|
Reregulating
Finance Obama Style |
| Jul
1st 2009, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| The
much awaited package that the Obama administration announced
recently incorporates a number of important regulatory
advances. Firstly, the package gives a new role for
the Federal Reserve in overseeing and regulating the
bank and non bank entities. It also talks of new guidelines
with respect to capital adequacy and prudential norms.
But, unfortunately, there are many features that were
expected to be dealt with but have been missed out in
the new package. |
|
| Reflections
on the Left |
| Jul
1st 2009, Prabhat
Patnaik |
|
| The
results of the recent Indian election suggest that the
Left needs to pursue its resistance to imperialism along
with an alternative approach to ''development'', which
defends the interests of its class base. If the Left
abandons anti-imperialism, it will not only erode its
existing class base, but also push the ''basic classes''
into the arms of extremist ideologies.ologies. |
|
| Inflation
Fears and Commodity Prices |
| Jun
30th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| Even
as the global downturn continues to cause trade flows
to decline, and jobs to be lost, there may be upward
pressure on certain prices in the near future. However,
unlike the monetarist arguments, the reasons for the
inflationary spiral lie not in fiscal expansion or in
supply-demand mismatch. Instead, they reflect the continuing
possibility that financial speculation can cause sharp
changes in the prices of commodities in the world market. |
|
| Tata
Rides the Recession |
| Jun
17th 2009, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| With
the expensive acquisitions of Anglo-Dutch steel major
Corus and luxury automobile brands Jaguar and Land Rover
in quick succession on the eve of the global financial
crisis, the TATA group faced difficulties as the debt
level of both the parent and the UK subsidiaries in
the group was on a rise. However, it is noteworthy how
the TATA group has escaped a group-wide crisis by leveraging
its brand, the Indian government and the Indian public. |
|
| The
Future of News in Print |
| Jun
8th 2009, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| Though
Indian media industry is yet to experience the kind
of crisis their overseas counterparts are faced with,
the declining revenues and profits of newspapers that
is forcing closure of many dailies, especially in the
US, suggests that the fortuitous interregnum should
be used to think about the future of the news media. |
|
| The
Left and Elections 2009 |
| May
22nd 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| Undoubtedly
the result of the general elections of 2009 has been
a major setback for the Left Front but it can be turned
into an opportunity for its revival and expansion if
it draws the right lessons from this defeat and changes
strategy accordingly. |
|
| Danube:
The River as Life |
| May
21st 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| Claudio
Magris' book "Danube: A sentimental journey from
the source to the Black Sea", is more than a magisterial
treatise or even a valiant attempt to capture the social
history of the human habitations in all their richness
and complexity. This is a book full of people, both
historical and created and is a cornucopia of gems with
its historical and geographical details that merge and
coalesce to transcend this particular river, this particular
geography, to encompass all rivers and all humanity. |
|
| Fears
of a Backlash |
| May
20th 2009, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
|
The US President clearly aims at getting some political
mileage by posing an otherwise straightforward tax reform
proposal in terms of jobs at home and jobs overseas.
On the other hand, despite industry concerns to the
contrary, the competitive edge for the India's IT industry
which comes from the lower wage rates and the attraction
of the growing demand for IT hardware and packaged software
in the Indian domestic market are both so large that
the loss of the tax advantage should not deter US firms
from captive outsourcing or setting up subsidiaries
here. |
|
| The
2009 Lok Sabha Election: a Storm in the Teacup? |
| May
18th 2009, Mritiunjoy
Mohanty |
|
| The
2009 Lok Sabha election has opened up an important space
that was closed in the Yadav-Palshikar hypothesis. Even
though there are conditions under which their hypothesis
about ideological convergence in policy making might
hold, in the current conjuncture with the breaking-up
of the ideological convergence around neoliberal economic
policy following the global financial crisis, the democratic
upsurge might play a role in shaping policies. |
|
| Tainted
Money |
| May
10th 2009, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| There
is increasing concern the world over regarding the role
of tax havens in promoting tax evasion and money laundering.
