Globalisation and Development
by Sunanda Sen
National Book Trust, 2007
"The United States completely rejects," the US representative to the Asia Development Bank imperiously stated in 1985, "the idea that there is such a thing as 'development economics'." This was an unabashed volte-face from the 1940s, when a triumphant US had coined the idea of 'development.'
In fact, after 60 years of independence and 16 years of economic reforms, India continues to spiral into an abyss of de-development. Its human-development-index numbers have slipped to 128th out of 177 countries; 80 percent of the population is living below the per-capita income of INR 100 a day; half of its children are malnourished, while an even larger proportion suffers from anaemia.
Meanwhile, corporate-led market forces are working overtime to skew the distribution of income, wealth and opportunity even further. But India's elites are slow to learn. 'India Shining' remains the slogan of the hour when they argue that economic globalisation is the solution to India's 'development' issues. In reality, large swathes of India are dying – and globalisation is clearly part of the problem, not the solution.