Articles by Arun Ghosh

Federalism, Democracy and Decentralisation Arun Ghosh If societal development is our concern, we have to have a pattern of development which would focus on the people and that implies local area development which in turn calls for a fundamental decentralisation of the Indian polity. The concerns of our ruling elite are, however, clearly different.

Monetary Assets, Savings and Economic Growth Arun Ghosh Economic policy-makers in India recently have attached disproportionate importance to the promotion and diversification of the financial sector to the neglect of the real economy The stock market scam and the many layers of bank fraud are a reflection of the inevitable when financial transactions start deviating from their real counterpart, when speculation takes over from genuine productive activity THERE have been two developments in the economic sphere in India lately that may leave a deep imprint on the future growth prospects of the country. The first is a somewhat blind faith in the prescription of neo-classical economists that reliance on the 'market

Down Memory Lane A Vietnam Vignette Arun Ghosh Why is it that the memory of a Vietnam visit nearly 15 years ago keeps coming back today? The reason is simple. No country no nation, no individual can hope to rise without a spirit of self- reliance and self-respect. But suddenly we in India have started losing our self-respect and have decided that our salvation lies in being bailed out by foreign capital, foreign technology foreign knoyv-how, foreign enterprise.

Environment, Ecology and the Himalayas Arun Ghosh A careful, authentic, genuinely humane and sympathetic piece of research has some significant conclusions to offer on environment, ecology and the Himalayas, First, the geological structure of the Himalayas is such that any major tampering with it can be dangerous. Second, local wisdom and local experience should not be treated with the supercilious contempt that our experts generally bestow upon them. Finally, vague talk of ecology and environment is unwarranted; only a multidisciplinary study can tell us what is best for the ecology THERE is undoubtedly considerable lack of knowledge

Oil Imperialism, OiI Politics and Development Economics Arun Ghosh Recent international events have been a reminder that 'imperialism' in the true sense of the term has been in action in regard to control over oil supplies for as long as one can remember, that to this day nothing has really changed, that the champions of the 'market system' in the capitalist world are the most prone to controlling and bending the market to suit their purposes insofar as oil supplies are concerned, that even the most liberal of western thinkers are found to suddenly become chauvinistic and indeed harbourers of imperial designs when the question of control over oil supplies comes to the fore.