SANDIPAN CHATTERJEE
Low Marks: "Reforms has no human face.... The entire system is corrupt," says Ashok Mitra
INTERVIEW
'A Surrender To Predators'
The outspoken former state finance minister tells us why he was always "left".
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Since the early 1990s, Ashok Mitra has been a harsh and articulate critic of economic reforms. Sitting in the spacious study of his apartment in Calcutta's Alipore on a mellow December afternoon, the outspoken former state finance minister tells Dola Mitra why he was always "left".
On economic reforms: I call it a surrender of the national economy to predators—both foreign and domestic. In the past, we had some sort of a regulated economy—big businesses ran after politicians. Now politicians run after industrial bosses to get a share of the loot, which this so-called economic reform has arranged for them. By doing so, they have abdicated their duty to exploit the public sector. Even quarter of a century ago, roughly half the national income would come from agriculture, which provided livelihood for three-quarters of India. Industry contributed roughly 15 to 20 per cent. The services sector was a minor contributor, with less than 10 per cent. Now, the services sector generates more than 50 per cent of the national income. Industry gives another 30 per cent. Agriculture and allied activities have shrunk so that they contribute below 20 per cent but continue to absorb more than two-fifths of our workers, frighteningly aggravating income inequality.
| | | | "Discontent is going up, and will be mobilised on a larger scale. We'll face an incendiary situation." | | | | |
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On the rich and poor: Three hundred million Indians still starve, getting less than the minimum nutrition needed. Another 300-400 million are not starving but are poor. On the other hand, we have the emergence of billionaires. It's a shame that we will have more billionaires than Europe or Japan. Discontent is going up as disparity gets pronounced. Sooner or later this will get mobilised, as in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Manipur. There will be more such pockets and we will face an incendiary situation. The politicians are unaware of the prospects that lie ahead. As for businessmen, they think they can rule forever through foreign favour and exploitation.
On foreign exchange: With improved technology, labour productivity has jumped 10-15 or even 20 times. But their wages have gone up by barely 10-15 or maybe 20 per cent. The remainder is absorbed (by the rich). This operates on the back of weakening the trade union movement—the moment workers start protesting, they will be laid off. Today there is very little organised trade union resistance. Now, the rich want to spend all that money, but as incomes rise, they spend a diminishing proportion on food. For the rest, there is a diversion to luxury goods—like big cars, jewellery, sophisticated food, drinks and communications equipment—which we also import. And you need foreign exchange for this. For that you sell some goods abroad...raw materials or food items like Basmati rice, cotton and jute. But the major export is software. Therefore, outsourcing becomes very important. The second source of foreign exchange is capital inflow. As the government likes foreign capital, it does not tax transactions in stock exchanges or export earnings. But whether this will hold depends on foreigners continuing to outsource and by sending capital in.
On reforms with a human face: There is no human face. It is absolutely dehumanised. Let me be blunt. With so much of poverty and destitution, a billionaire has the audacity to build a house worth Rs 5,000 crore when half the population of Mumbai lives in jhopad pattis. This is what economic liberalisation has brought about.
On corruption: The entire system has got corrupted. Ministers, civil servants, judges and of course, other people in power are all, as a class, corrupt. They bribe others and accept bribes.