This is the opportunity to fulfil demands that the violations
of law that permit the accumulation of illegal wealth
abroad by India's rich and powerful in Swiss and similar
banks accounts need to be investigated, the offenders
must be prosecuted and the money brought back and directed
towards pushing growth and improving welfare domestically. |
|
| Has
a Global Contagion Affected Indian Finance? |
| Apr
24th 2009, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| One
probable reason why the recently released report of
the Financial Sector Assessment Programme could not
attract due attention is that the very assumption of
the benefits of financial integration, on which the
FSAP is anchored, is nullified by the current recession
in the real economy. However, as this article shows,
the report helps in a better understanding of the effect
of the global recession on the Indian financial system. |
|
| The
G20 Summit |
| Apr
24th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| All
expectations about the G20 Summit to revive the global
economy and set a new financial infrastructure were
in vain as it did not produce any extraordinary response
currently needed to pull the economy. The communiqué
that was released mentioned nothing on the fiscal front
and had no clear commitment to a co-ordinated fiscal
stimulus except only a promise of $850 billion to crisis-hit
poor countries. |
|
| And
Now, the Indian Balance of Payments Crisis |
| Apr
11th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| With
India's declining merchandise exports and still growing
imports resulting in a trade deficit, it is now confirmed
that the Indian economy is already badly hit by the
global economic crisis. The more worrisome part is that
our policymakers refuse to accept this reality and still
want to intensify the policies of financial liberalisation
that have brought us to this pass. |
|
| Prices
and Politics in India |
| Mar
24th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| Inflation
rate in India touched historical low levels of 0.44%
in the week ending March 19th. While this is being projected
in some circles as a positive development in the context
of rising inflation some months earlier, this article
argues that this need not be necessarily the case. |
|
| Assessing
the Recent West Bengal Experience |
| Mar
20th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| A
report prepared by Indicus Analytics on the economic
development of West Bengal tries to portray a dismal
performance of the state with regard to growth, employment,
poverty reduction, health etc. The article tries to
question the findings of the report and argues that
in many counts West Bengal has performed much better
than the national average. |
|
| How
to Spend the Money |
| Mar
6th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| One
of the significant impact of the financial crisis on
the world of ideas is that it has brought to the forefront
the recognition of the role of the government expenditure
in mitigating recessions, as was advocated by Keynes
and Kalecki. This article makes a theoretical case for
undertaking Keynesian measures to cope with the recession.
|
|
| Health
Imbalances |
| Mar
5th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| While
India has one of the worst health indicators in the
world, there is a paucity of ideas and initiatives to
take care of the problem of health. The recent Report
of the Independent Commission on Development and Health
in India shows the imbalances with regard to health
indicators in the country and makes important recommendations
to fix the ailing public health system. |
|
| The
Job Loss Syndrome |
| Mar
4th 2009, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| The
article explores the issue of job loss being experienced
in the various sectors of the Indian economy and traces
their advent to the ongoing global crisis. The article
also argues that the Indian government's response was
delayed which further intensified the problem. |
|
| Where
have all the footpaths gone? |
| Feb
3rd 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
author puts forward a new definition of underdevelopment
in terms of lack of amenities for pedestrians in towns
and cities. Although the problems of urban slums have
been discussed in the context of rapid urbanisation,
the importance of having safe, continuous and usable
walking spaces, which are almost lacking in many urban
sprawls across the developing world, seems to be missed
out. |
|
| Control
Frauds |
| Jan
29th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
Satyam fraud incident is not a unique case of corporate
malfeasance. This kind of financial crime, which is
persistent under capitalism, has been developed as the
concept of 'control fraud' by the American academic,
William R. Black, where the CEO of a firm uses the firm
itself, and his/her ability to control it, as an instrument
for private enrichment. |
|
| The
Fraud at Satyam |
| Jan
27th 2009, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| As
the Satyam story unfurls gradually, the magnitude of
the scam does point towards the total failure of corporate
governance at all levels in combination with individual
greed. But, it is also the product of the celebration
of profit making irrespective of magnitude, of the belief
in markets and the discipline they impose, and of regulatory
dilution and regulatory failure. |
|
| Love
in a Cold Climate: Business and politics in Gujarat |
| Jan
20th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| With
their sudden loss of confidence amidst an increasingly
uncertain world, corporate leaders turn desperately
to leaders who they think can provide them protection
and discipline the rest of the society to ensure their
own profits. This may be the social psychology behind
the extraordinary chorus of praise by Indian industrialists
for the Chief Minister of Gujarat recently. |
|
| And
the Award Goes to…. |
| Jan
10th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| So
far, Satyam Computers' financial swindle is considered
as an isolated case in an otherwise well-behaved corporate
sector. But, as the Indian economy slows down and export
orders come down, there may be more unsavoury revelations
emerging from the corporate world. |
|
| Blowing
Bubbles at the Bust |
| Jan
7th 2009, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| Some
observers have wrongly described the latest policy measures
as the second ''fiscal stimulus'' package. The package
is not fiscal but more monetary in nature, with little
emphasis on increasing government spending. Moreover,
the structure of the so called ''stimulus'' package
would only strengthen the kind of tendencies that generated
the crisis in the developed countries in the first place. |
|
| The
Economic Geography of Recession |
| Jan
6th 2009, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| With
the slowdown imminent in the Indian economy, the Government
has announced policy measures to counter it. However,
while interest cuts and easy loans will benefit some
large banks and people like developers and exporters,
the fate of two important and vulnerable sections of
the population, farmers and migrant workers remain precarious.
