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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Sonshine in U.P.This is in response to the editorial“Sonshine in U.P.” (March 12).Until recently, the image of anaverage Indian politician was thatof an old man clad in white,delivering long speeches. TheIndian political scene hasundergone a change with young,educated politicians entering thefray. Akhilesh Yadav, the latestentrant, may be an inheritor of apolitical legacy but his energy andenthusiasm in the electioncampaign have set hopes riding onhim.

 As rightly pointed out, Akhileshhas many challenges ahead. Beingthe Chief Minister of one of thelargest and most economicallybackward States is certainly noteasy.

Sudha Hariharan, Bangalore

Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s moveof stepping aside in favour of hisson who scripted the SP’s fabulous victory in U.P. is welcome, even if itis dynastic politics. The youngerYadav’s performance will bezealously watched by the people of the State. He should make abeginning by taking firm actionagainst those who were involved inpost-poll violence in some parts of the State.

J. Akshay, Bangalore

The claim by some that AkhileshYadav won because the SP foughtthe U.P. elections on a “positiveagenda” is inappropriate. The U.P.electorate wanted the BSP out andthe SP, the party with the largestnumber of foot-soldiers, benefited.It was the general anti-incumbency factor, more thananything significant related to

party manifestos or promises, thatbrought the SP to power.

Yugal Joshi, New Delhi 

Even though the “son” in U.P.shines within the democratic fold,one cannot digest the fact that evenafter six decades of independence,the nation is rooted in dynasticpolitics. The erstwhile “maharajas”have been replaced by dynasticpoliticians in almost every State.

BSP leader Mayawati lost agolden opportunity to develop theState as one entity, resulting inother castes moving away from herand exposing her own vulnerablebrethren to atrocities. Whether  Akhilesh will rise above castepolitics, time alone can tell.

 V. Sundararajan,Chennai 

The SP has done a good thing byselecting the 38-year-old Akhilesh

to lead U.P. The young leader hasalready displayed his penchant forprogress with the promise that all

college students will be providedfree laptops, dispelling the belief that the SP is averse to computersand the internet. He has alsodeclared that law and order will bemaintained at any cost, withupright officials in command. Onecan only hope that the young Chief Minister will usher in peace andprogress in U.P.

N.K. Vijayan, Kizhakkambalam

Dynastic succession has become acommon feature in Indian politics.The DMK, the Akali Dal and theShiv Sena which started asmovements have become familyenterprises. About the Congress,the lesser said the better.

So there is nothing surprising inMr. Mulayam Singh passing on themantle to his son. Although Akhilesh has worked for the party,I feel the senior Yadav has acted inhaste. The BSP is still a strong forcein U.P. The BJP may be down nowbut it is a national party. TheCongress is leading the coalition atthe Centre. Most important, thereis dissatisfaction within the SPover Akhilesh becoming Chief Minister. Can the young leadertackle all these challenges?

Karavadi Raghava Rao,Vijayawada

Now that he is set to become theChief Minister of U.P., Akhilesh

Yadav, MP for Kannauj, will haveto resign. There will be a by-election to elect another MP. Whyshould the public bear the cost of the re-election? It is time electorallaws were amended. If a dulyelected person resigns from hisconstituency because he has beenelected from two constituencies, orbecause he wants to contest from

some other constituency, he or hisparty should be made to bear thecost of the re-election.

C.N.N. Nair, Mumbai 

Conviction rateIt is not as if justice is generallydone to all victims of crime andthat the decline in the rate of conviction in rape cases alone issomething to be outraged about(“Prospects of justice for rape victims in free fall,” March 11).

The Indian criminal justicesystem rarely delivers justice. Itprovides employment andopportunities to many, and scopeto harass and intimidate ordinarypeople. The rot started when the jury system was abolished and wasnever reintroduced. Juries havetheir drawbacks but they ensure justice, and a fair and speedy trial.

  As for the higher judiciary, its‘landmark’ decisions have done

little to promote the capacity of thecourts to deliver justice. Thesystem has not done anything

much for the whole population —offenders and victims alike — apoint the media have failed to note.

George Isaac, Kottayam

Indian B-schools  As a guest faculty in many B-schools for 10 years, I find that thecriticism in the article “What they

don’t teach you at Indian B-schools” (March 7) is not justified.Over the last decade, I have seenthe change that has come over thesyllabi, teaching methods,approach of B-schoolmanagements, industryinteractions, and specificprogrammes aimed at enhancingstudent value. As long as theindustry needs are westernised,the process of churning out eligibleemployees will have to follow thewestern pattern. If a change has tocome, it should come from thecorporate level.

