This is an ambitious study of the current state of our economy along with the socio-political matrices (rather chains!) in which it is enmeshed. Dr. Arun Kumar who has been teaching at the Jawaharlal Nehru University for over 30 years is not content to study the state of affairs through a tunnel but prefers to have a ‘holistic perspective’, a term which he uses repeatedly in the book. History matters and human progress is a social construct. It is not sufficient to study changes in growth rates; it is necessary to study the causes underlying the changes in the growth rates to identify the phases.
He holds his mirror against a panoptic view and raises many, many questions concerning the current state of our economy and society. These are listed in the blurb and cover a whole array of socio-economic (moral!) issues. He holds a theoretical framework which is explained in the preface and also elaborated in the concluding chapter. Many of the elements (pillars!) encompassing the framework are detailed in successive chapters and references are made in various pages as we proceed. These are done in an academic manner. And yet, they leave the reader dissatisfied. Kumar is loud in his protestations and angry with the current state of affairs.
However, he fails to provide an answer even to some of the basic issues like an alternative economic policy or governance issues. This is surprising as he claims that he started thinking about the malaise when the new economic policy (NEP) was announced in 1991 and started working on an alternative budget with some of his academic colleagues.
Kumar talks about the impact of British colonialism and how it has disrupted our economy and society and down the line all walks of life, e.g. education, politics, social mores. The degeneration persists even after Independence and has swayed our economic policies, models of development, democratic process, etc. It has led to precipitous loss of values of ideas in society; absence of long-term perspective, the emergence of a western trained elite, an exploitative structure and collusion between rulers, elite and bureaucracy which among others breeds corruption. He argues that it has led to loss of dynamism in our society and bred short-termism in thinking.
While nobody can defend colonialism or deny the adverse impact that British rule had on India and, in particular, its economy, it is difficult to agree with the analysis of Kumar or relate our current evils to the British rule. Post-colonial studies have become a “fashionable” and a much researched area and many scholars hailing from the U.K., USA, India and Africa have worked on it.
There is a more balanced view and the impact, as suggested by these studies, varies from country to country. There is also a difference between British colonialism and the European variety. Some of the African states were devastated during colonial rule and, in later years after liberation, they were to subject commercial rivalry for extracting precious raw materials fuelling tribal warfare backed by private military corporations (PMCs) financed by the same corporations.
Fortunately, India has been spared these in the post-Independent years. The argument about long-term stagnation under foreign rule is well established, but the paths of development chosen in later years are not so uniform. Development economists like Deepak Nayyar have studied the comparative development in later years more rigorously. Sadly, these are lacking in the outpourings of Kumar.
Chapter III details key developments since Independence. The narration is neither coherent nor analytical. It blurs economics with politics without explaining the underlying links. The stages of development are portrayed in a haphazard manner without going into the underlying causes. He dismisses critics of the NEP as “confused” and failing to prove alternatives systematically! Kumar fails to take note that the “reforms” or the NEP failed to progress beyond a stage and Dr. Manmohan Singh had to retreat after his party was defeated in some State elections. Since then, there is always the lament about the slow progress of reforms and it is hardly recognised that it is due to the backlash from the poorer and weaker sections who feel alienated. The recent election to the Lok Sabha which decimated the Congress is yet another instance. Kumar is thus wrong in his assumption that the triad (government, elite and bureaucracy) is able to ramrod its way through.
Similar is the treatment (Chapter IV) of the decline in leadership. There is more of lament and agonising over lack of leadership than any analysis. Some western scholars like Paul Brass have taken note of the resurgence of regional forces and emergence of personalities.
Some theoretical aspects are analysed in Chapter V. It deals with issues like foreign investment, public sector undertakings, etc. These are in the nature of off-hand comments not rigorously worked out. There is a complete misunderstanding of the role of public enterprises. Kumar fails to note that these PSUs and investments in them held up our growth in the post-NEP years and it was the decline, in later years, in public investment which decelerated growth. Economists like Nagaraj have worked on this.
The chapter (VII) dealing with global aspects of post-independent developments throws up a lot of data and narrative features. Kumar has coined the phrase “one-way globalisation.” One wonders whether globalisation can work this way. Indeed there can be weak or asymmetric exchanges. There can also be a “dependent relationship” as seems to be the case on the financial side, i.e. dependence on portfolio flows.
The author has spent some years working on “Black money.” In his chapter he draws on some of his earlier work and provides many details. He devotes many pages to explain individual cases like Satyam, Reliance, Tatra, Adarsh, etc. He argues that these result from the “triad” and, as a remedy, suggests breaking them up. This is easier said than done. It is odd that he makes no mention of the international dimensions such as Mauritius, tax havens and Swiss banks, and how the battle may be fought.
The last two chapters deal with the links between poverty, inequality and environment destruction resulting from ‘disruption’ and disruption of social dynamics. They lump together many current issues and try to lay the blame at the colonial ghost.
A keen sociologist or social analyst will not agree with his glib generalisations.
INDIAN ECONOMY SINCE INDEPENDENCE — Persisting Colonial Disruption: Arun Kumar; Vision Books Pvt. Ltd., 24, Feroze Gandhi Road, Lajpat Nagar 3, New Delhi-110024. Rs. 1450.
