Politics is a drag on Progress

We need to recognise the failure of the socialist model

Aditya Puri

India's political and economic fabric is in the throes of change. Despite a political consensus on key reforms, the government has been finding it difficult to act on them. With the emergence of religion, regional power centres and old secular centrists as power blocs, politics is gaining the upper hand over economics and long-term interests.

To dispel the confusion over reforms, we need to recognise the failure of the socialist model. A socialist society aims to create an environment in which everyone has equal rights and opportu-nities, the underprivileged are helped and protected to a better life, economic activities are tampered with to meet the needs of the nation and abusive, selfish interests are subjugated. A goal and a society we should all aspire for. But is it possible to achieve this utopian society? If we carry this thought further, we must believe that desire for individual reward for individual effort is anti-social. Practically, however, it is only a minute percentage of people who are able to rise above their personal interest and needs.

The majority responds to the removal of material rewards by either losing their desire for hard work or their moral fibre, thereby stri-ving for illegal rewards. This results in low GDP growth, inefficient production, corruption, illegal wealth, wide disparities and the nation having no money for social causes. In today's globalised world, countries cannot survive in isolation, impose unnatural barriers, subsidise inefficiency, and not have appropriate infrastructure, edu-cation, health and employment generation capabilities. Capitalism has not been a roaring success either. But what is clear is that you cannot mix politics, economics, social benefit and strategic needs. Each must be tackled separately. We must have the most efficient economy possible and ensure that its fruits help the underprivileged.

We must have under government control items of strategic importance to the country. With this framework in mind, let us examine some of the government's key objectives and the opposition to them: GDP growth rate to be increased from 6 to 8 per cent, which will shorten the time in which the major portion of the population can live decently; and increased outlay on education, health and infrastructure. If these objectives are fine, then the means of achieving them must be acceptable. The main problem in achieving the 8 per cent GDP growth is the gap between what we save as a nation and the investment required to achieve a 8 per cent growth rate. There are two ways to bridge this gap: Foreign direct investment and reduction of dissavings and fiscal deficit. FDI will seek appropriate return, and therefore has to be in the mutual interest of the investor and the country. We must bury the bogey of foreigners controlling our economy.

Can a commercial organisation function outside the laws of the country? The issue of foreign exchange drain can be offset by gains in terms of employment, technology and reciprocity. It is a huge mistake to link employment or job security with getting companies to be efficient and promoting competition. Organised labour accounts for just 10 per cent of the labour force. We cannot hold the country's millions hostage to protecting non-productive employment of organised labour. Labour has and must have rights, but they also have duties. A honest day's work for a day's pay.

Labour laws fair to all is a prerequisite to creating investment and employment. Parts of the public sector are a negative contributor to our savings. Somebody pays for losses of public sector enterprises. It is imperative that these be turned around (if possible), sold or closed down. If current management cannot do it, we offer it to others: If they see value they will bid, or we close them down and salvage what we can. A reduction in deficit becomes important to make funds available for investment in education, health and infrastructure.

To this end, we need to move from a income-based tax bias to one based on consumption. Most countries have gained by moving to VAT. We also need to dump the bogey of taxing the well-to-do at a high rate, as this only results in evasion and corruption. We can reduce non-productive expenditure of the government, by targeting subsidies directly at the less fortunate. For example, the poor do not use LPG; cheap electricity subsidises the rich, who are heavy users of electricity; and the marginal farmer hardly uses fertiliser. Food procurement and distribution is a wasteful mess.

Ideology-based economics coupled with vested interests harm the common man while claiming to do him good. India has on its side GDP growth, good reserves, sound financial infrastructure, favourable demographics and a English-speaking population. The global economy is in transition and developments are favourable to us. We need to ensure that we do not mix politics, economics, social needs and strategic imperatives. Capitalism with distributive justice should be our maxim. The writer is Managing Director, HDFC Bank. THE TIMES OF INDIA : October 11, 2005

Gandhian economics is relevant

Pulin B Nayak

In recent years there appears to have been a resurgence of interest in what may be called Gandhian economics. Gandhiji first enunciated some of these ideas about a hundred years ago. These are contained in his Hind Swaraj, written in 1908 during a voyage from London to South Africa.It was later published as a booklet. Gandhiji's economic ideas continued to evolve over the next four decades after he returned to India for good at the age of 45. He altered some of his more extreme positions on, say, machinery, but on a number of core formulations his conviction was unchanged.

Even at the height of Gandhi's virtually unchallenged position during India's freedom struggle there were many within the Congress party, some of them his closest confidants, who were never impressed with his economic formulations. These included, notably, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jayaprakash Narayan. Nehru never challenged Gandhiji's overall moral and political pre-eminence, but his emphasis on heavy industry and investment planning was at variance with Gandhi's ideas. Hind Swaraj was a severe condemnation of modern civilisation. It aimed for self-rule in a context where the twin principles of satyagraha and non-violence were the core postulates. As one who had the most perspicacious understanding of the Indian countryside, Gandhi felt that the key to the country's progress lay in the strengthening of the decentralised, self-sufficient village economies. He had a strong adherent in J C Kumarappa, who was possibly the first to coin the expression, Gandhian economics.

Gandhi made a trenchant critique of machinery, saying that it was a grand, yet awful, invention. In Hind Swaraj he observes: "It is machinery that has impoverished India". Further, he says: "Machinery is the chief symbol of modern civilisation; it represents a great sin". This was no doubt an extreme position. Few agreed with him on this, but it would be fair to say that Gandhi continued to change his position on this question. But fundamentally Gandhi opposed machinery because he thought it displaced labour and it concentrated production and distribution in the hands of a few. This is an old question in classical political economy with which Ricardo grappled at length. Gandhi's concern was not trivial; one needs to address the question of the appropriate choice of technique when looking at a real economy. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Gandhi's economic formulation was his theory of trusteeship.

