CHEER leaders of neo-liberalism have mounted a high crescendo campaign hailing that the last quarter century since Dr Manmohan Singh, as the finance minister, initiated the process of neo-liberal economic reforms in 1991 had created a India which would have been impossible otherwise.  Further, such reforms are the only way, we are being told, that India can move closer to the mythical El Dorado – a land where milk and honey flow freely.  An objective assessment of the condition of our people and the polity, as a consequence of these reforms, is, thus, in order.

Indeed, the neo-liberal economic reform process has, during this quarter century, virtually cemented the process of the creation of the two Indias – a `shining’ one for the small minority and an increasingly `suffering’ one for the vast majority of our people. Needless to add, the intensity of the luminosity of `shining India’ is directly proportional to the intensity of the sufferings of the vast majority of our people. 

That this is happening is not surprising.  The primary objective of neo-liberal reforms is profit maximisation – the raison d’etre of capitalism. Profit maximisation can mainly happen at the expense of intensified economic exploitation of the vast majority of the people.  The consequent growing economic inequalities ensures an income and wealth redistribution in favour of the rich impoverishing the poor.

The accompanying articles in this issue deal competently with the economic implications of these neo-liberal policies and their impact during the last quarter century. Hence, it would suffice to note few facts to demonstrate the vicious manner in which this process of creating  two Indias that are rapidly moving apart can be seen.  The Credit Suisse report on India reveals that the richest 1 per cent own 53 per cent of the country’s wealth while the share of the top 10 per cent of our population is 76.3 per cent of the country’s wealth. In other words, 90 per cent of Indians own less than a quarter of the country’s wealth. India records today the fastest rate of growth of  US dollar billionaires amongst major countries of the world. On the other hand, the 2011 Census economic data shows that in 90 per cent of Indian families, the bread-earner  earns Rs 10,000 or less per month.  The real wage for the bulk of India’s workforce was, on an average, Rs 146 per day in 1991 when these reforms were initiated.  In 2004, this was Rs 272, ie, much less than the growth in the cost of living index.  The reform pundits keep quoting that in 1991, India’s per capita GDP was $ 310 which has now grown to $ 1,500.  This not merely masks but demonstrates tellingly the effects of growing inequality where, in per capita terms, the misery of the people is camouflaged. 

The Indian ruling classes, by adopting the neo-liberal reform trajectory, had virtually abandoned their own earlier efforts for creating an autonomous space for Indian capitalist development which, in any case, was already integrated with the world capitalist system.  In an international situation, with the correlation of political forces shifting in favour of imperialism following the dismantling of the USSR and the emergence of international finance capital on the back of the huge accumulation of capital that was possible in the half a century of peaceful capitalist development after Second World War led to this vigorous phase of imperialist globalisation.  The quest for profit maximisation unleashed series of policy prescriptions freeing all controls on the movement of capital across national boundaries.  These were accompanied by an appropriation of public resources and enterprises for private capital accumulation.  These reforms soon encroached the space of public services, privatising each one – electricity, transport, water, education, health etc – again to maximise profits.  The Indian capitalist class, under these circumstances, chose the path, naturally, of faster and larger profit accumulation possibilities as integral partners of imperialist globalisation.  Apart from economies, this policy trajectory course has impacted on all spheres of our life - political, social, cultural, foreign policy etc.

UNDERMINING CONSTITUTIONAL

GUARANTEES

First, this neo-liberal policy direction negates the letter and spirit of the concept of Indian nationhood as contained in the Indian republican constitution.  The objective of nurturing a process of inclusive growth, ie, drawing in of people of immense diversity and victims of intense social oppression into the mainstream of the development process is outrightly negated by growing inequalities.  The constitutional guarantee of equality, liberty and fraternity has moved further away for the vast majority of our people.  Growing inequalities negate the equality of opportunity; growing manifestations of social oppression, including caste oppression, negates liberty and equality amongst all citizens.  Growing communal polarisation negates fraternity amongst our religiously and culturally diverse peoples.  This quarter of a century of neo-liberal reforms, thus, has been a period when India, instead of moving forward on the path of an inclusive Indian nationhood and development process, has actually moved away from this objective.

