14 WEDNESDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2019

NEW DELHI VIEWS

OUR VIEW MY VIEW | ARTHANOMICS

WASEEM ANDRABI/HT

Sub-optimal philanthropy is
not the answer to inequality
Corporations and the wealthy need to make larger contributions to bring about a material change

use when eight out of 10 will not survive
five years. Allotting 1% of your time to
charity work is roughly three to four
days a year. This volunteerism may be
useful for some causes that could use
freelance work, but it is little more than
tokenism. Giving 1% of your products
may make no sense in an era when most
tech products are free for users anyway
R. JAGANNATHAN (consider Gmail, Google Maps and free
is editorial director, ‘Swarajya’ magazine apps), and the products you develop
may not be relevant to the poor, who are
the intended beneficiaries.
In India, even a high profit-earning
tries did even this, and soon, this too
evaporated.
If one had to choose between the Buf-
fett-Gates-Premji and Benioff-Tata-In-
fosys models of giving, the former wins
hands down. The advantage of the Ben-
ioff model is that it asks people to start
small and give as much as they can. This
is not to be rubbished. However, sub-
optimal contributions can’t do much to
reduce inequality in any country. If at all
charity by the rich is to work, it is profit-
able companies and the super-rich who
need to start giving in a big way.

It’s time to widen the

company like Infosys gives 1% of its net The reality is that startups make their
profits to charity, but one can hardly best contribution merely by being

O
ver the past decade, many busi- think of this as making a substantial there. Even though many will not live to
nessmen and super-rich indi- dent on any kind of inequality. The see their fifth birthdays, while they are
viduals have had attacks of Tatas have been keeping large chunks around, they are the ones creating a

valley’s welcome mat conscience over growing inequality. In

2010, Warren Buffett and Bill and Mel-
inda Gates created The Giving Pledge to
get billionaires to commit over half
of group equity in Tata Sons, whose
dividends go substantially to charity.
But in an era when Tata Sons is also a
holding company that needs to invest in
large number of jobs. That is even better
than charity.
One US study by John Haltiwanger,
Ron Jarmin and Javier Miranda found
their wealth to charity. To date, 204 bil- equity, or write off losses in group com- that startups accounted for only 3% of
lionaires have signed up. panies, the total quantity available for employment, but almost 20% of gross
It’s a good sign that the Centre is letting lawmakers from abroad visit Kashmir to assess the A parallel movement, called charity is again likely to be sub-optimal. job creation. In short, the real contribu-
Pledge1%, one supported vociferously One should ask whether shares tion of startups to society lies in the jobs
situation. To win favourable opinion globally, however, we should invite the most sceptical by another billionaire, Marc Benioff of intended to generate money for charity they create while they exist, and not in
salesforce.com, a company valued by the ought to be part of the promoters’ con- contributing 1% of their equity to char-
stock market at around $135 billion, has trolling stake. In this case, charity and ity.
tried to extend such an oath even to control serve divergent purposes. It is alright to talk of a shift from