You cannot teach traditionalIndian management in B-schoolswhen the outside world expects theincumbents to dress, act andfunction like MNC employees.

J. Raghunathan,Chennai 

Adieu, DravidRahul Dravid’s retirement from

international and domestic firstclass cricket has brought thecurtains down on a glorious

cricketing career that extendedover 16 memorable years. One of the greatest batsmen ever, Draviddid not get his due as he played inthe same generation as SachinTendulkar.

Like his batting technique,Dravid’s on-field behaviour wasexemplary. He will be missed,particularly in the top order

batting line up.Zulfikhar Akram,

 Bangalore

The greater part of Dravid’s careerwas overshadowed by greats likeSachin Tendulkar and Brian Larawith their free flowing style of cricket, which people instantly fellin love with. Dravid epitomised theheart and grit within, but wasrarely in the limelight. This ironywill always question many of us.

Prathik G. Hegde, New Delhi 

Everyone is talking and writingabout Dravid. Overseas playershave said he was not just a greatplayer but a fantastic person. I hadthe privilege of flying Dravid to  various destinations during myflying days with Indian Airlines.Yes, he was always calm and aperfect gentleman. One hopes hewill share his time and talent with

the youth of this country.Elsie Dhas,

Chennai 

Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.inmust carry the fullpostal address and the full name or the name with initials.

...ND-ND

EDITORIAL

TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 2012

8 T HE HIN D U T U E S DA Y, M A RCH 1 3 , 20 1 2

DELHI

 While B.S. Yeddyurappa has reasons to be

pleased by the recent Karnataka High

Court judgment quashing the FIR regis-

tered by the Lokayukta police against

him, he has no cause to be elated. For though the Court

flatly rejected the portion of the Lokayukta report that

indicted him in the illegal mining scam and invalidated

the sanction given by the Governor to prosecute him,

the judgment should not be read as an acquittal, as

some of Mr. Yeddyurappa’s overzealous supporters

have done. The main thrust of the verdict is directed at

what the Court construed as the serious procedural

infirmities in the Lokayukta’s report. It held that the

former Lokayukta, Santosh Hegde, had erred in recom-

mending the initiation of criminal proceedings against

Mr. Yeddyurappa without calling for an explanation

from him as required under Section 9 (3) of the Karna-

taka Lokayukta Act. It also maintained that the portion

of the Lokayukta report that related to the former

Chief Minister was outside the scope of the reference

made to the quasi-judicial body by the Karnataka gov-

ernment under Section 7 (2) of the same Act.

The fact that the High Court objected to the Lokay-

ukta’s report on such broad procedural grounds should

not detract attention from two serious allegations

made against Mr. Yeddyurappa and his kin on the

mining issue. The first relates to the donation of Rs. 10

crore received by a trust managed by his children from

a company with mining interests. The second relates to

the sale proceeds of Rs. 20 crore received by his kin

from another such company for a piece of land said to

be worth only a fraction of the paid amount. The fact

that these transactions took place is not contested. The

Karnataka High Court may be correct in pointing out

that there is no evidence to show that Mr. Yeddyurappa

— who was neither Chief Minister nor Minister for

Mines when these companies received their leases —

did anything to favour them. But surely no one can

deny that the facts scream out for a full-fledged in-

  vestigation that satisfactorily explains these myste-

rious payments. If the BJP is not in a hurry to reinstate

Mr. Yeddyurappa as Chief Minister, it is because the

party is aware that he is not out of the woods yet. The

Karnataka High Court judgment could be challenged in

the Supreme Court and there are other cases pending

against him. More importantly, it is possible that the

Central Empowered Committee (CEC), which was ap-

pointed by the Supreme Court to probe illegal mining

in Karnataka, may indict him in its report or even go as

far as recommending a CBI investigation into Mr. Yed-

dyurappa’s role — something the State government has

opposed. Temporary reprieve? Yes. A permanent re-

lease? No.

Not out of the

 woods yet

Since 2008-09, the rate of growth of the Indian economy has slowed. Asthis has followed quite closely theevolution of the global financial cri-

sis, and coincides with the slowing of theworld economy, it has encouraged the belief that India’s woes are explained away by ref-erence to the global trend. This is unfound-ed. First, following quite a sharp decline in2008-09, the economy made a smart recov-ery and in the two succeeding years has

grown at rates over 8 per cent per annum.This suggests the slowing of the world econ-omy had only a temporary impact on thedomestic one.