This negative impact will permeate geographically. |
|
| Diluting
Insurance against Risk |
| Jan
3rd 2009, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| Despite
the global experience with privatized insurance and
the Indian experience with nationalised insurance, India's
government is pushing ahead with insurance privatization.
The two insurance bills appear to be declarations of
India's intentions to globalise further during the current
Prime Minister's tenure, independent of the consequences
for its people. |
|
| The
Madoff Mystery |
| Jan
1st 2009, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| The
Madoff scandal is not only one more confirmation that
the so-called ''model'' financial markets of the US
are neither transparent nor efficient, but also proof
that so-called savvy investors can be outright unintelligent.
But, even as everyone now admits that the regulatory
system has failed and markets do not work well, the
desire to design a regulatory structure that minimises
failure seems absent. |
|
| A
Recessionary Tide that won't Recede |
| Dec
27th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| The
recently released data from various international agencies
show that the recession in the US economy had begun
as early as December 2007 and is spreading across the
globe. Temporary measures aimed at moderating the downturn
are in place, but there is much pessimism about how
long the recession would last. |
|
| In
Search of a Real Stimulus |
| Dec
11th 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
economic package announced on 7 December is simply too
feeble to go very far. Even when combined with the monetary
policy measures announced earlier, the present package
is unlikely to reverse the overall economic slow down. |
|
| Whose
Security? |
| Dec
10th 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| Following
the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Indian elite has suddenly
realised that they cannot insulate themselves from the
general loss of physical security that has been the
fate of the average less-privileged Indian for some
time now. There are thus calls for the privatisation
of security, which may actually make things worse. |
|
| Pirates
and Panic |
| Dec
8th 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
recent attacks in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somalian
coast provide enough evidence of the increasing number
of pirate attacks across the globe. These clearly indicate
the growing risk and uncertainty in international economic
transactions, which are not only financial but geo-political
as well. |
|
| The
Media and Responsibility |
| Dec
5th 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
electronic media's representation of the horrific incidents
of Mumbai necessitates for the society to point at media's
irresponsible behaviour. In sensationalising an incident
in their way of practising competitive journalism, media
has lost sight of essential humanity. |
|
| The
Economy: Can Obama Fix It? |
| Nov
18th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| The
victory of Barack Obama in the US Presidential elections
is a historic event. However, Obama is inheriting a
crisis-affected US and world economy comparable to the
Great Depression of the 1930s. It will be an uphill
task for Obama to steer through this crisis. |
|
| Surely
Not the IMF Again? |
| Nov
18th 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| There
is an urgent need to examine alternative sources of
emergency finance for crisis-affected developing countries,
which are less destructive than the IMF. The latter's
intellectual autism and double standards in policy prescriptions
for industrial and developing countries are once again
reflected in its most recent World Economic Outlook. |
|
| The
Financial Crisis and the Developing World |
| Oct
25th 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| Violent
fluctuations in stock prices along with other factors
witnessed in emerging markets in the past two weeks
have made it clear that the developing world is not
insulated from the financial turmoil raging in industrial
countries. The crisis will have different impacts in
different places, depending on, in particular, the extent
of integration of the capital market of the concerned
developing country. An important positive fall-out of
this financial crisis is that it has created an opportunity
for replacing the economic model of neoliberalism with
more progressive and democratic alternatives. |
|
| Argentina:
The Return of the Phoenix |
| Oct
24th 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
financial crisis in the US has forced the Government
to undertake a bail-out plan, which depends to a large
extent on tax-payers money and on resources from other
countries, including developing Asia. Developing countries
facing such crises are however not so fortunate. The
case of Argentina points to how heterodox policies can
take a developing economy out of a severe financial
crisis. |
|
| The
Loss of Development Finance |
| Oct
23rd 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
financial tsunami that is now threatening to engulf
many developing countries as well, makes all the more
clear the dangers posed by unregulated financial markets.