This was developed as an alternative to the doctrine of socialism or communism. The thesis was that the capitalists would hold their wealth as trustees for the service of society. Trusteeship was thus to be thought of as a moral compact between the wealthy and society at large. This thesis has been roundly critiqued in several quarters. But in the present conjuncture when command economies are in retreat and globalised capitalism is the prevalent mode, the need for a moral and ethical basis for business practices has never been more keenly felt. Two further features of the Gandhian mode ought to assure for it a very special place in the history of economic thought.

• First, Gandhi advocated the precept of limitation of wants to take care of one's need and not greed. This is a counterpoise to the entire edifice of mainstream economic thinking which is based on the notion of a continuous expansion of the goods space to satisfy unlimited wants. It is conceivable that this may yet turn out to be the single major Gandhian insight that could dictate the agenda of the long-term sustainability of the ecosystem.
• The second has to do with the idea of focusing on the well-being of the poorest and weakest member of society that is contained in Gandhi's talisman. This was one of the last notes that Gandhi left behind in 1948. This was an intrinsic part of Gandhi's moral view of the world. It was articulated at least a decade before John Rawls's early writings. Gandhi's idea, later developed in Rawls's A Theory of Justice published in 1971, was to profoundly alter the course of theoretical welfare economics.

The writer is Director, Delhi School of Economics . THE TIMES OF INDIA : October 3, 2005

Bhutan: Gross National Happiness

Sociologists said the happiness barometer appeared to follow in the all-singing, all-dancing tracks of Bhutan's King Jigme Sigme Wangchuk, who is increasingly notching up publicity points for his relatively recent model, which measures Gross National Happiness rather than Gross Domestic Product. The new survey came just hours after Venezuelan economist Frank Bracho declared that trying to measure happiness could actually threaten it, but commentators said the new market focus on the happiness quotient, rather than possessions and wealth, may be a welcome and positive move away naked materialism.

The survey, which uniquely tried to quantify every nation's satisfaction with "the good life", found widespread regional disparities in India's categorization of happy, satisfied and dreadfully dolorous people. Gfk-NOP said the happiness breakdown, country-by-country, across five continents was part of a larger annual study of consumer attitudes, values and behaviours. Wheeler said this was the first time since 1997 that "we have included questions on what makes people happy (and) how happy people deem themselves to be." RASHMEE ROSHAN LALL, Thursday, October 06, 2005 TIMES NEWS NETWORK

SAMPADA initiative

Please go through the philosophy of SAMPADA initiative which I have launched. It is the distillation of my personal experience of life gained by witnessing the circus of the life placing myself in the ring itself rather than sitting on a cushy seat in the stall. Sampada implies blissful selfless wealth whereas Sampatti means prickly selfish wealth. We are engulfed with a sense of competition with each other. Had co-operation in lieu of competition been the driving rule of the world, then all the problems would have been certainly disappeared. If the sense of service to humanity as a way of serving God can be inculcated in all of us, what a radical shift we would witness in the way the world conducts its work? Nothing seems to stir us. Is it because, we fail to see the same self in others that we do readily seeing within us. SAMPADA initiative will ensure a confident march towards restoring compassion and predictability in the society.

The cause of SAMPADA may appear inconvenient (as it amounts to reversing our attitude), but it is magnificent. It exhorts people to contribute some TANA (Physical Involvement); MANA (Dedication); DHAN (Wealth) and SAMAY (Time) for social purpose in a selfless manner. The real learning comes when one changes one's perception , learn to view the world in a different light. Changing one's socio-economic orientation from "SAMPATTI" to "SAMPADA" will be a such learning. Hope you will extend your best possible help to our ( not mine only, as it belongs to you too) SAMPADA initiative so that a secure , tranquil and prosperous world may come in its own place.

Bibek Kumar Anand

Convener "SAMPADA"Tilkamanjhi, Jawaripur, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India, 812001

E -Mail ids - 1. sampada369@yahoo.co.in 2. sampada369@gmail.com 3. sampada369@hotmail.com 4. anand_bibek9@rediffmail.com

Conversations With Indian Economists

by V. N. Balasubramanyam

India has a whole bunch of people with a wealth of knowledge and experience (retired RBI governors, former advisors to the central government, prominent reformers, etc) who remain a valuable source of reliable information of the past and present economic system. I think a concerned effort must be made to engage them in a dialogue in understanding the real problems faced rather than pointing fingers at politicians and policy makers!! A complete netcast of the six hour Commanding Heights storyline that aired in three parts in PBS is available here. Also included are some essays in the same website. posted by fullymubbed @ 04:09

The forgotten Swami Dayanand

A pity that his agenda of social liberation doesn’t interest his followers
VALSON THAMPU
Indian Express, Monday, November 15, 2004

Maharshi Dayanand was a rare spiritual genius whose vision and mission represented an unprecedented stirring in the ocean of Indian spirituality. The Arya Samaj, in its authentic version, holds the potential to be an effective antidote to the spiritual decay that we see around us in the form of communalism, casteism and religious obscurantism. Sadly, the Arya Samaj, in the recent decades, seems to have compromised its mission. The cultural and intellectual vitality it awakened seems to have ebbed. It did yeoman service earlier by catalysing an intellectual and spiritual effervescence in the stagnant pool of religiosity. One wonders if it still does.