I
t is a measure of the government’s
acknowledgement of global concern over
Kashmir that it has slowly begun to lift the
veil over the valley. Accordingly, a group
of 23 members of European Parliament
landed in Srinagar on Tuesday to assess
the ground situation. This visit is not official, as
it has taken place at the initiative of a non-gov-
ernmental body, though it’s clearly under the
Centre’s auspices. It comes roughly a dozen
weeks after Jammu and Kashmir’s official
autonomy on internal matters was revoked
and a legislative push was made to split the
state into two Union territories—set to take
effect on Thursday. In the period that has
elapsed since the 5 August announcement of
the state’s revised status, the Valley has been
under a lockdown, with clamps on local inter-
actions. Landline and postpaid phone services,
snapped off at first, have been restored, but
internet access is still barred and several Kash-
miri leaders remain in detention. News has
been scarce and suspicions high. While India’s
move to fully integrate the state has found pop-
bigger apprehension, however, that does need people who are not billionaires. The Perhaps the one Indian billionaire shareholder capitalism to stakeholder
to be addressed. This relates to the alleged idea is to commit people to giving 1% of who has indeed moved the needle on capitalism, wherein corporations do not
their equity, time, products or profits to contributions is Azim Premji, who, think of maximizing returns only for
selectivity exercised in issuing invitations. charity, thus taking the idea even to while retaining voting control of Wipro, equity owners, but we need to avoid the
Opposition parties have protested the Euro- startups that may not have generated has transferred two-thirds of the eco- pitfalls of treating minor contributions
pean Union (EU) group’s visit, asking why the their first dollar in profit. nomic benefits of his shareholding to as worthy of emulation. Corporate and
same courtesy has not been extended to Indian There is no doubt that capitalism and charitable activities. This makes a dif- super-rich philanthropy need larger
parliamentarians. Concerns have also been capitalists will need to become more ference, though in such cases too the contributions, and not small sub-opti-
conscientious about giving large parts question is how long a promoter can mal donations that make no difference
expressed over the composition of the group, of their incomes and wealth away if gov- retain control without substantial eco- at all to inequality and deprivation.
which is alleged to be too rightist to represent a ernments are not to make laws to snatch nomic ownership too. Shareholders and Perhaps The Giving Pledge could be
full spectrum of Europe. Reports say that the them away. However, they also need to those in control ought to have conver- expanded to leave not only 50%-plus of
contingent is smaller than the original number realize that giving small bits of wealth is gent economic interests for shareholder one’s wealth to charity, but also an equal
invited. Chris Davies, a Liberal Democrat from not going to move the needle on ine- capitalism to work well. proportion of one’s current income, if
quality. While The Giving Pledge is One can also go back to an earlier era sizeable. This will help reduce inequal-
the UK and a member of the EU parliament, broadly on the right track, since the of global giving by governments, when ity, especially if these contributions
has reportedly claimed his welcome was with- amounts pledged would at least top cur- the World Bank and its soft-lending exceed the taxes that have to be paid on
drawn after he sought permission to move rent inheritance taxes in most countries arm, the International Development income, wealth and inheritance.
around on his own and speak freely to people which have them, the Pledge1% move- Association, exhorted rich countries to True charity is charity only if it sub-
without an escort. Such statements from ment is clearly sub-optimal. give 1% of their GDP as official develop- stantially exceeds current levels of taxes
Giving 1% of a startup’s equity is no ment assistance to the poor. Few coun- payable.
foreign lawmakers do little for what New Delhi
hopes to achieve.
India cannot avert global attention. This is
clear from a hearing on human rights in South
Asia held recently by the United States Foreign
Affairs Committee and a rare discussion held
by the European Parliament’s Committee on www.livemint.com New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Chandigarh*, Pune* Friday, October 30, 2009 Vol.3 No.259 Rs. 3.00 24 PAGES
+ 12 PAGES MARKETS WATCH

ular approval within the country and been Foreign Affairs in Brussels. Both touched upon CORPORATE: Sanjay Jha positions
Motorola for a rebound >19
WSJ: Economic downturn sinks H-1B

explained at various global forums, the rest of freedoms in Kashmir. This in itself does not EXCLUSIVE PARTNER
visa programme
ECONOMY: States oppose abolition of VAT
on domestic sales from SEZs >4
>17

the world, exposed to Pakistan’s fulminations mean New Delhi’s outreach effort is faltering.
SENSEX 16,052.72 æ 230.77 NIFTY 4,750.55 æ 75.60 DOLLAR Rs47.20 æ Re0.15 EURO Rs69.78 æ Re0.16 GOLD Rs15,910 Æ Rs10 OIL $77.41 Æ $0.89

DOWN 6.4%
US economy
What’s inside back on track;
RIL profit hit by
over it, appears to have reserved its judgement But doubts do linger over India’s narrative, and IMF raises
If you’re in the luckiest 1%
If the board of the UK-based Standard Chartered and the
Securities and Exchange Board of India approve the
bank’s proposal to issue Indian depository receipts, it will
Asia forecast
lowrefiningmargin
be the first foreign entity to list in India. It would also be
a test case of Indian investor demand for shares in an
overseas firm. >P4 B Y C ATHERINE R AMPELL
feedback@livemint.com
CORPORATE EARNINGS ·························

for the time being. This being the case, it is a so it’s crucial to engage those who are most
DLF
Developer DLF Ltd’s second quarter profit fell 77% to A year after its worst tumble
in more than seven dec-

of humanity, you owe it

Rs440 crore. Revenue fell 51.66% to Rs1,810 crore. >P9 Profit fell to Rs3,852 cr with street expectations, was bu- ades, the US economy could be

