A fabulous piece on what needs to be done in India by TN Ninan (link Anantha Nageswaran)
The essence of the reform programme of 1991 was to attack this approach to policy-making, to reduce if not remove the distortions. Twenty years later, however, the ancien regime is back with a vengeance — it was in the name of garibi hatao earlier, now it is in the name of the aam aadmi.
Why rake all this up now, at the start of 2012? Because the hyper-ventilating leaders of an anti-corruption movement who roiled the waters for most of 2011 have not thought it necessary to say one word about how it is government-induced market distortions that lie at the root of corruption in so many sectors, and how reforms of the 1991 variety might provide solutions — indeed, better and more lasting solutions than sending Lok Pal hounds after every babu who yields to temptation. Not just Anna Hazare and his cohorts, most ordinary people can now see that no political party really wants a Lok Pal. But shouldn’t it be equally obvious that no political party wants reform either — because at the Centre, in the states, in panchayats, politicians of every party hue are the direct or indirect beneficiaries of government-induced market distortions that bring about market failure, and opportunity for scamsters?
Well, if it will be done is a different proposition altogether!
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