Maharshi Dayanand represented the resurgence of reason in religion. Those who see reason and faith as contraries know neither. Faith intuits and accesses truths that belong to the realm of revelation. But the harvest of revelation has to be articulated in the idiom of reason. What is not reasonable has no place in religion or it will regress quickly into blind faith and obscurantism. Dayanand is a role model for all those who take their religion seriously. Spirituality gives us courage, as it did Dayanand, to break out of the prison of blind faith and exercise the God given capacity for rational analysis — the secret of our inner freedom.

Second, every genuine spiritual leader in history has also been a religious reformer. There are two types of religious leaders: custodians of orthodoxy who perpetuate the status quo and those to whom religion is a call to know truth and honour God. This makes them concerned about the decay in the core of their religions. Dayanand was particularly appalled by the gulf between the Vaidic vision and popular Hinduism. So he raised the battle cry, “Back to the Vedas.” His greatest contribution was not that he reformed Hinduism. His was a clarion call to reform the idea of religion itself. Spirituality was an agenda of human liberation for him and that is why he found caste ridden Hinduism a spiritual anathema.

To him there was an innate connection between idol-worship and casteism. He realised that caste was the darkest blot on the Vaidic faith. The business of religion is to empower people to fulfill their arya (noble) destiny. It is a great pity that Dayanand’s followers have not remained faithful to his agenda of social liberation. Since Independence, evils like caste, communalism and women’s oppression have increased. Surprisingly, most Arya Samjis only stand by and watch this choreography of corruption. It makes one wonder if the Arya Samaj is now a movement or if it has become a monument.

Multilateral thinking

Our mental compasses do not point to the West alone. They point every-where. Not Lateral thinking; this is multilateral thinking.

Vinay Kamat
STOI- 22.2.04

Rule of law

From time immemorial, we have idealized the rule of law in precept and undermined it in practice. We have forgotten Cicero’s warning that

§ ‘we are in bondage to the law so that we might be free’
and that
§ ‘howsoever high you may be, the law is above you.’

We ignore Montesquieu who saw

§ ‘liberty as the right to do as the law permits’

and we violate William Penn’s apt words,

§ ‘Law is the insurance we have on our lives and property. Obedience is the premium we pay for it.’

Abhishek Singvi
HT- 21.4.04

Schumpeter, Schumacher

E.F. Schumacher was born in Germany in 1911 and took a class from Joseph Schumpeter in the late 1920s in Bonn. It was Schumpeter's course that convinced Schumacher to become an economist. Few realized when "Small is Beautiful" was published that E.F. Schumacher’s economic theories were underpinned by solid religious and philosophical foundations, the fruits of a lifetime of searching. In 1971, two years before the book’s publication, Schumacher had become a Roman Catholic, the final destination of his philosophical journey. Schumacher considered his conversion of supreme importance. This can be seen from the fact that he considered his spiritual work, A Guide for the Perplexed, to be his most important achievement.

'Pop handed me A Guide for the Perplexed on his deathbed, five days before he died,' says his daughter. He told her 'this is what my life has been leading to'. Yet when she began researching her biography of her father a lot of people were 'astounded' when they discovered his conversion. 'They hadn't realized that he had become a Catholic. They thought it was a real let-down, a betrayal'.' For all the songs of praise to Schumacher's achievement many, it seemed, had missed the point. By Joseph Pearce October 25, 2004

Voice of India

The article Hindu Society under Siege by Sita Ram Goel explores the challenges facing the modern Hindu awakening from the harmful residues of the past. The author is a prolific writer on Hindu nationalism and the founder of the “Voice of India” publishing house; he died in 2003 at the age of 82. In his earlier days, he was attracted to communism but later under the influence of his mentor Ram Swarup, who was a follower of Sri Aurobindo, he became an ardent Hindu revivalist. His unmatched scholarship and rigor is a dread to Marxist and secularist writers who seek to dominate the intellectual space in India today, and are opposed to the national vision of Swami Vivekananda. posted by IndiaWatcher @ Monday, July 04, 2005 6:19 AM

Sri Aurobindo: The Spiritual Anarchist

A spiritual age of mankind will perceive the truth. It will not try to make man perfect by machinery or keep him straight by tying up all his limbs. It will not present to the member of the society his higher self in the person of the policeman, the official and the corporal, nor, let us say, in the form of a socialistic bureaucracy or a Labour Soviet. Its aim will be to diminish as soon and as far as possible the element of external compulsion in human life by awakening the inner divine compulsion of the Spirit within and all the preliminary means it will use will have that for its aim. In the end it will employ chiefly if not solely the spiritual compulsion which even the spiritual individual can exercise on those around him, and how much more should a spiritual society be able to do it, that which awakens within us in spite of all inner resistance and outer denial the compulsions of the Light, the desire and the power to grow through one's own nature into the Divine. For the perfectly spiritualised society will be one in which, as is dreamed by the spiritual anarchist, all men will be deeply free, and it will be so because the preliminary condition will have been satisfied. In that state each man will be not a law to himself, but the law, the divine Law, because he will be a soul living in the Divine and not an ego living mainly if not entirely for its own interest and purpose. His life will be led by the law of his own divine nature liberated from the ego. -- The Human Cycle -- 'Conditions for the Coming of the Spiritual Age', pg. 243 spiritofnow (spiritofnow) wrote,@ 2005-05-06 00:31:00