MAHINDRA AND MAHINDRA from Rs4,116 cr oyed by a fourfold increase in

other income to Rs628 crore, up
back on its feet.
The US department of com-
For the September quarter, M&M reported a 241% rise in a year earlier in the from Rs151 crore last year. Other merce said on Thursday that
its stand-alone net profit to Rs702.9 crore. >P8 September quarter; income is earned from activities the world’s largest economy
other than the normal business expanded from July through
GRASIM INDUSTRIES sales grew by 4.8% operations of a firm. September, after shrinking for

good idea to have elected representatives visit sceptical of it. It would help to invite a wide
Grasim Industries posted a 61% rise in September quarter The conglomerate said net four quarters in a row, a sign
profit to Rs674 crore from Rs419 crore a year ago. >P9 B Y B HUMA S HRIVASTAVA sales rose 4.8% to Rs46,848 that the recession in that coun-
bhuma.s@livemint.com crore from Rs44,688 crore, the try could be over.
OIL AND NATURAL GAS ························· bulk of it contributed by the oil The news came on a day

to the rest of humanity to

MUMBAI
ONGC reported a 5.8% increase in second quarter profit
to Rs5,090 crore from Rs4,810 crore a year earlier. >P9
I ndia’s most valuable com-
pany, Reliance Industries
Ltd (RIL) posted a 6.4% dip
in net profit for the July-Sep-
and gas segment. when the International Mone-
A poll of seven domestic and
foreign brokerages by Mint had
estimated a profit after tax of
Rs3,758.76 crore and revenue of
tary Fund, or IMF, provided
further cause for cheer. The
multilateral lender raised its
growth forecast for Asia in

Kashmir and check for themselves. cross-section of leaders both within and out-
tember quarter, hit by low refin-
ing margins, reduced exports
and higher tax provisioning.
The Mukesh Ambani-control-
led company said on Thursday
that profit fell to Rs3,852 crore
Rs45,827.25 crore, after factor- 2010, even as it warned that
ing in subdued refining margins the continent’s economic for-
and the slower-than-expected tunes were linked to the health
ramp-up of gas production from of the world economy.
RIL’s D6 block in the Krishna- Wall Street welcomed the
Godavari (KG) basin. Analysts strong US growth figures. The

think about the other 99%.

for the quarter ended 30 Septem- had predicted RIL’s gross refin- benchmark Dow Jones Indus-
ber from Rs4,116 crore a year Down time: Reliance Industries trial Average was up 82.90
CORPORATE NEWS ECONOMY & POLITICS earlier. The profit, largely in line TURN TO PAGE 3® chairman Mukesh Ambani. points at 8.20pm Indian time, a

One worry was that terror groups might see side India. Members of the US Congress who
A Starcom MediaVest study Unconditional protection- rise of 0.85%. India’s 30-share
says the Indian consumer ism in the shipping sector Sensex closed down 230.77
does not buy smart, though will lead to cartelization LOKA BHARATHI/NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OCEANOGRAPHY points in a fourth straight day
he matches his Asian coun-
terparts in cutting down
and monopoly, which will
help only the shipowners, Ranbaxy eyes of losses across Asia.
“At this stage the numbers
spending.
***
>P6

Tata Teleservices will con-

says P. Manoj.
***
In a bid to avert a second
>P4
acquisitions to are just going to tell you the re-
cession is over, and now the

tinue to invest in expand- pilots’ strike, Air India

stay leader, TURN TO BACK PAGE ®

in such high-profile visits a chance to strike requested a valley visit and were asked to wait,
ing the telecom tower busi- has agreed to pay its
ness of subsidiary Wireless
TT Info-Services despite
employees unpaid
performance-linked incen- Sobti says
having sold a 46% stake in
it and given up control to
tives by 10 November,
even as its pilots said Methane is a
the Kanoria family. The
promoters will together in-
they will decide on pulling
back from possible
mint INTERVIEW bigger villain,
fuse Rs500 crore through a industrial action on 1
US study says

and discredit claims of normalcy in the state. for example, could be asked to fly down; diplo-
rights issue by the firm. >P6 November. >P5 B Y R ADHIEKA P ANDEYA

WA R R E N BU F F E T T
radhieka.p@livemint.com
VIEWS ························· B Y J ACOB P . K OSHY
Humans are pessimis- NEW DELHI
tic creatures, but we jacob.k@livemint.com
seem to have a spe-
cies-wide inability to A lthough its troubles with
the US Food and Drug The hunt: Marine sampling in progress in the Indian Ocean.
·························
NEW DELHI

deal with plans and

projects that have a
Administration (FDA) aren’t
over yet, India’s biggest drug
maker Ranbaxy Laboratories
DEEP-SEA CENSUS T he potency of methane, a
greenhouse gas (GHG),
has been underestimated by
low chance of suc-

On Tuesday, for example, terrorists did open mats and foreign journalists, too. Some of the The Indian angle to
ceeding, says Sidin Ltd, controlled by Japan’s Dai- nearly a third in global climate
Vadukut. >P22 ichi Sankyo Co., has posted agreements such as the Kyoto
improved quarterly earnings Protocol, say scientists at
for the first time in a year. Bu- Columbia University and