GROWING REGIONAL

IMBALANCES

Under the neo-liberalism reforms dispensation, investments flow to developed regions with better infrastructural facilities for profit maximisation.  This and growing inequalities are, naturally, accompanied by growing regional economic backwardness.  Growing regional economic imbalances feed the demands for separation of regions from a particular state of India.  This is often accompanied by growing fratricidal tendencies, the consequent strife only divides our people.  Growing inequalities and backwardness, buttresses the scramble amongst different sections of our people for a share of the shrinking cake.  This scramble can be seen amongst different social groups amongst our people and the demand for reservations in education and jobs like the ones we have seen recently amongst the Jats and Patels.  Widening inequalities exponentially create newer avenues for strife and fratricidal tendencies.   

Neo-liberal reform trajectory also adversely affects the federal content of our constitution and further undermines centre-state relations in the quest to establish a unitary State structure.  Under pressure from international finance and as a part of this reform process, the central government enacted the Fiscal Responsibility Act.  The pre-occupation of neo-liberal reforms is to curtail governmental expenditures in the name of fiscal consolidation. This legislation puts restrictions on the rights of the state governments by limiting their financial borrowings and imposing various conditionalities for the same.  Further, the international multilateral agreements that the central government enters into encroaches upon the State’s rights under constitutionally defined `State subjects’. The WTO agreement on the Doha round of negotiations on agriculture encroaches upon the State subject of agriculture. Likewise, the Intellectual Property regime and the pressures to declare education and health as part of services that are globally tradable encroach upon State’s rights.  There are many other manifestations of this nature.

GROWING

CRIMINALISATION

During the course of the last quarter century, a rural rich nexus has developed.  This comes in the background of growing agrarian distress and consequent gruesome farmer’s suicides caused by the neo-liberal reforms.  The alliance of capitalists and landlords led by India’s big bourgeoisie, which constitutes our ruling classes, intensify their efforts to transform the semi-feudal landlords into capitalist landlords without overthrowing various manifestations of feudal exploitation.  This generates, amongst our people a social consciousness of feudal backwardness combined with capitalist degeneration that accompanies neo-liberal values leading to the rise of vicious social crimes.  The feudal institutions of patriarchy combined with the neo-liberal values of consumerism and commercialisation is finding expression as a lethal cocktail.  Sharply increasing crimes on women, the growing instances of gang-rapes confirm that the creation of new laws in the country is not working as an effective deterrent against such growing crimes.  The aggressiveness of institutions connected with a non-modern social consciousness is leading to growing instances of moral policing, khap panchayats etc.  The overall  growth of general crime, including instances of human trafficking amongst children, are the consequences of increasing levels of impoverishment of the vast mass of our people.

DEGENERATING

POLITICAL CULTURE

This neo-liberal reform trajectory is also giving rise to a new political culture in the country. Before this process began, the term `anti-incumbency’ was rarely heard.  It is a common parlance today because, by implementing such reforms, there is a direct growth of popular discontent which results in a ruling party being defeated at the hustings.  This is natural as these reforms only widen inequalities and, hence, generate such discontent.  In order to overcome such an anti-incumbency, various methods are being resorted to. These, however, weaken the unity and integrity of our society.  Sectional political mobilisations based on caste, religion or regional aspirations have grown.  Likewise, in order to negate the rise of popular discontent, the influence of money and muscle power in the elections is growing.  The phenomenal impact of the use of money like in the recent general and state assembly elections is a phenomenon that is rapidly growing.  Electoral democracy, seen as an expression of policy choices, is now reduced by such influences into a distorted democracy. Politics, increasingly is being seen, not as the vehicle for serving the society and for a social change but as the vehicle for advancing profit maximisation by influencing policy decisions.  The recent round of Rajya Sabha elections has amply demonstrated this aspect.