One Cosmos Under God

In my view, the Judeo-Christian and Hindu traditions are the missing parts of one another. In exploring and conquering the material world, the former extends from the center to the periphery, or from the One to the many. Vedanta goes in the other direction, from the periphery back to the center, from the many back to the One. In reality, neither approach is completely valid or invalid. Rather, the Real would be a dynamic synthesis (not mere blending) of the two, a "transcendent position" that unifies the Eastern and Western hemispheres of the global brain, allowing us to live in a "third" dialectical, or "transitional" space between the external world and the mysterious Subject that is the source of both the world and ourselves. Dr. Reddy, like me a student of the Indian sage and mystic Sri Aurobindo, writes that "Mankind has benefitted broadly by the two central spiritual streams which were complementary to each other. The one that watered the West has been essentially the aspiration for the salvation of the world, the emancipation of humanity [through] the descent of God's grace.... The [stream] that was perfected in the East and especially in India was the liberation of the individual through his ascent into the Divine himself. An exclusive stress on the first results in preoccupation with the material world, whereas the all too exclusive preoccupation with individual liberation leads to complete disregard of the world of humanity. An integration of these two ways, a wider and luminous fusion of their insights, will provide a tangible and enduring basis of spiritual life on the earth." posted by Gagdad Bob at 8:15 AM 1 comments

Harmony of Interests and Moral Relativity

Thank God Carr shed some light on this and despite his utopian hopes, recognized this is not the best idea. Going back to my claim that achieving a global will is impossible, the truth is that the factors that give rise to the divergent interests around the globe cannot be easily obliterated. These differences are not just a product of our reason, like Kant would want to believe, that can be easily switched off by merely enlightening our reason banks. Instead, they are deep-rooted divides born of each nations' turbulent history and struggles. Moreover, these factors are not just social or cultural, but geopolitical and economic and cannot be swept away with a shift in thinking or attitude, but make up the fiber of a nation. They are hard realities that breed the difference of interests between the first world and the third world, between theocracies and democracies, between capitalism and communism. As long as these differences remain, which I would predict will be as long as civilization exists, there cannot be a harmony of interests.

Carr has done an invaluable service by unmasking the interests of various dominant groups whether they are in economics, politics or even in any other field. I believe that this neo-Marxian critique eventually gave rise to critical theory, which went on to do the same thing essentially. His case is irrefutable, with his quotes from Briand, Wilson, Hitler, Churchill, Toynbee and Cecil. It is amazing how the exposition of their policies flowed not from absolute principles but from practice, to suit their national interests.

In 1919, a Hindu nationalist turned Yogi named Sri Aurobindo wrote about the possibility of a League of Nations and what it would look like. When reading this qoute, think of the League and of the UN:"The idea of international unity to which this intervention of the revived force of nationality is leading, takes the form of a soc-called League of Nations.Practically however, the League of Nations under present conditions or any likely to be immediately realized would still mean the control of the earth by a few great Powers—a control that would be checked only by the necessity of conciliating the sympathy and support of the more numerous smaller or less powerful nations. On the force and influence of these few (Great Powers) would reset practically, if not admittedly, the decision of all important debatable questions. And without it there could be no chance of enforcing the decisions of the majority against any recalcitrant great Power or combinations of Powers." The Ideal of Human Unity, 1919. So it was with the League and indeed their vested interests as Carr points out. Now the same is true of the UN now and what Sri Aurobindo said is the same. But consider this, the UN was supposed to be more effective than the League, so how could it have turned out like it is? posted by Sir Francis Bacon at 11:42 PM

Money or Harmony?

Ananda- Bhaga (Enjoyment, Share)- Shudra: Service, Surrender- Marx's Labour

Ananda/Chit- Mitra (Harmony, Love)- Vaishya: Desire, Libidinal Economy- Freud, Lyotard

Chit/Tapas- Aryama (Force)- Kshatriya: Power, Leadership- Nietzsche, Adler, Foucault

Sat- Varuna (Purity)- Brahmana: Knowledge, Nobility- Kant's Sublime, Habermas' Dialogue

Country as Corporation

New Model China by Kenichi Ohmae
Tomorrow's World Business Strategy Review, Vol. 15, pp. 11-17, December 2004 Kenichi Ohmae
Leadership Business Strategy Review, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 32-64, Autumn 2005
Rob Goffee , Gareth Jones , Alex Alexander , Anthony Landale , Orit Gadiesh , Des Dearlove , Steve Coomber , Nada Kakabadse and Andrew Kakabadse

Stephen Roman, & Eugen Loebl

The Responsible Society. 1977. dj

From Marx’s kitchenThe Asian Age India Madhuri Santanam Sondhi
More than a century ago, Karl Marx said he did not want any recipes for a kitchen that did not yet exist. Then a kitchen was built in his name in which fascist recipes were, and still are, used. Eugen Loebl

Talking the other day with a young woman who burned with revolutionary ardour when describing the destitution characteristic of Nepal and parts of India, particularly Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, I found myself caught in a time loop. The impassioned critique of capitalism, globalisation and feudalism came straight from the heart, as the frustration with the slow and corrupt processes of Indian democracy. But hard to understand was the faith in communistic solutions, given that among the communist states that survive the ignominious collapse of the Soviet Empire, not one can be cited as a "successful" recipe from Marx's kitchen for re-structuring society, not North Korea, not Cuba, and certainly not China, which endures through heavy imports of capitalism and mild liberalism.

I recalled our meeting in India with Eugen Loebl more than 30 years ago, former minister in the post-war Czech communist government, one of three who miraculously survived the notorious anti-Semitic Slansky trials of 1952. He spent five years in solitary out of eleven in a Marxist jail. A committed communist and revolutionary, he was falsely accused, imprisoned and tortured to confess to imaginary "crimes." During his incarceration, Loebl agonised over what had brutalised and barbarised the system in which he had wholeheartedly believed. He looked beyond human factors and misinterpretations of the canonical truth, to theoretical flaws in the original doctrine which systematically led towards fascism or totalitarianism. When permitted, he meticulously re-read and analysed the complete works of Karl Marx. Forbidden to write, he mentally, paragraph by paragraph, composed and memorised what became a book, published later during the Prague Spring. He participated enthusiastically in the attempt to establish "socialism with a human face" but when the fraternal Warsaw Pact tanks entered Prague, Loebl fled to America, where his book appeared in translation as Humanomics.