As is known, in addition to creating the conditions
for greater fragility, financial liberalisation generates
a bias towards deflationary macroeconomic policies and
forces the state to adopt a deflationary stance to appease
financial interests. In fact, financial liberalisation
in developing countries has even worse consequences,
because it can retard or even reverse the development. |
|
| Capitalism
in Transition? |
| Oct
22nd 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| The
takeover of major private banks by developed country
governments is a desperate attempt to stall the financial
meltdown in these economies, which resulted from the
decision to allow private financial players unfettered
freedom to pursue profits at the expense of all else.
This threat has forced governments to drop their neo-conservative
bias against State ownership. |
|
| In
Search of Causes |
| Oct
22nd 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| As
the financial crisis in the advanced economies intensifies,
analyses of the causes of the crisis and its sources
have multiplied. But, there is a degree of implicit
agreement among different analyses that the crisis can
be traced to forces unleashed by the transformation
of US and global finance starting in the 1970s. |
|
| The
End of Neo-Liberalism |
| Oct
21st 2008, Prabhat Patnaik |
|
| The
solution to the crisis that the triumph of neo-liberalism
has precipitated is increasingly being seen to lie in
the part-nationalization of financial institutions in
the capitalist world. This represents a negation of
neo-liberalism's basic premise. |
|
| A
Perspective on the Crisis |
| Oct
18th 2008, Prabhat Patnaik |
|
| After
the demise of the Keynesian policies, the world economy
has been dependent upon private expenditure for boosting
aggregate demand. The consequent boom causes deterioration
in the conditions of people in the third world, while
the crash also adversely affects them. The present financial
crisis also will have a similar impact on the masses
of the third world. |
|
| Socialising
Losses |
| Oct
10th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| There
are reasons to believe that the current package in the
US bail out Bill will fail to address the financial
crisis adequately and restore stability. Meanwhile,
globally, markets are in a state of collapse, partly
driven by the expectations generated by the scaremongering
used to push through the package. |
|
| The
Global Financial Crisis |
| Sep
29th 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
bailout worked out by the US government to save the
financial system is not a progressive nationalisation
but the socialisation of the risks of capitalists, and
one that is to be borne by taxpayers in the US and by
developing countries. The hugely expensive gamble, instead
of helping the US government buy its way out of the
crisis, would weaken its position as the dominant imperial
power in future. |
|
| Signs
of Stagflation |
| Sep
26th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| There
is fear that India may have crossed a turning point,
with growth in the future likely to be below the creditable
9 per cent per annum trajectory achieved over the last
five years. Some features of growth performance during
the first quarter, like the slowdown in agricultural
and industrial growth and the continuing dependence
on service led growth do give cause for such concern.
