Rethinking on reforms

Sir, - The significance of having a retrospective look on the reforms has at last dawned on the nation. That the economic reforms and whatever followed in that name need not be an undiluted mixture of blessings is now being taken note of by the country.

The article of Mr. K. Subramanian (The Hindu, Nov. 23) precisely emphasises this aspect. The periodic reports of the twin institutions (World Bank, IMF), which are released with much fanfare and publicity, very often only help to reinforce the impression that the reports, if not the institutions themselves, are skewed in favour of the developed nations and their priorities, at the cost of the underdeveloped (Third and Fourth) world.

The World Development Report (WDR) puts into perspective only the shortcomings in the development paradigms of the poor members and not the panaceas for rectification. The remedial steps, even when pointed out by the institutions, have mostly helped to aggravate the fiscal and other problems faced by the nations. Even with decades of experience, the Brettonwood Sisters pretend not to understand the intricacies of the problems and the peculiarities as they manifest in the poor countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia as the routine appraisals and prescriptions reveal.

Recent reports indicate that Latin America is experiencing a slump in its national income consequent on embarking on the Fund- Bank policies since the '80s.

Even in India, problems galore, both on the external front and the internal front. While growth has certainly improved on the macro level, the distributional aspect could not be given much attention to.

In fact, these two appear to be mutually exclusive under the NEP. As in 1997, one third of the population is yet to get for itself the minimum calories, to rate themselves above the official poverty line; literacy eludes almost 40 per cent of the masses even now and drinking water is a far cry for a considerable section of the population.

The E-mail and Internet revolution touches only the uppermost strata and does have no impact on the poor sections. The agricultural sector is greatly threatened and deaths are reported from various parts of the country attributed to starvation. Indigenous industry finds it hard to survive.

The fact is that the world over, there is a rethinking on the issue. The Keynesian Welfare Theory is no longer there but the hold of the individual oriented (greed oriented) paradigms which led to aggrandisement is also declining, casting a spell on the liberalisation and globalisation.

K. S. Venkitachalam,

Kalpathy (Kerala)

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