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| Reforms Vicenary: 1991-2011 | | | | | |
 ESSAY Our basics are in place. But are we braced for handling uncertainty? | |
 THE JOURNEY India Shining, a story of accidents, from policy to crony capitalism. | |
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE Why few remember that it was Narasimha Rao who initiated reforms | |
 INTERVIEW A key member of India's reform team—first from the mid-1980s to 1990 and, later, from 1993 till 2001—on the early years of reforms | |  SOCIETY We're better, despite a wrong-headed electorate and an enduring old order | |  INTERVIEW The outspoken former state finance minister tells us why he was always "left". | |
POOREST DISTRICTS One of India's poorest districts, Beed can't overcome an '80s hangover | | BOOMTOWN LIMBO Visakhapatnam's tryst with destiny has been too long in the making | |  OPINION The great leap created wealth for some. Public policy must spread it | |  FLIGHT OF BUSINESS Straitjacketed at home, Indian business is looking out for succour | |
 CORRUPTION A liberal trade wind laid rules, set benchmarks for today's systemic looting | | THE NAYSAYERS In the early '90s, the 'Bombay Club' came together to stall liberalisation. | |
NEO-INSTITUTIONS Are our policies being dictated by the foreign privatisation lobby? | |  SOCIETY Wealth and pleasures have collapsed the traditional boundaries of the middle class | |  IDENTITY Liberalisation has challenged our ossified traditional identity | |
 OPINION Affluence is no longer a sin and no one wants to be left behind. | |  INTERVIEW "No one has addressed people at the bottom of the pyramid, whose hopes aren't different...." | |  ADVERTISING Beefcake in bubble-baths and other Manmohanomic reversals | |  OPINION Our ruthless pursuit of wealth at the cost of wisdom and equity bodes ill | |  FOTOS ON THE CUSP Digital photography is still some years away, and the image is more a function of the photographer's skill rather than his camera or lens. Outlook asked some of our top photographers to share their iconic picture of the pre-liberalisation era. The mirror thus turned back yields random images that reflect an India on the threshold of a new dawn. | |
WEB EXTRA Economic reforms brought a new set of heroes and heroines. We pick some who were born and bloomed in the Bollywood of liberalised India. | |
REWIND On May 31 1991, an independent, quasi-judicial body took charge at India Inc. Which body? | |  OPENING NOTE Before it became annus horribilis, 2010 was going along nicely. And then India morphed into the Republic of Scams | |
 ESSAY Education has to be an inclusive idea in India. It is not now. | |
 ESSAY What has the first decade of the 21st century been like? | | BOOKS In the year gone by, new releases jostled with books of recent vintage and old favourites on the reading lists of India's prominent people. | | 10/11 Outlook gets experts across professions to gaze into the crystal ball | |
10/11 Technology purrs to life on that endless road to perfection. Last season's hot wheels and cool screens. | |  STILL LIFE The months and days played along predictably, then jolted with the unexpected. A few defining shots of 2010. | |  10/11 From distant shores they swam right to their own sun-lit spots | |
 10/11 Bollywood's first-time filmmakers got a standing ovation. It was their year. | |  2010 THE YEAR THAT WAS The Big Fights, the wars of words, the sniping, the full frontal attacks | |
10/11 Our annual (dis)honour roll for some of the dubious distinctions during the year | |
 10/11 Some of the page 3 people, the chatterati and those who remained in news for being in the news | |  LAST PAGE Contest time: Now that Niira Radia's ringtone has been cruelly outed, let's help her choose a new signature tune. 10 free annual subscriptions toOutlook on offer | |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | LAST PAGE
New Year Diary
Contest time: Now that Niira Radia's ringtone has been cruelly outed, let's help her choose a new signature tune. 10 free annual subscriptions toOutlook on offer KRISHNA PRASAD
| | | | | | | | | BOOKS
Well-Thumbed & Well-Marked
In the year gone by, new releases jostled with books of recent vintage and old favourites on the reading lists of India's prominent people. | | | | | | | | | FOTOS ON THE CUSP
Before The Pixels
Outlook asked some of our top photographers to share their iconic picture of the pre-liberalisation era. The mirror thus turned back yields random images that reflect an India on the threshold of a new dawn. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | OUTLOOK EXCLUSIVE Some of the key conversations in the second lot of tapes unearthed by Outlook DEC 10, 2010 | WEB FULL INDEX All the 140 available audios -- a work in progress with transcripts getting added on an on-going basis and names being identified, added and corrected NOV 18, 2010 | WEB |
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Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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