The situation is more disconcerting since it occurs
in the context of sharp inflation exceeding 12 per cent
on an annualised basis. |
|
| No
End to the Global Meltdown
|
| Sep
12 th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
More
than a year since the sub prime crisis began, the financial
meltdown still persists. With the Lehman Brothers filing
for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch selling out recently,
most major investment banks seem to be facing a new
set of problems which are related to the now-not-so-new
sub-prime crisis and the unwillingness of both the institutions
concerned and the regulators to properly assess the
effects of that crisis on their financial viability. |
|
| Land
Reforms in West Bengal and Public Perceptions
|
| Aug
28th 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
The
ground realities of the turmoil surrounding Singur and
Nandigram in West Bengal are very different from what
has been portrayed by the media. Ironically, it is the
same media that chooses to remain silent on compulsory
acquisition of land by other states and far worse treatment
meted out to the peasantry. |
|
| Innovative
Scamsters
|
| Aug
20th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
The
recent emergence of a set of financial instruments,
by the name of 'auction rate securities' or ARS, signifies
another symbol of the malfunctioning global financial
markets. The ARS system apparently follows a transparent
and market efficient principle, but in reality results
in a lowering of the notional value of securities held
by investors in the absence of an active market. |
|
| Mid-Course
Deviation
|
| Aug
11th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
The
withdrawal of support for the UPA government by the
Left parties on the Indo-US nuclear deal is justified
since they had always opposed any attempt to forge a
strategic relationship with the US, since there remains
an inherent contradiction between US imperialism and
the interests of developing countries like India. This
problem was compounded by the fact that the UPA had
in any case been deviating widely from the CMP agreed
on by the UPA and the Left, especially in implementing
the pro-poor programmes. |
|
| IT
in India: A Turning Point?
|
| Aug
9th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
In
spite of cautious optimism of some industry insiders
given that the top 20 IT companies seem to be keeping
up their spectacular rates of growth even when facing
a dismal global economy, it is also undeniable that
the increasing presence of foreign firms in the domestic
sector means a shift in the net foreign exchange eared
by the IT sector, leading perhaps even to a net outflow
sometime in the foreseeable future |
|
| WTO:
One More Failure
|
| Aug
7th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
The
collapse of the talks of the Doha Round on 29th July,
2008 is no big deal since along the long route of the
Doha round, periodic failure of negotiations is inevitable.
This is not a disaster for advocates of trade liberalisation
either because, in most countries, actual levels of
protection are much lower than the bound levels WTO
talks about. The point to note is that the so-called
progress in trade liberalisation notwithstanding, the
fundamental asymmetry of the world trading system remains. |
|
| The
Coup D' Etat
|
| Aug
4th 2008, Prabhat
Patnaik |
|
The
Indo-US nuclear deal is not an isolated issue, but a
part of a larger process of attempts at changing the
character of the Indian State to a neo-liberal State
integrated with US imperialism. Given the objective
economic conditions leading to further shrinkage of
the already miniscule political constituency in favour
of "reforms", such a change in the character
of the Indian State can be effected only through a coup
d'etat as was witnessed on July 22. |
|
| The
Human Costs of "World Class Cities"
|
| Aug
2nd 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
Unlike
the much quoted differences in terms of old-new, integrated-marginalised,
the contrast between rich and poor in the city of Delhi
is actually more layered. Much of what is new in this
city is also poor; and many of the poor are poor precisely
because they have been drawn into the system, in ways
that have been adverse for them |
|
| Public
Health on The Cheap
|
| Aug
1st 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
Government
policy in the social sectors in India clearly relies
heavily on the unpaid or underpaid labour of women.
