Stopping the great leap backward

The outcomes of the legislative assembly elections in the five states (West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Pondicherry) which went to the polls in April-May reflect the growing public demand for balanced, equitable economic growth. There is a discernible sentiment — as reflected in the triumph in West Bengal and Kerala of the coalitions dominated by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) — that the benefits of economic liberalisation and deregulation need to be distributed more equitably between shining middle class India and the rest of the population. The massive electoral endorsement of the CPM which is lukewarm about market economics and integration of the Indian economy with the rest of the world, is a signal from the subaltern classes substantially denied any share of the harvest of liberalisation, that they will vote in political parties with a bias towards equity and distributive justice. That’s a warning which all right thinking people must heed. There’s something clearly wrong with a social order in which stockmarket indices have scaled unprecedented peaks, five-star hotel room prices are among the highest worldwide, Indian businessmen are plentiful in the Forbes list of dollar billionaires, and urban real estate prices rival Manhattan while thousands of deeply-indebted farmers in rural India commit suicide every month, 47 percent of children below the age of five suffer malnutrition and in the poor hinterland the great majority of the population is routinely denied adequate food, clothing, shelter, education and healthcare. Little wonder there’s the distant thunder of revolution with 150 of the country’s 603 administrative districts confronted with a growing naxalite (anarchist) insurrection. The challenge before liberal political parties, particularly the Congress which has a strong democratic and secular tradition, is to combine its successful post-1991 economic development policy prescription with emotional intelligence and make a determined bid to end the poverty, despair and hopelessness which has wiped out the modest hopes of post-independence India’s first generation. Quite clearly the bankrupt, statist socio-economic development model by which the communist parties continue to swear, is not the answer to 21st century India’s needs. But now there’s a real possibility of the communist and leftist parties acquiring greater power and influence in New Delhi and the state capitals. This means that the handsome gains of liberalisation which have made this country a fast-track globally favoured investment destination, could become history in a jiffy.  Therefore the onus is upon the minority of right-thinking individuals within the Congress and the liberal intelligentsia to deliberate upon ways and means to present the acceptable face of capitalism to the public. The best prescription is to apply the logic of supply side economics to basic needs — food, clothing shelter, education and healthcare — of the population. Admittedly this is a tall order. But extension of the liberalisation and deregulation prescription which has catapulted the Indian economy into the high growth orbit during the past decade to the social sector, i.e massive private sector investment, offers the best chance of stopping the great leap backward, the inevitable consequence…