level of development, is the focus of this article.
PROMOTION OF LIVELIHOODS AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN TIBET AUTONOMOUS REGION
The Chinese government has always made poverty reduction an important goal and task of national development, given its political system; it has continued to adhere to the principle of putting people first, to enable people to enjoy the fruits of economic and social development. It is in this regard, that the central government supports Tibet‘s development by providing preferential policies, projects and funds, and has also urged more developed provinces and big enterprises to join in the development of the region. (Chen and Yunhu, 2011). Furthermore, China has held five Tibet work symposium since 1980 to discuss Tibet‘s development. From 1952 to 2014, the central government provided Tibet with financial subsidies totaling 648.08 billion Yuan, which as reported, accounts for 92.8 percent of Tibet‘s public financial expenditure (Information Office, 2015).
The priorities for Tibet in the strategy for the development of the western region are:- accelerating the infrastructure construction on basic needs such as transportation, water conservancy, energy and telecommunication; protecting and improving the ecological environment and enhancing environmental sustainability between man and nature; improving infrastructure related to agriculture and animal husbandry; optimizing the industrial structure with emphasis on industries with comparative advantage. Also, accelerating the development and provisioning of social services, facilitating domestic and international exchanges in the fields of the economy and technology and facilitating human capital development.
The translation of these policy intentions into concrete reality to impact on the development of the Tibetan people was by no doubt left to the central government. The specific role of implementation was entrusted to the Tibetan regional government. Hence, Chen and Yunhu (2011) noted that, since the regional government formulated and implemented the Poverty Alleviation programme in the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1996, it has adhered to poverty alleviation through development. This in effect means that the pursuit of development programmes will have a ripple effect on poverty alleviation.
In this regard, the regional government attaches great importance to the development of crop production and animal husbandry being the main means of livelihoods of the Tibetans. It has continued to source funds from many sources and increased poverty alleviation investments. Apart from these, it has paid close attention to the ecological environment and promotes sustainable development in the poverty –stricken areas. (Chen and Yunhu 2011).
Consequently, it has been documented that:
There have been substantial improvements in the quality of life. In 2013, the Gross Regional Product (GRP) of Tibet reached 80.767 billion yuan; the per-capita net income of farmers and herdsmen was 6,578 yuan and the per-capita disposable income of urban dwellers was 20,023 yuan. The overwhelming majority of Tibetans have now shaken off poverty that had dogged them for centuries to enjoy a relatively comfortable life. The low-income housing projects for farmers and herdsmen that were initiated in 2006 have been completed, and a total of 460,300 low-income houses were built, providing safe modern housing to 2.3 million farmers and herdsmen. The average per-capita floor space of farmers and herdsmen was 30.51 sq m, and that of urban dwellers reached 42.81 sq m. In 2013, the population of Tibet rose to 3.1204 million, and average life expectancy was 68.2 years. These represent a tripling and a doubling of the respective figures from the early 1950s. According to the "CCTV Economic Life Survey" jointly sponsored by the National Bureau of Statistics, China Post Group, and China Central Television (CCTV), Lhasa has topped the "happiness index" for five consecutive years. There has been comprehensive development in Tibet‘s education, health and social security. The region took the lead in China to provide its residents with a 15 year free education (three-year preschool, six-year primary school, three -year senior middle school); 99.59 percent of school-age children are enrolled at primary level; the gross enrollment rates for junior middle school and senior middle school have reached 98.75 percent and 72.23 percent, respectively. The quality of the population is also improving. Illiteracy has been wiped out among the young and the middle-aged, and the average length of time spent in education for people above the age 15 has reached 8.1 years. A basic medical and health service system has been established. Tibet now has 6,660 medical and health institutions. Free medical services are now available to all farmers and herdsmen in the autonomous region, with the relevant annual subsidy being raised to 380 yuan per person in 2014. Tibet is the first area in China to provide free physical examinations for urban and rural residents. (white paper, 2015).
Given that the proportion of poverty-stricken population in the region‘s total population of farmers and herdsmen fell from 49.2 percent in 2010 to 23.7 percent in 2014(White paper), it is quite a great achievement.