QUICK EDIT
oyed by the revival, Atul Sobti,
chief executive officer and
managing director, says in an
world’s marine map Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight
Center in the US.
That miscalculation has oc-
interview that his company is curred because climate model-

US economy revs up eyeing acquisitions in India. B Y A KSHAI J AIN A database with detailed infor- ling studies, which provide the

fire at Indian security personnel at a school in gloom they might encounter would be eco-
Edited excerpts: akshai.j@livemint.com mation on at least 15,000 spe- scientific basis for limiting cer-
························· cies from India’s coasts is now tain gases, have not accounted

T hat the world’s largest

economy has grown 3.5%
in the July-September quarter,
Consider also that the US
Federal Reserve has given no
indication of ceasing its
Your India business has been lag-
ging for a while. Do you plan any
business remodelling? Ranbaxy is
NEW DELHI

T ill a few years ago, the In-

as data released on Thursday
shows, is no small thing. But
such a quick rebound is
perhaps only testament to the
monetary accommodation.
With 5.8 million Americans
still on unemployment aid, a
central bank committed to full
aggressively planning acquisitions
in India, we hear.
Well, of all the places we are
aggressive in, India has to be
dian contribution to ma-
rine life databases was mini-
mal. But if you were to trawl
through one today, you’ll come
across a slew of unmistakably
accessible on the Internet. It
even has DNA fingerprints or
“barcodes” for at least 200 spe-
cies of zooplankton, barnacles,
shrimp and fish.
At least 30 new species, from
mites and predatory marine
for the role of aerosols—fine
particles suspended in the
air—in driving global warm-
ing.
The findings are significant
because scientists and experts
in India say that including the

Pulwama, but New Delhi should make it clear nomic. J&K needs a revival of commerce. For
wartime skills of US
authorities. Managing the
peace will certainly be
trickier.
Motor vehicle output added
1.66 percentage points to the
last quarter’s output change,
courtesy Barack Obama’s
“cash for clunkers” scheme
employment may extend these
easy policies. And it will take
time for a turnaround in
output to help labour markets.
Factor in the little tidbit
that the US has a printing
press like none other at its
disposal, and suddenly there’s
the fearful image of a US
aggressive. I would not use the
term aggressive anywhere else.
I think for a leading company
it’s very important to be a
leader at home. So to that ex-
tent, resource-wise, market-
ing-wise, manpower-wise,
whatever it takes, we have tak-
en a conscious decision to do
“Indian” names such as
Krohnitta balagopali and Sag-
itta meenakshiae, predatory
worms named by their discov-
erer Vijayalakshmi Nair after
her children; Kochimysis pil-
laii, a shrimp-like creature
found in the backwaters of Ko-
chi; and Hylascus andamanen-
worms to crabs that live
around undersea volcanic
vents, have been discovered in
the five years that the secretar-
iat of the Indian Ocean Census
of Marine Life (IO-CoML) has
been in operation.
The results of the Census of
Marine Life (CoML), the first
effects of aerosols in global
warming projections could
make it tougher for Indian ne-
gotiators at climate talks. To be
sure, this would affect India
only if the terms of debate on
climate change, arrived at in
Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, are al-
tered to allow for the research

that such attempts to thwart its plans will not that, it needs prospective investors visiting as
that spends $3 billion to get leader claiming “Mission that and part of that answer sis, a deep-sea sponge discov- and most comprehensive sur- results’ findings that aerosols
Americans to trade in an old Accomplished” aboard an could be inorganic growth. ered in the Andaman Sea. vey of the world’s marine life, do indeed increase the poten-
car for a new one. aircraft carrier. How much would Ranbaxy be will- You won’t have to have to are going to be out in October cy of methane.
flip through obscure academic
Mint is also available for Rs5.50 with Hindustan Times under a combo offer TURN TO PAGE 2® journals to get to them either. TURN TO PAGE 3® TURN TO BACK PAGE ®

work. Visits must and will go on. There is a well. It’s time to widen the welcome mat.

MY VIEW | EX MACHINA

We need a balanced approach to internet takedowns

the #TeamTrees campaign is successful, it
RAHUL MATTHAN will be just another in a long line of viral
social movements that have been made pos-
sible by the global reach of the internet.
As much as the internet is a blessing, the
fact that it can be accessed from everywhere
The judgment was delivered in a case filed ordered to disable access to it must do so because they can does not mean they should.
by Swami Ramdev against Facebook, Goo- completely. If the content is only removed Our courts have always operated with
gle, YouTube, and Twitter, seeking the from the Indian websites of the defendants, restraint, only taking proportionate action
removal of allegedly defamatory material it would still be accessible from India, not when necessary. They should demonstrate
and videos from their services. None of the only through virtual private networks and the same restraint while ordering the take-
platforms objected to disabling access to the other technical measures, but also by simply down of offensive content on the internet.