In America Loebl spent time on campuses with revolutionary anti-Vietnam coffee-house intellectuals, and wrote up his impressions as Conversations with the Bewildered. The arguments and discontents of these affluent adolescents echoed those of my revolutionary friend and other children of the Indian rich and/or privileged castes. Loebl sympathised with their genuine desire to change an unjust system, but pointed to the flaws in their violent methodology and the system that was to replace it. He offered them three broad interrelated themes; a distinction between pseudo and real revolutions, an analysis of the real motor of economic growth, and the crucial failure of modern economics, whether of the left or right variety, to include normative and cultural considerations in their praxiology.

In India Loebl met with students on the JNU campus — a decade before the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Musing over the 1917 events, Loebl suggested that the Russian revolution had been a "pseudo-revolution"; revolutionary in successfully overthrowing the Tsarist regime but "pseudo" in that with its internally flawed theories, it failed to realise its aims. In place of "leadership" it created a "dictatorship" of the proletariat, a euphemism for the dictatorship of a party or a single person with all the negative consequences that follow. He also interacted with Gandhians: he saw Gandhi methodologically as a non-violent revolutionary in his commitment to social change, appreciated his effort to introduce morality as an integral factor in social, economic and political thought, but disagreed with his rejection of industrialisation.

His own examples of true revolutions which have radically transformed society from deep within are the scientific and technological revolutions of the 19th and 20th centuries, followed by the communications revolution of the last quarter. "In all previous revolutions, the oppressed classes took over from their oppressors: the dictatorship of the old class gave place to that of the new." But, "(T)he technological revolution … has replaced the oppressed class by the natural forces which have been mastered through the genius of the human intellect." Labourers have been liberated from their toil by the invention of machines or "energy slaves." No doubt radical critique has shifted towards the maleficent exploitation of nature with ill effects on natural and human life, but Marx's analysis of economic growth based on exploitation of the labouring classes has been rendered obsolete and irrelevant.

Indeed, Loebl's definition of revolution underscores the argument that it is not surplus labour but brain power as mental innovation, homo sapiens and not homo laborans, which motors economic change, and has been so from the invention of the wheel. Previously, innovations came at a slow pace, and entrepreneurs profited from the exploitation of human labour; but for nearly half a century now, the rapid speed of scientific discovery and its technological applications has made human labour redundant. Ownership of the means of production can be equally retrogressive in private or state hands; today the means of production do not create the superstructure, rather people at the high level of the superstructure create the "material basis of production." Thus social and economic problems can be dealt with through "the growing intellectual capacity of wider classes" which "provide fertile ground for new ideas."

Is this true for countries outside the highly developed world? Before visiting India Loebl thought not, sharing the views of other West European economists who dismissed revolutionary communism as bad for Europe but good for the "backward" or feudal societies of Asia, Africa and Latin America. But his three-week Indian visit in 1979 stimulated him to think more innovatively about this society with its interwoven levels of simplicity and sophistication. Instead of a uniform economic policy for the whole country, he toyed with the possibility of several "lucro-active" approaches which could benefit both the mini-producer and the big industrialist.

Loebl critiqued both dirigiste and free market economists for failing to take integral cognisance of the human factor in their theories. In their search for "scientific objectivity," economists overlook real networks of actual living persons with unquantifiable beliefs, norms and choices. To "objectively" condemn percentages of people to unemployment or poverty (through rising prices); to contemplate sacrificing present generations to shining statistics for tomorrow, was to him grossly inhuman, whether from a communist or capitalist perspective. He had explored the possibility of linking economic thinking to the religious values permeating western culture with a Catholic businessman, Stephen Roman: their book, The Responsible Society was republished in India as Alternative to Communism & Capitalism. Looking for a similar dialogue with Hinduism he met with a monk of the Ramakrishna Mission who, however, could not immediately connect Upanishadic spiritualism with an economic dimension. However the monk was deeply impressed with Loebl's stoic fortitude throughout his ordeal, and how he had utilised those punishing years for reflection and constructive thought.

Despite a few anachronisms arising from the times and circumstances in which he wrote, Loebl remains a stimulating and innovative thinker. He was keen to spend more time in India enlarging his economic thinking to encompass the problems of rural development small enterprises, crafts et al. He died, however, a few years later. His definition of the economy as a system of thinking human beings is both a human and an intellectual challenge.
http://www.asianage.com/?INA=2:175:175:138732© 2005 The Asian Age

eSocialSciences

October 2005, New Features: A new section Book Reviews features Goolam Vahed’s review of Uma Duphelia Mistrie’s ‘ Gandhi’s Prisoner? The Life of Gandhi’s son Manilal’ published by Kwela Books, Cape Town. (H-Net Review). Two new journals : Liberation and SEPHIS emagazine have been added to the collection of journals. Feature of the month: Conference blogs to keep you in touch with what’s happening in the meets that you could not attend. Theme of the Month: ‘Women and Health’ featuring a collection of papers echoing the several ongoing and forthcoming conferences and seminars.

