'Govt. abdicating its role'

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 11. In the liberalisation and empowerment era beginning the 1990s, the credibility of the State as an institution has not only ``eroded'' but also the Government appears to be ``abdicating'' its role in reconciling economic and political democracy, the Delhi University Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Deepak Nayyar, said here today.

``In India, the Governmental system is increasingly being used to further, sometimes crudely and openly, the interests of powerful individuals through corruption and nepotism,'' Prof. Nayyar said. He was delivering the Sixth Prem Bhatia Memorial Lecture on ``Democracy and Development: The Indian Experience''.

``In this milieu, people with money lobby hard and exercise influence in pursuit of their interests. But people without money do not have the voice or the resources to support their cause. Thus the desire of the State to mediate surfaces only in the election season. Its ability to mediate is constrained by the spread of markets and march of globalisation,'' he said.

This process, Prof. Nayyar asserted, is not only eroding the autonomy of the nation-state in the international context but is also creating a situation where the political process is losing control over the economy in the national context.

Prof. Nayyar contended that there was no consensus on the economic reforms, as it did not have any acceptance at the level of people, most of whom are poor or silent and thus unheard. ``Such a consensus exists only among the rich, literati and influential. It extends to most political leaders whose discourse on economy has come to be strongly influenced by a virus of liberalisation without understanding although not to the rank and file of most political parties,'' he said.

``In the sphere of economics, the preoccupation with adjustment or reform leads to confusion between tactics and strategies or means and ends in the minds of Governments. In the realm of politics, where Governments are no longer sure about their tenure, a visible myopia has crept in,'' he said.

``In this milieu, political parties and political leaders can think only about the next month or next year or at the most next elections. The next quinquennium or the next decade is simply irrelevant. Such short-termism leads to a neglect of long-term development objectives,'' Prof. Nayyar said.

Commenting on globalisation, he said this had introduced a new dimension to the exclusion of the common man from consumption possibilities, which only creates frustration and alienation.

Earlier, Mr. Sankarshan Thakur, Associate Editor of The Indian Express, was presented the Prem Bhatia Award for 2001 for excellence in political reporting. Three other journalists, Ms. Sangeeta Sharma of The Pioneer, Ms. Indira of The Hindustan Times, and Ms. Devyani Bhadwarj of Rajasthan Patrika, were awarded the Prem Bhatia Fellowships.

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