T
his Saturday, a YouTuber called
MrBeast released a video that went
viral around the world. To celebrate
crossing 20 million subscribers, he vowed to
plant 20 million trees by 1 January 2020.
That’s 20 million trees in just over two
months, a feat that is humanly impossible.
But MrBeast is no ordinary person. He is part
gives rise to conflicts between national laws
that are hard to reconcile. The very concept
of an international network, through which
data flows unimpeded between countries,
threatens traditional notions of sovereignty,
challenging courts and governments to find
new ways in which to enforce local laws while
still availing themselves of the benefits of the
content in India. However, they all resisted accessing the international websites of these Undeniably reprehensible material, such as
the request for a global platforms. Issues of a com- child pornography and extreme acts of vio-
takedown, arguing that ity of courts, conflict of lence, should be taken down everywhere in
laws vary from country to Our courts laws, and restraints on the the world. However, for everything else, we
country and that India right to freedom of speech should offer other countries the courtesy of
should not insist that its should observe and expression need to be being able to deal with it within their terri-
decision be followed in balanced against the rights tory, according to their own standards.
other jurisdictions. If the
restraint while of privacy, reputation of a If we fail to appreciate nuances such as

is a partner at Trilegal and

of an elite group of social media influencers
whose every utterance reaches millions. So,
author of ‘Privacy 3.0: Unlocking
Our Data Driven Future’
MrBeast reached out to dozens of other
influencers like him to rally them to his
cause. They all put out videos for their fol-
lowers to get the message pushed out, and
within 24 hours, his website—team-
trees.org—had secured commitments to
plant 3.5 million trees. At the time of writing
this, that number has crossed 6 million.
There has never before existed a platform
for global social change quite like the inter-
net. It defies national borders and regional
differences, and, now that video has become
the primary medium of communication, has
torn down cultural and linguistic barriers. If
network. As the stakes have grown higher,
governments have allowed their frustration
to show, imposing regulations such as data
localization and requiring decryption of
encrypted traffic to wrest back some control.
Last week, the Delhi High Court ordered
three of the largest technology companies of
the world to take down offensive content,
not just in India but globally as well. This is
not the first time that Indian courts have
issued orders with extra-territorial conse-
quences, but rarely ever have they required
intermediaries to ensure that the content in
question is not just placed beyond the reach
of all in India, but asked for it to be expunged
completely from servers everywhere.
defendants were to com-
ply, they could be accused
ordering the citizen, national security,
national integrity, and
these, we would end up curtailing our ability
to benefit from all that the internet has to
of violating the laws of the
other countries in which
removal of threats to sovereignty. The
only exception to this rule
offer us.
The #TeamTree campaign demonstrates
they operate. They argued offensive is if the content is uploaded just how powerful the internet can be in
that if global takedowns from outside India, in effecting change on a planetary scale. How-
like this became the norm, internet content which case geoblocking ever, global campaigns like this could easily
it would give rise to forum would be appropriate. run afoul of national and local regulations.
shopping, with litigants This logic is flawed. People who put them together rarely have
hunting for jurisdictions with the least toler- India does not have the right to dictate how the wherewithal to review the regulations
ance, reducing free speech on the internet to other countries should deal with data simply that prevail around the world, or mobilize
its lowest common denominator. because that data was uploaded to the inter- sufficient legal resources to deal with chal-
Justice Prathiba Singh rejected these net from within the country’s borders. I am lenges. If they are subjected to global take-
arguments, ruling that whenever unlawful not questioning the authority of Indian down orders, the likes of which have been
content is uploaded to the internet from courts to issue, where appropriate, orders issued by the Delhi High Court, they will
within India, the intermediaries that are that have a global effect. However, just have no option but to fold up.
 VIEWS WEDNESDAY, 30 OCTOBER 2019
NEW DELHI 15