Moreover, according to the IMF’s WorldEconomic Outlook released in January, theworld economy grew by 5 per cent in 2010.This is one of the highest rates of growthregistered in recent years, and compares fa-  vourably with the levels registered in theperiod immediately before the crisis. Wemay also note that over the period April-January in the current financial year, thegrowth of exports exceeded 23 per cent com-pared to 10 per cent for the same period inthe previous financial year. Thus it would bedifficult to attribute the slowing of the Indi-an economy over the past two years, in par-ticular in the year drawing to a close, tofactors external to it.

It is not difficult to track down the princi-pal causes of the current slowing of India’seconomy. Actually, we need look no furtherthan the performance of agriculture and therecord of public investment in recent years.Following rapid growth in 2007-08, agricul-

tural production declined for two years con-secutively since. It may have recovered in2011-12, but the impact of a supply shock islikely to be spread out over time. Also, itsinfluence is felt in ways other than via theeasily understood supply and demand link-ages that the agricultural sector has with therest of the economy.

Declining public investment

Next, let us look at the role of public in- vestment. Gross fixed capital formation as ashare of economy-wide GDP has remainedmore or less constant since 2007-08. This isin sharp contrast to the record of publicinvestment in the five years of very highgrowth over 2003-08. During this period,public capital formation grew faster than inany five-year interval since the 1950s. Thissuggests a relatively unsung role for the pub-

lic sector during the high-growth phase thatwas the tenure of UPA I. Studying moreclosely the history of this phase suggests thatdeclining public investment has somethingto do with the subsequent slowing.

Capital formation

The role of public capital formation in thefuture of the economy deserves far greaterattention than it has received. Since 1991, the

whole approach to the question has gotmired in the zeal that has accompanied theargument for reforms, construing it as mere-ly liberalisation of the economy. However, itcan hardly be anyone’s case that we haveenough of roads and sidewalks or electricitygenerating capacity or even  pucca  schoolbuildings. There is reason to believe that forthe foreseeable future these will largely haveto be provided by the public sector. Howev-er, there is the crucial question of how this isto be financed when the government is debt-strapped. I shall turn to this after consid-ering the indirect impact on growth of thetwo years of stagnant agriculture alluded to.

The direct impact of agricultural growthfeeds through to the rest of the economy viasupply and demand linkages. Then there arethe roundabout effects that can be as power-ful. When food production grows at a slower

rate than the demand for food, the relativeprice of food increases and inflation results.

 We have experienced such inflation for closeto two years now. Such inflation gets gener-alised across the economy via rising wages inthe rest of the economy. In due course, it canlead to a depreciation of the exchange rate,which raises the cost of imported goods, in-cluding that of oil. This raises the cost of transportation, contributing to a further risein the price of food. With this, the cycle of price rise is renewed. Now growth in thenon-agricultural sector slows. This followsdirectly from the fact that the necessarilyrising expenditure on food in fixed-incomehouseholds crowds out expenditure on othergoods and services. The slowing of non-agri-cultural growth can ameliorate inflation as itchokes off the demand for food. This is theprecise sequence of events that we have wit-nessed over the past two years, with manu-facturing output growth almost grinding to ahalt in the last quarter.

Our diagnosis of the causes underlying theslowing of the Indian economy brings alongwith it the obvious solutions. As I have em-phasised agriculture and public investment,I shall stick with these. This does not mean

that other factors are irrelevant, only that Iam being faithful to the parsimony of myexplanation of recent growth. When dealingwith an agricultural shortfall, we need tofirst acknowledge that there are no shortcuts, and that the project of making a dent isa long-term one. Public policy towards agri-culture would have to address two issues.First, at 7.7 per cent of the total, gross capitalformation appears far too low for a sectoralready groaning under inadequate infras-tructure. And though we would be right toexpect private investment to increase, publiccapital formation often acts as a catalyst tothe former. This is so as the public sectoralone provides the public goods essential forsustained growth.

