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The Sen lecture
Amartya Kumar Sen's lectures in India are an annual ritual. Virtually no one disagrees with the Harvard professor's sharp criticism of the lack of ethics in Indian economic policy. This country has "the largest number of poor in the world and also the largest middle class on earth". But Sen's lectures have so far fallen like dew upon sand. The distortions that Sen points to -- so runs the explanation of the liberaliser -- are the result of planning. All that is past. Now it is trickle-down growth. With the end of licence-permit raj, economic initiatives have come to the fore. Soaring growth should take care of poverty.Sen has nuanced his lecture differently this year. He said that South East Asian countries and China would not have had their success if they had not paid attention to health care and education prior to liberalisation. Ergo, India cannot grow without an effective social policy. This threat perception will not be widely shared. The country has a massive supply of unemployed youth who finish
middle and secondary school education every year. Training them to adhere to the discipline of quality control, production to specification and economic collaboration is now a corporate responsibility.Sen is, however, right in saying that because of global competition, those with low skills or no skill will risk losing jobs. Re-employment will require social policy, and state action. Besides, the rapid growth of the services sector needs to be supported with a sharp rise in literacy and numeracy. But, as noted by Sen, politicisation of disparities in India's democratic set-up, is weak. It will be chalta hai in the foreseeable future. Sen has been listened to as dutifully as he delivered his piece.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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