MY VIEW | CAFE ECONOMICS G LO B A L VO I C E S

The relevance of an old debate V

Putin should have better things to do
ladimir Putin’s popularity among Russians may not be what it once was, but
despite a slowing economy he still enjoys unchallenged popular support. Why,

to the economic scenario today then, do his security forces deem it necessary to crack down on the most obscure
instances of perceived dissidence? Why arrest and send to Siberia a self-styled sha-
man who was walking across Russia to “exorcise” Mr. Putin? These cases were
among several cited by Andrew Higgins in a report in The Times last week on inten-
sified repression of critics of the Russian government as Mr. Putin enters the final
four and a half years of what is supposed to be his final term. That could explain a
We face a contemporary version of a ‘home market problem’ that stirred a debate on our thin consumption base decades ago certain jumpiness among the various forces of bureaucracy and security through
which he wields his power. But that is still a few years off. There may also be more
pressing concerns for the Kremlin as the economy flattens under the pressure of
MINT fallen oil prices, Western sanctions and extravagant military spending... It is impos-
sible to know whether Mr. Putin is planning to cede power peacefully in 2024.
But if he is at all interested in his legacy, he would be wise to show his people that
he is doing something about their plight, which might mean extracting Russia from
the costly adventures he has pursued in eastern Ukraine and Syria. And he might
focus more on rebuilding the economy than on mucking around in foreign elec-
tions and allowing his goons to prey on harmless shamans and thoughtful reporters.
The New York Times

NIRANJAN RAJADHYAKSHA
is a member of the academic board of the The caliph is gone but the threat isn’t
Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics

T he death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, commander of the Islamic State (IS) group,
killed last weekend during a U.S. military operation in Syria, is a victory for the
forces of stability and sanity. However, the threat of the extremist group has not
ended. That will happen only when a genuine structure of peace and order is cre-
ated in the volatile Middle East. That future is a long way away. IS remains a potent
insurgent force, with cells in 14 provinces or countries and an estimated tens of