Policy Matters: ‘False Dawn on the Budget Front’. A Premchand offers a scholarly note on the Outcome Budget. http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=217 Working Papers: Gender and Health: ‘Uncertainty and Discrimination: Family Structure and Declining Sex Ratios in Rural India’ Mattias Larsen, Pernille Gooch and Neelambar Hatti, draw upon preliminary results from recently conducted field studies in rural areas of Karnataka and Uttaranchal to understand why female children continue to be at risk. To be presented at a forthcoming Workshop at the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore.[See Announcements] http://www.esocialsciences.com/articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=184
Development Studies:’ Economic Well-Being and Political Action’ Neeraj Hatekar argues that a politics of the deprived, based on an identity of the deprived as deprived is an imperative in relevant policy-making. http://www.esocialsciences.com/articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=187
Poverty and Inequality:’ Spatial inequality and Development ‘ Spatial inequality has added significance when spatial and regional divisions align with political and ethnic tensions to undermine stability. Ravi Kanbur and Anthony J. Venables draw on the evidence from the UNU-Wider project, that analyzed evidence on spatial inequalities in over 50 developing countries. http://www.esocialsciences.com/articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=215
Forests and Conservation:‘Multifunctional Agroforestry Systems for Livelihoods’ Deep Narayan Pandey critically examines the success of agroforestry as a traditional land-use adaptation that may support livelihoods improvement. http://www.esocialsciences.com/workingPapers/workingPapersDetails.asp?workingpaperid=15
Health Economics: ‘ Addressing Inequality in Health Care: Financing Strategy’ In a paper to be presented at the forthcoming Forum 9 of Global Forum for Health Ravi Duggal suggests a new financing strategy for health care. http://www.esocialsciences.com/workingPapers/workingPapersDetails.asp?workingpaperid=10
Commentaries An obituary tribute to I.G. Patel and an appreciation of his work by Deena Khatkhate http://www.esocialsciences.com/articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=221
Arup Maharatna warns of the potential danger of ignoring historical arguments on issues such as market, political economy, capital, and labour has great potential danger. http://www.esocialsciences.com/commentaries/CommentariesDetails.asp?commentaryid=10
Ketan Mukhija asks why there are not enough measures to ensure that access to justice is an entitlement and not a subject of charity. http://www.esocialsciences.com/commentaries/CommentariesDetails.asp?commentaryid=11
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Yoga Party

New political party emphasizing unity rather than division, compassion rather than annihilation. Now only peace and solidarity can overcome the hate and destruction enveloping the world. Through cultivating insight and tranquility only, can life endure. Help me resist the purveyors of hate, death and destruction so that we can all live together in harmony.

I wish the rich well. I understand that the rich suffer as much as anyone else. From a yogic perspective (at least one yogic perspective) we are just acting out our karma and the only thing worth achieving is escaping rebirth, that essentially we are spirit. No harm can come to us as the physical body is only transitory. Nevertheless from this perspective we are very much involved in our lives, we are actors not realizing that we are playing roles, and play these roles we must in order to reach our salvation. And it is a fact that the rich do live longer and the poor die unnecessarily and therefore this is an injustice.

Another perspective put out by the late Sri Aurobindo is that we are not disembodied spirits, but are undergoing a sort of transformation and that even the body is a form of spirit and therefore we are evolving so to speak to a higher level of consciousness. The differences between each other are not so significant, in fact we all represent the same spirit. Since we all are the same spirit (Brahman) it makes sense for all of us to seek this salvation together.

Of course in this capitalistic society we are deluged with the supposed benefits of being of a higher class. Daily we are barraged with advertising to instill in us class consciousness (a false consciousness in which we deny our own interests). These are only images, constructs of selfish interests of the powers that be, that are irrelevant to our moral integrity. Ultimately to get out of this karma or as the buddhists put it, our suffering, we must all join together to escape this karma. Hopefully all will eventually see that struggle is not necessary except to realize our true conscious state of divine being. Only then can we find the way out of the tunnel of darkness. posted by Yoga Party @ 2:50 PM

We need democracy

From: rajudas@yorku.ca To: Sachi sachisatpathy@yahoo.com Subject: Re: Mass movement? Yes. Civil society-based/led mass movement? No! Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005

I agree with Mr. Dubey that a mass movement is exactly what is needed. But I am sorry I am less sanguine about the civil society method than Mr Dubey probably is. Civil society is too civil to clear up the 'nastiness' that underlies the problem of Orissa's and India's under-development. We need a mass movement but one that is not necessarily attached to so-called civil society movements, although they can play a role.

The movement has to be one of the poor peasants and landless rural labourers and urban workers. In plain English, the movement has to be a class-based movement where men and women and children of different castes combine together and fight against the sorts of classes Mr. Dubey refers to. They have to fight against the coalition of proprietary classes (both domestic and international) and their intellectual shield dressed up as professors and cultural people and their people in politics. All these people may be very nice as persons but that is immaterial: they do things that they must because of the way they are inserted into the system. A broad, mass democratic movement [and as far as possible, non-violent movement] to decommodify society is what is needed, a society where right to food, education and other necessities outside of the market and to productive and enjoyable work are basic non-negotiable norms, a society where democracy flourishes in all spheres of life including work and family and within the Assembly/Parliament gate.

No matter how much we beat our heart, if this doesnot happen, if a CLASS-based democratic movement does not happen, Orissa and, with it, all parts of the country that are as under-developed as Orissa is will basically remain what they are. And note that this movement will not be and this cannot be led by so-called non-governmental organizations who are supposedly independent of the government inspite of their financial and other kinds of reliance on it and of market inspite of (e.g.) micro-finance and their enthusiastic promotion of penny capitalism and things like that. As long as Orissa and other parts of India are within the grip of NGO-ism, the possibility of empowerment and democracy is an impossible task.

