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Friday, May 20, 2005
Statism strikes back
Ashok Malik writes in the Indian Express:
One might have expected more from Manmohan Singh's government, but, as Malik points out, "the engines of growth have been clogged, reform has been put on the slow track, and yet ambitious plans are drawn up for social sector spending."
Read the full thing.
In post-Independence India, statism became less an article of belief, more a Congress patronage-dispensing contrivance, complete with public sector units that ran hotels, parcelled out telephone connections and, of course, employed many more than they needed to. The government became the ultimate arbiter of goods and services, of the social contract.
All this is, really, well-known. Why is it relevant to UPA rule? Simply because there is a disconcerting feeling that some mindsets have not moved on. India has changed enormously in the 1990s; are senior Congressmen alive to that change?
If yes, then why this creeping 1980s-style response to governance? Why the underlying suggestion that “government knows best — give us your money, and let us spend it for you”?
One might have expected more from Manmohan Singh's government, but, as Malik points out, "the engines of growth have been clogged, reform has been put on the slow track, and yet ambitious plans are drawn up for social sector spending."
Read the full thing.