E
conomics is a discipline without a good
sense of its own history. This is unfortu-
nate because the past can often illumi-
nate the present, especially in times of
trouble. For example, it was only when
the inadequacy of the dominant view
became evident after 2008 that economists began
to reach for the wisdom of older masters such as
John Maynard Keynes, Michal Kalecki, Irving
Fisher and Hyman Minsky. The selective amnesia
is one reason why this column tends to wander off
into history every now and then.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of a paper
by Sukhamoy Chakravarty that should resonate
in current debates about the Indian economy.
Chakravarty was, by all accounts, one of the most
brilliant minds of his era, who straddled the worlds
of theory and practice. His theoretical work on
how much a country should optimally save was as
important as his modelling for the Fifth Five-Year
Plan. As Paul Samuelson wrote in the foreword to
one of the most celebrated books by Chakravarty,
on development planning: “What makes for a
beautiful problem in science? It may be logical
beauty: proof that the set of prime numbers cannot
be finite... is as aesthetically neat in our times as it
was in Euclid’s. But a problem takes on extra lustre
if, in addition to its logical elegance, it provides
useful knowledge. By the above test, we must
judge Professor Chakravarty’s book to be
fascinating.”
Forty years ago, Chakravarty wrote a paper titled
On The Question Of Home Market And The Prospects
of Indian Growth. Several of its insights connect to
the current debates on the Indian economic slow-
down, and especially whether the loss of momen-
tum is because of supply rigidities or aggregate
demand weakness.
The original Nehruvian growth strategy was to
focus on the supply side of the economy. The early
plans argued that India needed rapid economic
growth to roll back the scourge of mass poverty.
To do that, it had to ease constraints on the supply
side—a domestic savings constraint, a foreign
exchange constraint, a food constraint, and an
energy constraint.
India had initial success, but economic growth
slowed down after 1965. Part of the reason was
a problem inherent in an investment strategy
directed by the state. The Indian government had
decided to focus on building heavy industry first
to give the country strategic depth as well as to
produce machines that would eventually help
increase the output of consumer goods. There was
also bad luck. The Indian economy was also hit by a
series of exogenous shocks—three wars, four
droughts and two oil shocks between 1962
and 1980.
Chakravarty asked in his 1979 paper why Indian
industrial growth had stalled even after many of
the major supply side constraints had eased. His
core argument was that despite easing supply con-
straints, demand for industrial growth was being
held back by a narrowing home market. Three of
his specific points are especially relevant to the
contemporary debate.
First, Chakravarty argued that the Green Revo-
lution had benefited only a certain class of farmers
rather than the entire rural population. The rise in
rural inequality had restricted demand for basic
consumer goods produced by Indian industry.
Second, he pointed out that the internal terms of
trade had moved against agriculture and in favour
of industry. This was explained by political strategy
rather than by the prevailing trend in the marginal
cost of production.
Third, whatever economic growth was taking
place was not creating enough employment.
Chakravarty argued that one solution was for pub-
lic investment to be more employment intensive.
Many of these themes echo in our current
debates. Rathin Roy of the National Institute of
Public Finance and Policy has perceptively argued
that India faces a contemporary version of the
home market problem, as the entire economic
structure has focused on the consumption needs of
the top deck of the population, thus narrowing the
domestic market rather than growing it. He has
cited the Chakravarty paper in some of his recent
writing.
The home market problem was not the only
response from economists to the industrial stagna-
tion after 1965. The trio of Jagdish Bhagwati, T.N.
Srinivasan, and Padma Desai persuasively showed
that the problem had its roots in the strategy of
import-substituting industrialization under the
infamous Licence Raj. Isher Judge Ahluwalia
backed this argument in her detailed work in the
1980s on industrial stagnation. It is interesting that
Chakravarty did not pay enough attention in his
paper to foreign markets as a solution to the
narrowness of the home market, or exports,
though he did not dismiss that option either.
There is a parallel debate raging in India right
now. The home market question may get a new
resonance in our era of growing protectionism,
though the Indian economy is now structurally
very different. As Chakravarty wrote in 1979:
“Structurally speaking, the factors that tend to pro-
duce ‘demand deficiency’ in relative terms have a
lot to do with growing rigidity in the structure of
prices throughout the economy…, insufficient
generation of employment opportunities, absence
of bargaining power on the part of the rural poor,
and the myopic character to private investment.”
thousands of fighters in Syria and Iraq. More than 100 IS leaders held in prisons
controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces reportedly escaped after
Trump declared he would withdraw the U.S. military from northern Syria.
That underscores a sad reality. If the United States wants to continue the fight
against terrorist forces, it needs partners in the region, especially to provide intelli-
gence. The U.S. presence is being reduced and cannot count on other countries to
share its priorities. Japan shares Trump’s inclination to see the Middle East as far
away and distant from daily concerns. That is strictly true, but the lesson of the IS
experience is that such groups do not believe in distance and can threaten this
country even from thousands of kilometers away.
The Japan Times
An attack on artistic freedom
T he public opening of the Karachi Biennale 2019 (KB19) on Sunday was marred
by controversy when unknown men forced the partial closure of one of the
installations at Frere Hall. The ‘offending’ exhibit by Adeela Suleman was a requiem
for the hundreds of victims of alleged ‘encounter specialist’ Rao Anwar.
Evidently, the disgraced former SSP still enjoys the support and protection of
certain quarters capable of acting secretly and with impunity... Among the feeble
excuses made by some against this exhibit’s display is that it tarnished Pakistan’s
and its law enforcement’s image. But it was this fiasco and the events which inspired
the artwork that do actual damage to our credibility. Such claims are premised on
the notion that art should be milquetoast and apolitical—unless, of course, its poli-
tics are nationalistic. What happened at Frere Hall is a chilling illustration of how
insecure the powerful are of their own populace, the desperate lengths to which
they will go to police them, and the surrender and collusion of the country’s elites
in the face of such pressures... The relentless assaults on artistic and academic free-
dom in Pakistan by depoliticising and controlling all areas of knowledge and cul-
tural production must be resisted. Now that the KB19 team has spoken, those
responsible for this blatant censorship and vandalism must reveal themselves. Citi-
zens have a direct stake in public art, and are owed an official explanation.
The Dawn, Pakistan
Don’t let our towns grow old
B ritain is ageing badly. Or at least without paying due care and attention to a
demographic revolution that may be more destabilising than is generally
understood. According to a study this month by the Office for National Statistics,
the proportion of people aged 85 and over will almost double during the course of
the next 25 years. By 2030, one in five people (21.8%) will be aged 65 or over. This
creates most obviously a huge healthcare challenge. Successive governments have
abjectly failed to deal with the crisis in social care provision. The Johnson govern-
ment has shamefully kicked the issue further into the long grass...
The drivers of this divergence [some parts of the UK are ageing twice as fast as
others] are various, from booming student populations to higher birth rates in areas
such as Barking and Dagenham. More generally, the study’s findings suggest an
ongoing drift of young people from smaller towns and rural areas to large towns
and cities, which have benefited from the lion’s share of economic growth in the
post-industrial era... There is a danger that demographic divergence will entrench
cultural and political divides that are already a feature of the political landscape.
It is surely unhealthy for the national conversation that an unbalanced economy
is skewing the age profile of communities... Britain does not need a new geography
of ageing to add to our multiplying social divides.
The Guardian, UK