However, even as we consider the bearingon growth of increasing public capital for-mation, it is important to face up to the

finding of a rising incremental capital-out-put ratio in agriculture. Apparently wastethrives despite the rhetoric of the reforms.Evidently, it is one thing to build rural roadsand irrigation networks but it is an altogeth-er different matter to get them to work effi-ciently. The inescapable inference is thatgovernance is central to growth. In fact, thefuture of economic growth in India is goingto be determined by the quality of publicintervention. For all the sound and the furythat it may be expected to generate, theforthcoming Union budget can do very little

in this regard.There is nevertheless a sense in which

future budgets will continue to matter. Wehave already referred to the importance of sustained capital formation. It has beenflagged for some time now that public capitalformation by the Central government is be-ing crowded out by producer and consumersubsidies. Among the former are the fertilis-er subsidy and among the latter is food andfuel. Even before curbing the deficit, fiscalcorrection ought to take the form of main-taining or even increasing the food subsidywhere it is merited while gradually el iminat-ing all others. The funds thus freed up maybe directed towards capital expenditure. Thefact is that India has not yet completed itsagricultural transformation, the hallmark of which is that food is made cheaper and ex-pands the market for other goods. Note thatproducer subsidies in agriculture have notmade any difference here. Actually, they mayhave held up the necessary transformation.

Continuing opportunities

The slowing of the world economy does

not imply that India should give up on lev-eraging global demand to move its economyforward. Opportunities continue to exist, asseen from the reported growth by 33 per centso far in 2011-12 of a relative newcomeramong India’s IT firms. But at the same time,the writing on the wall is that India can nolonger afford to ignore domestic demand. Torespond smartly to this imperative wouldrequire a change in the mindset of its pol-isariat. So far, its approach appears to havebeen to focus on a limited aspect of thesupply-side, namely, the incentives faced byproducers. But by now it is emerging that if we want to grow at rates that we have gotused to, we must broadbase and grow theinternal market.

(Pulapre Balakrishnan may be reached at www.pulaprebalakrishnan.in) 

Looking beyond the global slowdownPulapre Balakrishnan The forthcoming Union budget must focus

on generating internal demand, and the wayto do this is to use public investment andcapital expenditure to help India completeits agricultural transformation.

 A s the movement demanding a homeland for

the Bodo people completes 25 years, it re-

mains one of the most serious potential

sources of violent political confrontation in

northeastern India. The Bodoland Autonomous Coun-cil that came out of the first tripartite Bodo Accord of 

1993, and the Bodoland Territorial Council that the

second tripartite Bodo Accord of 2003 spawned, have

admittedly failed to meet the political aspirations of 

the movement’s leadership. These involve the consti-

tution of a state comprising nearly a third of Assam —

although the agitationists’ war-cryhas been to “Divide

  Assam 50-50.” The futility of, and the contradictions

involved in, seeking the formation of separate states as

a means to meet sub-national aspirations is once again

in focus here. Yet another territorial division of Assam

is inconceivable. It certainly cannot be done with the

ease with which splits could be effected in the 1960s

and 1970s. Even admitting the historical grievances

behind the cultural-political rebellions among the

State’s “tribal communities” — and the poignancy of 

the Bodo cause stemming from their perception of 

themselves as a part of the composite “indigenous”

population of Assam that has been overrun — the

Bodoland demand faces singular imponderables. The

most serious of these may well be the perversions that

set in under the movement’s umbrella, particularly thetactic of extortionist violence. This has undermined its

ideological moorings. Thus, it is fruitless in the present

context to dwell any more on the feasibility of a sep-

arate political entity for Bodos.

Under Sheikh Hasina, Dhaka has also done its bit to

stem Bodo militancy. The handing over in 2010 of 

Ranjan Daimary, who led the National Democratic

Front for Bodoland, was a signal to all insurgents in the

region that Bangladesh would no more be a sanctuary.

  At a point when the government’s sustained and ag-

gressive security strategies, coupled with a push and a

shove from across the border, have virtually broken the

back of the other regional scourge of ULFA, the State

and Central governments should wake up to the new

threat — however empty it may sound — held out by the

Bodo agitators at their meeting in Kamrup district on

March 2 under the banner of the All Bodo Students’

Union to breathe new life into their campaign. The

dying embers should be doused by means of a system-

atic and sustained strategy that also helps meet the

genuine developmental needs of the Bodo people. Yet,

scepticism about the Centre’s perspective on the long-term problems of the region persists. A coherent policy,

not ad-hocism, should be the hallmark of its approach.

Bodoland ata crossroads

CARTOONSCAPE