These women often perform essential and demanding tasks
that typically amount to full-time work, but are not
given the status of regular government employees, and
paid wages that fall below the minimum wages. |
|
| Two
Instruments by Name Kalawati and Sasikala
|
| Jul
28th 2008, R. Ramakumar |
|
Rahul
Gandhi's speech in the Loksabha during the trust motion
did not just try to cover-up for the Enron fiasco which
is responsible for the 'energy insecurity' in Maharashtra,
it was also a poor effort to sidestep the central role
of the Congress party (as well as the Sena-BJP combine)
in triggering the series of farmer'' suicides in rural
Maharashtra. |
|
| A
Long View of Global GDP Growth
|
| Jul
26th 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
It
is sometime useful to situate recent income growth in
the longer term context, if only to remind ourselves
of the structural processes involved. A close examination
of long term patterns in relative positions show that
the recent optimism about developing countries emerging
as dominant players may be misplaced. |
|
| Diamonds
and Blood
|
| Jul
23rd 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
The
new spurt in demand for diamonds among the Indian elite
only feeds into the fact that the world diamond trade
is substantially based on the most gruesome violence
and terror in Africa. This is more reinforced in recent
times which is characterised by an even more cynical
exploitation and reinforcement by multinational processing
and trading companies, of vicious local conflicts in
the sub-Saharan region. |
|
| The
Nuclear Deal and the Priorities of the UPA Government
|
| Jul
21st 2008, Jayati
Ghosh |
|
Instead
of initiating a wide public debate and a detailed debate
in central and state legislatures backed up by full
information on the Indo-Us nuclear deal, a veil of secrecy
has surrounded the negotiations, and the little information
that has been available has come mostly from media sources
that have behaved like pliant publicists for the government
rather than independent observers. |
|
| The
Oil Conundrum
|
| Jul
17th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| The
large and quick increases in oil prices have resulted
in a sharp divergence between the domestic prices of
oil products set by the government and the international
prices at which imports are being made. If the divergence
is bridged by raising the domestic price of oil products,
there will be spiralling inflation but otherwise oil
companies will soon become unviable. In countries like
India that are dependent on imports of oil the real
issue is the way in which the gap between domestic and
international prices can be financed. |
|
| Capitalism's
Democratic Deficit
|
| Jul
14th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
The
one-point agenda of clinching a nuclear deal with the
US that the current Indian government is following serves
the good purpose of diverting attention from the damage
wrought by neoliberal economic policies. But the undemocratic
political wrangling in an election year over the nuclear
deal or communal politics distort the results of a much
needed second referendum on the kind of economic policies
that the previous NDA and the current UPA governments
have followed. |
|
| Engineering
Stagflation
|
| Jul
8th 2008, C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| By
opting to hike petrol, diesel and LPG prices the government
has transferred a significant share of the burden of
increased international oil prices onto the domestic
consumer. The government cannot reduce expenditure in
an election year, so inflation will rise further. Unfortunately
the government has chosen to ignore the most reasonable
policy option of putting a curb on aggregate consumption
and the use of rationing to allocate the targeted volume. |
|
| Interpreting
the IPL
|
| Jun
23rd 2008, Jayati Ghosh |
|
The
shorter and more dramatic format of Twenty20 cricket
was bound to be successful and provide a real challenge
to the most traditional format of test cricket and also
allowed cricket to compete for viewership with other
games such as football. But the real novelty of the
IPL lies in its open, blatant and even exuberant celebration
of the commercial principle. |
|
| The
Scourge of Private Tuitions
|
| Jun
12th 2008, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| In
all Indian cities and towns and increasingly in rural
areas, taking private tuition has now become common
practice and at fees which are much higher than the
regular school fees. A remarkable feature of our school
education system is the way it has allowed and even
encouraged the proliferation of this system. However,
not only is the system deeply inequalising, it adversely
affects the quality of the school education system itself.
|
|
| Bread,
Circuses and The Media
|
| Jun
6 th 2008, Jayati Ghosh |
|
The
obsession of the media with the middle classes in urban
areas means that issues related to the working class
and rural population often gets inadequate coverage.
When serious issues like worsening labour conditions
in a big growing city like Delhi goes unnoticed despite
a major strike to protest the same, the role of the
media in bringing to our attention the realities of
India cannot but be questioned. |
|
| The
Social Composition of Panchayats
|
| May
19th 2008, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| The
implementation of land reforms makes the West Bengal
Panchayat system a much more egalitarian institution
from both a class and a caste point of view, which the
rest of India has not been able to replicate in general.
This progress in West Bengal is noticeable even in the
high participation of women in the Panchayat system. |
|
| The
Crisis of Home-based Work |
| May
17th 2008, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Recent
data on employment shows that the share of women working
in manufacturing in a subsidiary capacity has been increasing
continuously since 1987-88. This shows the increase
in "putting out'' home-based or other work as part
of a subcontracting system for export and domestic manufacturing,
which are not included in official employment statistics.
These are often on piece rate basis, usually very poorly
paid and without any known non-wage benefits. |
|
| An
Insider View from George Soros
|
| Apr
29th 2008,
C.P. Chandrasekhar |
|
| Among
some of the voices which are calling for more attention
to the nature of the current US financial crisis and
for a more disinterested view of the need for state
intervention, an influencial one is that of George Soros.