MY VIEW | MODERN TIMES

The world is not as depressing as doomsayers believe

in fantastic ways, too, believe the world is in
MANU JOSEPH a crisis.
Even jerks are upset with the world (they
too have feelings, it seems). The kind of peo-
ple who had never read the front page of a
newspaper until very recently are now artic-
pathetic place. Poverty is receding, children
are healthier. People still want to be good,
and they are in the pursuit of happiness,
which they find. The arcs of human lives still
tend towards love and fairness, and the
world still turns on our most important
in a happy world, what is tragic or gloomy is
often news.
Other forms of storytelling, such as litera-
ture and activism, are refuges for the melan-
cholic and the clinically depressed, who
thrive on negativity. Literature at least per-
Optimism is an entirely different quality,
which is often confused with hope. Opti-
mism radiates from happiness, which the
disenchanted storytellers of our age try to
kill through their celebration of gloom.
The bleak see a bleak world, and political

D
iwali used to be a day when Indians
bombed India, tearing ear drums,
stunning the old whose limbs
vibrated in the explosions, terrifying ani-
mals, and filling the air with lethal fumes.
But across the nation, Diwali is becoming
quieter and more joyful. Who would have
thought that a set of regulations would sub-
ulate political analysts on a par with ageing idea—that the fortunate should take care of
men on morning walks. People who you the less fortunate.
thought were amiable, and normal (because That the world has
they had two children, which makes many changed drastically, and Stories of gloom
people appear so) have turned out to be rag- that its sanity has altered, is
ing lunatics on Twitter. Conscientious girls a myth created by a small are easier and
upon discovering politics are shocked that set of people.
their sweet papas are right-wingers. And, so At the heart of this per-
more rewarding
mits some exuberant talent that can create
islands of joy and humour.
But activism, which is a
parasitic story that takes
over literary and journalis-
tic narratives of a society, is
entirely a network of
breast-beaters who tell
gloom radiates from them. It hits an outer
ring of receivers who are susceptible to mel-
ancholy, who then transmit it to greater cir-
cles of people who start to believe that the
world is in a crisis.
It is true that in some areas, the world has
truly turned more bitter.
The divide in society is for real. But, as this

is a journalist, and a novelist,

due a Hindu subculture even as nationalists
were ascending? If Indians can silence
most recently of ‘Miss Laila,
Armed And Dangerous’
Diwali, they can do anything.
But this story is never told with any enthu-
siasm. Its joy appears farfetched. It is a
doomed story that cannot travel far. What is
an easier story to tell, and more rewarding
for its narrators, is that India is in a crisis, and
that its doom is coming soon. Across the
world, stories of gloom are more influential
than happy stories.
As a result, many people are disenchanted
with the modern world. They think it has
gone insane. Intellectuals are signing peti-
tions lamenting some evil every month.
Celebrities, whom the world has rewarded
many people now know so much that there
is a spike in the use of rebukes like, “correla-
tion is not causation” and the “Dunning–
Kruger effect”.
All American superhero movies have
become a comment on “our dark times”.
Liberal newspapers in the US are filled with
the prognosis that America is coming to an
end. A few days ago, Bruce Springsteen
tweeted: “We’re living in a frightening
time... Unfortunately we have somebody
who I feel doesn’t have a grasp of the deep
meaning of what it means to be an Ameri-
can.” He is among the many superstars who
have a sense of doom.
But the fact is the world is not such a
ception is a corrupt prop-
erty of storytelling: Happi-
to tell, but the
ness is uniform and banal,
while every misery is
truth is that the
unique, hence, interesting world isn’t such
and transmittable. This
quality has always influ- a pathetic place
enced storytelling. It is one
reason why most stories
have a happy ending: Once a story attains
happiness, there is nothing interesting for a
writer to say.
Also, certain professions have for long had
an outsized role in telling the stories of our
times. And they are by nature negative. Jour-
nalism, for instance, is enslaved by news, and
powerful, gloomy half-
truths of their times.
It is true that today scien-
tists, doctors, engineers
and billionaires are gaining
voice, and they are able to
tell their stories by bypass-
ing what the humanities
and activism control. But
the transmission of their stories, too, is influ-
enced by the force of negativity. Some of
them do use another powerful transmitter of
stories—hope. Hope has qualities of a certain
mystical happiness, but then doesn’t gloom
often masquerade as hope? Hope is gloom
dressed up to see the doctor.
column argued earlier, “polarization” is a
sign that one class of people does not have a
monopoly anymore over mainstream ideas.
So, what bothers most suave storytellers is in
reality a good omen.
B.R. Ambedkar once framed the moral
legitimacy of polarization when he told “low
castes”: “It is your claim to equality which
hurts them…If you continue to accept your
lowly status ungrudgingly…they will allow
you to live in peace.”
In the coming years, the radiation of
gloom will only intensify as the world enter-
tains itself through fables of rage and gloom.
But people will always be innately happy. In
this world, it is hard to escape happiness.