We need democracy, democracy of the poor, direct democracy, the democracy which the beautiful word 'democracy' originally signified. If the root of the problem is in the ways things [food, clothes,medicine, etc.] are produced [and are distributed] and the social relations around these, the solution is that these have to be changed, and these have to be changed by people who produce these things. Those who work to maintain the system have the power to stop working and thus stop the system from continuing. The system that produces India's millionaires is the same system that produces India's poor. By working, the poor produce the wealth as well as their subordination. It is only they who can stop all that. Can others help a little? Can we help a little? That is the crux of the matter. Raju

Intellectual Satyagraha

Sunday, February 27, 2005

The New Masks Of Colonialism by David Frawley

The Academic Historical Colonialism: Current liberal academicians use it to denigrate Hindu culture as inhumane and promote Western multiculturalism (read Western subordination of other cultures) in India. All have used it to make the dominant Hindu culture of India a historical fraud. Western academicians, and their Indian imitators, rejected the testimony not only of the ancient Rishis and yogis of the country but that of modern sages like Sri Aurobindo, who did not accept this idea. In other words, in interpreting the history of India they simply rejected what the country itself had to say useless, substituting their own voice. Is this not cultural arrogance?

Tuesday, February 25, 2003
India and Globalization by Rajiv Malhotra

Among Western thinkers who have studied Asian philosophies in depth and who have incorporated aspects of the latter into their own thought, a notable modern example is Ken Wilber, whose “Integral Psychology” openly draws upon the work of the Indian thinker Sri Aurobindo. In his early book, The Spectrum of Consciousness (1977),[17] Wilber pointed out the similarities between Asian traditions and various schools of psychology current at the time. He drew attention to the real and valuable contributions to be made by non-Western schools of thought, and in particular those of India.

In this book, as well as in later works such as Transformations of Consciousness,[18] Wilber expanded the scope of modern Western psychology by also including within his schema the supra normal or “transpersonal” states of consciousness described and cultivated by practitioners of India’s meditators and yogis. He showed that Western psychology couldn’t afford to ignore the thousands of years of empirical experimentation in the field of consciousness studies and psychology that has been conducted by these practitioners, albeit under different names. Wilber’s debt to these traditions is particular notable with regard to Sri Aurobindo, who created a schema of states of consciousness. Not fearing to acknowledge his debt to Sri Aurobindo and the Indic traditions, Wilber has generally been quite up front with regard to his use and remodeling of the insights of the Indic traditions. Hopefully, Wilber and many others like him will continue to explore the very fruitful potential for East-West dialogue and exchange, in a respectful and intellectually honest fashion.

Welcome to Catallaxis!

« Welcome to Catallaxis! Main What's in a Name? Catallaxis is a name I invented several years ago through the fusion of two important concepts: catallactics and praxis.

Catallactics is a little-known term that refers to the science of exchanges. Although it is a terrific alternative to the more commonly used market theory, its use seems to have been limited primarily to the great work of Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and some of their intellectual descendents. But, as Hayek himself reminded us, the classical Greek term from which it derives, katalattein or katalassein, meant not only to exchange but also to receive into the community and to turn from enemy into friend (Hayek, The Fatal Conceit, p.112). To me, this is suggestive of a deeper, wider meaning for the whole notion of market exchange—one that embraces the traditionally differentiated and increasingly antagonistic economic, social, and political aspects of the market. This is how I use the term.

Praxis is a Greek term in its own right and generally means action, practice or the practical application of theory. It is also used to denote the idea of a theory of practice—that is, a theory of how to design one’s actions in order to achieve certain results. A catallactic praxis, then, may be thought of as a theory of how to participate in the market process or, more generally, as a practical theory of how markets really work.
Thus, catallactics x praxis = catallaxis. Voila.
I know, I know. I need to get out more.
Posted by Daniel O'Connor Permalink

Catallaxis provides a unique integral perspective on the economic issues of the day. In my opinion, the need for such a blog is significant, given the dire state of the economic dialogue across America and throughout much of the world. Most of the participants in this dialogue seem to be polarized around the idea of the market and its perceived role in either resolving or exacerbating a litany of economic problems, from corporate corruption to economic recession to ecological degradation. Evidently, some of these people place a high degree of faith in the market’s ability to solve its own problems, provided that society just leaves it alone to do its work. Others are more skeptical about the market and emphasize the need for social activism, lest the market undermine our social welfare. Whenever economic problems emerge, one group will look for evidence of market failure, while the other group looks to the market for a solution. Predictably, each will tend to suspect the other of some sort of political motivation and, if they’re not careful, the entire economic dialogue is reduced to nothing but a contentious political debate.

A Crisis of Vision »
An introduction to Market Learning: Toward a More Integral EconomicsAt the close of the 20th century, the market economy in America and elsewhere was in the midst of a veritable renaissance. Twenty years of privatization, deregulation, and liberalization had rendered the “stagflation” of the early 1980s a distant memory. During one of the greatest expansions in American economic history, productivity rose to record highs, unemployment fell to record lows, and inflation remained under control. Corporations realigned their strategies and restructured their operations to compete in the new era of globalization. Entrepreneurship flourished through the convergence of innovative new technologies, free-flowing venture capital, and relentless marketing. The mainstream media regaled us with a continuous stream of economic notions, from the iconic CEO to the free-agent worker to the once-and-for-all transcendence of the dreaded business cycle. For the first time ever, it was actually “cool” to be in business and everybody was following the stock market. The market, both as a system and as an idea, stood vindicated.[i]

The economists, politicians, and executives behind this renaissance are united by a well-schooled preference for individual and corporate freedom in a relatively unfettered market economy. They proclaim themselves economic liberals and pay homage to the classical economic philosophy that favors free markets and limited government as essential to both economic growth and social liberty. For reasons that will become clear in a moment, I call them economic libertarians.[ii]

The best of these economic libertarians seem to think that in pursuing market opportunities they are contributing to the development of a civilization. They are indeed. Their record of entrepreneurship and innovation is unparalleled in history and the simple fact that they create so many of the jobs that fund our way of life confirms their value to society. As for the millions of economic libertarians who have never started a company or invented a new technology, the verdict is still positive. With each new market exchange they are creating some small incremental addition to the overall wealth and well-being of our society. Though some struggle just to survive in the market, they staunchly defend its very real virtues, preferring to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps rather than being, as they see it, hoisted by a social safety net.

