Thought for the day
“Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the
truth.”
-
Mahatma Gandhi (Indian, 1869-1948)
Word for the day
Hornswoggle (v)
To swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.
(Source: Dictionary.com)
Teaser for the day
Given the Binny – Kejriwal mudslinging on TV channels,
should AAP ask people of Laxmi Nagar
(East Delhi) as to whether they would like to recall their MLA Vinod Kumar
Binny?
Begin at the bottom
In my “Discover India” tour last summer (see
here) I found that even after more than 6 decades of becoming an
independent political union, India is still far away from becoming a
socio-economic union. The failure of national economic policy in recognizing
this regional diversity is perhaps one of the primary reasons for sub-optimal
outcome.
Most of the states, regions within states and communities within
regions have diverse socio-economic behavior. A blanket policy for all is least
likely to succeed in meeting its objectives.
This perhaps why the center driven Nehruvian model of large
industry led growth with active state participation has mostly failed in
evolving a strong structural base for the Indian economy. Consequently, we
still continue to be an economy largely dependent on labor & resource
arbitrage and trading. We have failed in making significant progress in the
areas such as technological advancement, productivity gains, innovation and
localization.
In my assessment, electoral considerations have overwhelmed
India’s economic policy. The inevitable consequences are:
1. Overemphasis on
weaknesses and ignoring strengths.
2. Overemphasis on
“provision” rather than enablement.
3. Failure to
develop a truly federal structure of governance as mandated by the
Constitution.
4. Failure to develop
an environment of mutual trust and faith between the political establishment
and people in general.
In my emphasis of economic policy should be on:
a) Developing an
environment of mutual trust through decentralization of power to the primary unit
of administration, i.e., village council.
(b) Building on the
locale strengths while adequately taking care of weaknesses.
(c) Enable the
population rather than just keeping to provide for them
Mahatma envisioned that “Independence begins at the bottom... A
society must be built in which every village has to be self sustained and
capable of managing its own affairs. It will be trained and prepared to perish
in the attempt to defend itself against any onslaught from without. This does
not exclude dependence on and willing help from neighbours or from the world.
It will be a free and voluntary play of mutual forces. In this structure
composed of innumerable villages, there will be ever widening, never ascending
circles. Growth will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom.
But it will be an oceanic circle whose center will be the individual. Therefore
the outermost circumference will not wield power to crush the inner circle but
will give strength to all within and derive its own strength from it.” More on
this in next post.
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