However, this is not to conclude that all Tibetans are no more challenged by poverty and livelihood issues.
According to Cheng and Yunhu (2011), these challenges include Tibet‘s poor natural conditions, low productivity of farming and animal husbandry, low added value of agricultural and livestock products market outlets. Second, the region still lacks internal sources of revenue – to enhance self-development and self-accumulation is still very low. Third, poor infrastructure, especially in the area of energy and transportation, fourth, social services provisioning are still underdeveloped. Similarly, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2015 noted that Tibet still lags behind other areas of China in terms of human development and this is mainly due to the fact that potential sources of economic growth are limited by harsh conditions, scarce resources and insufficient infrastructure.
Therefore, it can be argued that the inability to eradicate poverty in Tibet Autonomous Region, is not due to political ineptitude, politics of exclusion either based on ethnicity or class; corruption by government officials, nor it is as a results of expropriation of resources from the rural population by government of both central and regional government through imposition of taxes, offering of low prices for their commodities or the massive exploitation of labour by legislating non-living wages which amounts to peanuts. Also, it is not as a result of adopting neo-liberal policies that rolls back the ?Frontiers‘ of the state in pursuing economic development, which rather promotes the interest of multinational corporations and their local collaborators for their joint exploitation of their host country. Furthermore, the system of democracy practiced is not one that can be equated to 'government of the rich, by the rich for the rich‘. Nor is it because of the escalating cost of governance.
Hence, if poverty has not been totally eradicated, it is not a deliberate policy of neglect, given the natural conditions of the Tibetan area, the economic resources and technology therein, it requires government to keep the momentum of the task of taking Tibetan development to the next level.
MOVING TIBET TO NEXT LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT: POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND PROMOTION OF LIVELIHOOD
The Central and Tibetan Regional Government had made impressive efforts toward poverty alleviation and promotion of livelihoods. However, to take Tibet Autonomous Region to the next stage of development with respect to poverty alleviation, as Ghosh (2010) observed this depends on the extent to which the following are achieved:-
relatively egalitarian growth path, increases in agricultural productivity that help raise wages and keep the prices of food under control; expansion of non-agricultural employment, direct public intervention aim at poverty reduction through generating productive employment for the poor and targeted social protection schemes. The rural economy should therefore be integrated with the urban and national economy. Khan (2001) has correctly argued that biases in national economic and social policies can exacerbate rural poverty through the exclusion of the rural poor from the benefits of development. Some of these policy bias he noted, include; urban bias in public investment for infrastructure and provision of safety nets; implicit taxation of agricultural products through so-called support prices and an overvalued exchange rate; direct taxation of agricultural exports and import subsidies; favouring export crops over food crops; and bias in favour of large landowners and commercial producers with respect to rights of land ownership and tenancy, publicly provided extension services, and access to subsidized credit.
Hence, to further, alleviate poverty in the Tibet Autonomous Region, as the FAO (2016) has observed, just focusing on improving crop or livestock production may not lead to rural poverty reduction. Both the Central and the Tibetan regional government, should continue to design social protection programmes that effectively reduce income and food insecurity among rural populations, while providing stimulus to the rural economy, empowering Women, and enhancing the capacity of the rural poor and the most vulnerable to invest in their future based the sustainable use of resources.
In this regard, Khan (2001) has identified the following strategies to enhance poverty alleviation.
These are:-
· Information gathering. The rural poor face many different problems and are not a homogeneous group. Therefore, a sustained effort must be made to gather information about the particular problems they face so that they can be adequately addressed.
· Focus on building assets. The government should assess what assets the poor need most to help them earn more. This could be agricultural land or other resources, access to credit, or improvements in health and education. Dependence on raw labor, without a focus on building other assets, is the single most important source of persistent poverty.
· The right to adequate land and water. A broad-based land reform program–including land titling, land redistribution, and fair and enforceable tenancy contracts–is critical for reducing rural poverty. It can make small (marginal) landowners and tenants more efficient producers and raise their standards of living.