ORISSA POLITICS

Sentiments and political system are two entirely different things. By expressing our opinion on a few burning issues we can't change the duly elected governments. Rather, we must understand our limitations as hapless citizens. Limited access to the big picure is our bottleneck, and our stake in the debate is dubious. Your portal might appear as a very democratic forum, but the mechanics of politics is much more complex. Tusar N. Mohapatra tusarnmohapatra@mail.com Fri Oct 21 15:14:22 EDT 2005

Whether the debate is academic, journalistic, quasi-political or political activism, is what needs to be defined first. For if we are unsure of our objectives, we shouldn't expect matching results. That is, precisely, what has happened in the past over the results of which we are lamenting today. The situation is best expressed in our saying, Bapa pua duhen rati anidra- mugura *#*# mela. Hence, we need be a little bit MBO savvy, at present. Reliance on the Market mechanism rather than the habitual political weapons of the past is the order of the day that warrants serious engagement of our attention. Further, to understand the dynamics of development, David Harvey's Justice Nature and the Geography of Differences is a great help. An informed environment and dispassionate discourse would save us from much agony and ignominy. Fraternally, Marketime 241005.

Thanks to Ken Wilber, integralism is a popular thesis now. The film, Matrix helped to drive the concept home. Internet, itself, is a live instance of interconnectedness. Therefore, it would be prudent to locate this discussion on Orissa within a holistic framework. For, paradigms of prosperity and development are always shifting, cyclical or evolutionary. Just like personal finance, the economy of a state, too, is relative; and it has a unique function like a particular organ of a body. Orissa has many defficiencies, but far greater excellences. Our social capital is our core competence which is respected everywhere. I am proud of the fact that more than 500 Integral schools are operating in Orissa, which has no parallel in any other state or country. It is time, we must leverage our cultural capital. IT-lag could be amply compensated through, say, hospitality and services. But again it all depends upon Georaphy and Logistics, as Harvey would infer, and not simply on politics. South Delhi, South Kolkata and South Mumbai are more prosperous than their northern counterparts; becase of Geography, not merely politics. 251005

SAM PITRODA

The Indian Express
Friday, October 07, 2005

In a society still riddled with centuries-old
Prejudices, stereotypes, caste system and rituals
We need continuous intervention of a force
To empower people that is non-political,
Non-judgmental, non-denominational and rational.

To me technology is that force. It brings access
To modern tools and methods to increase productivity
And efficiency at reduced costs. It is an
Entry point to bring about generational changes
Being born underprivileged it opened doors for me
It erased my caste and empowered me to upward
Mobility. Technology is a great social leveller.

It is by no means an end in itself. It is about
Designing more efficient tools for the country
When people talk of technology they invariably
Think of computers, satellites, aircraft and other gadgets
To me technology is problem solving. It is about
Doing things differently. It is about change in mindset
Processes, products and preferences. Technology
Is about opportunities and experiences.

Many confuse new technology with labour displacement
As opposed to labour retraining and readjustment
We must change our age old processes and practices
With new knowledge and new understanding of the
Ever changing competitive nature of the global market
Success has given us confidence, connectivity
With emphasis on innovations and entrepreneurship.

True knowledge can empower people at all levels
To change their mindset from negative cynicism
To positive optimism with hope for the limitless
Opportunities in this ever changing world. It can make
Our people aware of their rights and responsibilities
To me the key to empowering people is to
Provide knowledge, tools, technology and techniques.

The invisible hand

Capitalism and the much-maligned, ‘Market’ might denote the epitome of materialism, but the dynamics of market and the propensity of its participants points towards one of the highest principles of spirituality. While the modernity project of Socialism aims at a regulated economy and directed history, Capitalism demands a hands-off approach by those at the helms.

The market-dictated regime-- far from being deterministic, as it sounds—is absolutely aloft on probabilities, uncertainties and the unpredictable. Thus, the contingent and the precarious character of outcomes leaves the individual endeavour almost at the mercy of the unforeseen/Unseen. And, therefore, the shrewd operator learns to believe less on his own prudence than the ordained/unpredictable dispensation. Perforce, he looks up to providence than his own autonomy and sovereignty.

Economy, like ecology, is an interplay of a complex tapestry driven by incessant logistics. While the notion of the market salutes its own supremacy, it abhors other interventions. But then, can any other interpolation—state or non-state—come sans the sanction of the greater Logistics, the larger Market?

The head of a party

BJP is a party in search of a new president now, but the whole episode is shrouded in mystery. The reason behind this sorry spectacle lies in our very perception of leadership in a democratic setting. Our Constitution, too, plays an ambivalent role here. It specifies that the leader of the party elected to power would form the government. But the chief executives of various parties have different designations, viz., chairman, president, general secretary, convener, co-coordinator etc. The problem arises when the leader of the party becomes PM or CM and a lightweight is elevated to fill the post of the head of the party.

There are certain supposed norms like, ‘one-man-one-post’ and 'separation of party and government affairs'. So, once in the government, the distance between the leader of the party and the head of the party increases leading to rivalry. When no more in power, the leader of the party wants to become the head of the party again. These kinds of simple problems can be easily settled if proper systems are put in place.