Expectation falsified

Sir, - The Editorial ``Posturing on globalisation'' (Nov. 28) rightly observed that the grassroots opposition to the globalisation of the Indian economy is strongly rooted in the feeling that a decade of fairly rapid growth has benefited some more than the others.

The economic reforms, heralding liberalisation and globalisation, have at last come for a critical review. The original expectation that they would serve as a panacea for the acute problems of poverty and unemployment has been falsified. The critics are not totally wrong when they say that the liberalisation process has bypassed the poor and the underprivileged. Still, 30 to 40 per cent of our people live below the poverty line amidst the least hygienic conditions. It is a mistake to think that market fundamentalism with its peripheral interest for social problems would take up the cause of the underdog.

Also, the notion that globalisation would bring prosperity for one and all has sounded hollow. The hard-boiled MNCs, with their deep pockets, have amply demonstrated by their undertakings that they could promote their interests and dictate their will on the country with their power and clout. It is like crying for the moon if we expect that they would enter the social sector with a large heart. As you aptly summed up, ``without a greater percolation of the benefits of growth, measures for a further globalisation of the Indian economy will continue to face as much political opposition as they have in recent years.''

T. Hanumantha Rao,

Anakapalle (AP)

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