· Basic health care and literacy. The rural poor need to build and strengthen their human capital so that they can get out of poverty and contribute more to the economy and society. Basic health care (immunization, provision of clean water, and family planning) and education (literacy, schooling, and technical training)–particularly for women and children–are essential building blocks and should be accessible at reasonable cost.
· Local involvement. The infrastructure and services associated with health and education can be funded and maintained best if the target groups are involved in making decisions about the design, implementation, monitoring, and accountability.
· Providing infrastructure. The rural poor cannot make the best use of their resources, including human capital, if either the quantity or the quality of some of the key parts of the country‘s physical infrastructure (irrigation, transport, and communications) and support services (research and extension) is inadequate. The social and physical infrastructure and services can be funded and maintained best–that is, they will be cost-effective and of reasonable quality–if the target groups are involved in designing, implementing, and monitoring them, as well as in ensuring accountability of the government officials responsible for them.
· Targeted credit. Informal and formal sources of credit often are too costly for, or unavailable to, the rural poor. Targeted public sector rural credit programs, especially if they are subsidized, benefit the nonpoor far more than the poor. The poor want credit that is available on acceptable terms and when they need it. Recent experiments with community-based credit programs, in which the poor actively participate in the making of lending decisions that are subject to peer accountability, have been successful in reaching target groups at reasonable cost.
· Public works. A large and increasing proportion of the rural poor depends on wage labor, because they have either no asset other than raw labor or very few assets: limited quantities of land and domestic animals. A flexible public works program can greatly help the near landless and the landless smooth out household consumption and avoid transient poverty. If it is used on a sustained basis, it can also strengthen the bargaining power of the poor in rural areas.
· Decentralized food programs. Some of the rural poor, both individuals and households, suffer from inadequate nutrition most of the time. They need different kinds of support, depending on their circumstances. These may include food supplement programs; food assistance provided through schools, health care clinics, and community centers; and cash transfers. Decentralized and targeted programs seem to work best.
It is instructive to note that both the Central and Tibetan regional government have undertaken the implementation of some of these strategies, however, what is most required, is the intensification of more political will through the mobilization of resources and ideas to eradicate poverty in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
CONCLUSION:
The Tibetan Autonomous Region is mostly constituted by the poor farmers and herdsmen. Nature, has also acted as an impediment to rapid economic growth to alleviate poverty in the region. Both the Central and Tibetan regional governments have as their cardinal policy, the alleviation of poverty in the region. These efforts have succeeded in reducing the number of people living below poverty line. However, poverty has not been completely eradicated; it is therefore incumbent on both governments and the private sector to deliberately intensify measures that will improve the livelihoods of people in the region, through economic empowerment programmes, cash transfers and the provision of socio-economic infrastructure to enhance productivity and comfortable standard of living. As more people come out of poverty it will reduce dissenting voices and actions, and consequently promote national integration and harmonious living between all the areas in the country.
References:
1. Chen, Wand Yunhu,D. (2011), what do you know about Tibet: Questions and Answers. Beijing, Foreign Languauges Press.
2. Ghosh, J. (2010) poverty reduction in China and India: Policy implications of recent trends.
3. Khan, M.H. (2001) "Rural Poverty in Developing Countries: Implications for Public Policy" Economic issues No.26. International Monetary Fund (IMF) Washington DC, USA.
4. Information Office of the State Council of the People‘s Republic of China. (2001) The Development-oriented Poverty Reduction Programme for Rural China, Beijing.
5. Information Office of the State Council of the People‘s Republic of China (2001), New Progress in Development-oriented Poverty Reduction Programme for Rural China. Beijing.
6. Information Office of the State Council (2015) white paper on "Successful Practice of Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet" Beijing.
7. Information office of the State Council of the People‘s Republic of China (2015), white paper, 'Tibet‘s Path of Development is Driven by an Irresistible Historical Tide. Beijing.
8. United Nations Development Programme (2015) Tibet Development and Poverty Alleviation Programme.
(Bonaventure Nkup Haruna, Department of political science university of Jos,Jos Nigeria) |
