Towards an economy of mutualism - The Hindu
Towards an economy of mutualism - The Hindu
My response (December 4, 2013)
My response (December 4, 2013)
This refers to the article
“Towards an economy of mutualism”(The Hindu, December 4).
Even if the rich and the
powerful will pretend they are duff and the policy makers will remain dumb,
there is a need for sane voices like this to raise their pitch. Media (both
electronic and print) has constraints in providing space for ‘Gadgils’. In that
context, a big ‘thank you’ to The Hindu. Keshav’s
cartoon below the article, perhaps unintentionally, brought clarity to the
theme of the article.
The concept of four capital
stocks, created, natural, human and social is not ‘foreign’ to Indian planners.
In fact, the post-independence stress on Five Year Plans and a responsible
public sector had their base on this concept. Though where we lost it midway
can be a matter of opinion, the reason for ignoring the concept in policy
formulation is the unquenchable greed of the ‘rich’ who became rich overnight
and took over the reins of governance. If it can be termed a failure, it was
the failure on the part of the leadership to comprehend the hijacking of
democratic institutions by vested interests and to insulate them from possible
damage.
A large population in
industrially developed states(compared to states like Kerala) are consciously
kept illiterate and poor to ensure availability of cheap labour. Migration of
workers to states like Kerala from other states and even the exploitation of
labour in jails in Kerala, in the name of providing ‘cheap and tasty’ food for
outside people, have an economic context.
M G Warrier, Thiruvananthapuram
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