His book "The New Paradigm for Financial Markets:
The Credit Crash of 2008 and What it Means", being
released in May, challenges the prevailing sanguine
view on the intensity and implications of the crisis.
This review is based on a reading of the digital edition
available from various ebook sellers and his recent
speeches. |
|
| Inflation:
How Much and Why
|
| Apr
17th 2008,
C.P. Chandrasekhar |
|
| Inflation
is emerging as India's primary economic problem now.
The problem is that it looks set to rise very fast with
retail prices moving much faster than the rest. The
major concern still is that this is occurring in a period
when global inflation is on the rise and policies of
trade liberalisation and domestic deregulation have
reduced the degree to which Indian prices are insulated
from international prices. |
|
| Neoliberal
Discomfort |
| Apr
15th 2008,
C.P. Chandrasekhar |
|
| Globally,
evidence has been growing that markets are just not
working, precipitating crises that requires bringing
the state back in. The high oil prices, financial crisis
putting government regulation back in vogue and the
crisis in global food markets show that markets cannot
deliver without regulation. But there are also many
areas where apparently successful outcomes of free market
have turned out to be more of a problem that an economic
gain, the foreign reserves issue being a case in point.
|
|
| World
Prices and The Transmission of Inflation
|
| Apr
8th 2008,
Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
recent global rise in inflation is partly demand-led,
the result of several years of rapid economic growth
and resultant demand. This however may be automatically
controlled since growth and inflation will act as a
constraint on each other. But more worrying is the fact
that the possibility of stagflation, brought about by
supply constraints, cannot be ruled out. This will be
far more difficult to control. |
|
| Leaning
on the State
|
| Mar
19th 2008,
C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| Interestingly,
the very financial liberalisation that created the problems
epitomised by the sub-prime crisis was predicated on
a critique of the efficacy and correctness of intervention
by the state. But recent developments show that bail-outs
by the government of institutions that are weakened
by wrong financial decisions are now taken for granted,
thus legitimising interventionism. Can the "problem"
that liberalisation was directed to "solve"
now itself become the solution to the problems that
liberalisation creates? |
|
| Digital
Dumps: A Growing Threat for Developing Countries
|
| Mar
17th 2008,
Jayati
Ghosh |
|
The
management of huge and growing quantities of electronic
waste may emerge as one of the more important environmental
problems of developing countries in the near future.
The problems arise from the very significant health
and environmental hazards associated with e-waste. As
usual, this impact is worse in developing countries,
where people often live in close proximity to dumps
or landfills of untreated e-waste. |
|
| The
New Enclosure Movement
|
| Mar
15th 2008,
Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| A
large part of the rural area around Delhi and other
big cities has been converted from farmland into more
pieces of attractive real estate in a portfolio of land
holding. In the process, the attributes of the villages
of these formerly completely rural areas are changing
fast, not only in terms of ownership and cultivation
patterns, but also in terms of the material means of
support of the local population and their lifestyles.
This also implies significant changes in the nature
and options for employment for the local population.
|
|
| The
NREGA and its Critics
|
| Mar
10th 2008,
Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| Contrary
to the media criticism of NREGPA based on the recent
CAG draft report on grounds of leakages, widespread
corruption, inability to reach beneficiaries and create
useful assets, the CAG Report has actually pointed out
that the shortage of administrative and technical staff
has prevented the programme from doing what it was supposed
to do to the full extent The report also highlights
the urgent need to ensure more administrative assistance
for the programme at all levels. |
|
| Addressing
Social Concern |
| Mar
10th 2008,
Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
main issues in this year's economic strategy of the
government, especially the intentions as signalled in
this year's Budget proposals remain the same as that
of 2004. These are employment, the agrarian crisis,
nutrition and food security, education, health and social
security. In each of these areas, the UPA government
promised much. However, the delivery has not only been
far below the promises, but in some cases even worse
than the previous government. |
|
| Why
can't we Feed our People? |
| Feb
5th 2008, Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Despite
rapid economic growth, the nutritional status of our
population appears to be worsening. This is likely to
reflect shifts in wage incomes, relative prices and
increasing costs of health and other essentials. The
worst aspect is that this is happening in a context
of already very poor standards of nutrition on average. |
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