PROMOTING CORRUPTION –

CRONY CAPITALISM

Apart from leading to such a political morality degeneration, the neo-liberal reforms trajectory has opened up hitherto unknown avenues for loot of public money and corruption.  The scams that have erupted in recent years and the quantum of money involved in these scams have risen exponentially. While the Bofors scam was a few hundreds of crores of rupees, the 2G scam was to the tune of Rs 1,76,000 crores.  The loot of public money can be seen in the massive loans defaulted by India’s wealthiest corporates to the tune of Rs 8.5 lakh crores.  This is crippling our banking system. The rich are virtually getting  away scot free, despite  this loot, while a poor farmer, unable to service his small loans, is subjected to his property being confiscated.  Neo-liberal economic reforms have put in motion a crony capitalism where loot of public resources takes a myriad forms from tax concessions to loan default. 

FOREIGN POLICY –

JUNIOR PARTNER OF IMPERIALISM

The neo-liberal reform trajectory has, naturally, impacted the direction of India’s hitherto independent foreign policy.  The Indian ruling classes, having chosen to become junior partners in this process of imperialist globalisation, are shifting the Indian foreign policy to dovetail the pursuit of imperialism’s strategic global designs and interests.  The recent Indo-US agreements on a wide range of issues has resulted in India being reduced to the status of a strategic junior partner of imperialism.  This is not in the interests of India, or, its people, or, its long-cherished ideals for establishing good neighbourly relations with all our neighbours and its foreign policy directions like the `Look East Policy’. 

ASSAULT ON OUR

CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER

The foundations of the Indian constitution rest on four pillars – secular democracy; federalism; social justice; and economic self-reliance.  The neo-liberal reform trajectory assaults all these four pillars.

Given all these manifestations of the neo-liberal reform process, the convergence of these processes with the rapid pursuit of communal polarisation spells further disaster  for our country and people.  Ideologically, the RSS and Hindutva communalism had never accepted the inclusive concept of Indian nationhood as it emerged from our epic struggle for freedom.  Communalism seeks the exclusivist character of India negating the constitutional objectives of equality, liberty and fraternity for all our citizens “irrespective of caste, creed or sex”. Their quest to convert the secular democratic republic of India into a rabidly intolerant fascistic `Hindu Rashtra’ is playing havoc with our country’s social fabric, its unity and integrity.  Communalism seeks to negate our republican constitution while neo-liberalism relentlessly undermines our constitutional guarantees.  Communalism and neo-liberalism aid and abet each other in the present context in India.

PEOPLE CENTRIC

ALTERNATIVE

Neo-liberalism is often legitimised on the basis of the TINA – There Is No Alternative – factor. Of course, there is an alternative. For that alternative to be put in place, it is first and foremost important to politically defeat the Hindutva communal offensive today where patriotism is equated with Hindutva nationalism.  As we have seen, this cannot be separated from the struggle against neo-liberalism as both aid and abet each other. 

The alternative vision that can generate a greater inclusive economic growth and an inclusive society, on the basis of our constitutional guarantees, will have to mean the following:  abandoning the neo-liberal reform trajectory, stopping the  huge tax concessions and the loot of our economy through crony capitalism and  corruption.  The alternative policy direction must mop up these resources that are today widening economic inequalities.  We have seen, for instance, the mere stopping of the annual tax concessions for the rich would release more than Rs 5 lakh crores of legitimate governmental revenues.  Strictly implementing our law of the land and recovering the default bank loans (NPAs) would release resources of Rs 8.5 lakh crores.  If this huge amount of money is used for a massive programme of public investments to build our much needed economic and social infrastructure, it would set in motion the creation of massive employment opportunities for our youth.  When these newly-employed youth spend their earnings, that would provide the necessary impetus for the growth of manufacturing and the industrial sector which is currently stagnating, if not declining, due to lack of required domestic demand.  This expansion of domestic demand by increasing purchasing power in the hands of our people, by itself, will bring about an inclusive growth trajectory. We, thus, have enough resources to build our infrastructure and provide our youth, the vast majority of our population today, with education, health and jobs.  This, by itself, will create a better India. 

There is, therefore, an alternative to this neo-liberal trajectory – a people oriented alternative.  The TINA factor must not prevail.  prosperous