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India and the World

Strategic autonomy in an interdependent world is secured through creating mutually beneficial relationships of interdependence, not from the mere assertion of one's independence or non-alignment. It is the fruit of economic growth and development pursued in a globalised world wherein a nation is able to utilise the benefi ts of interdependence while managing the costs this imposes. Hence, the concepts of "autonomy" and "self-reliance" have to be defined in the context of the economic interdependence of nations, and India's need and ability to draw on the economic opportunities the world presents to us.

The Local and the Global in Hyderabad's Development

Throughout history, Hyderabad/Golconda has benefited from trade with the local and external economies. In recent decades, the city has been the focus of industrialisation driven by public investment and agricultural surpluses from coastal Andhra Pradesh. Hyderabad is poised to grow further as it spreads its wings with links to south-east and west Asia.

Strategic Consequences of India's Economic Performance

Economic performance and capability certainly constitute the foundation of national security and power for a developing nation like India. India has the military capability to defend her territorial integrity and security; however, it will have to sustain higher rates of economic growth to be able to alter the strategic balance in Asia, and globally, to her developmental advantage. Having said this, the author argues that it is not economic growth by itself that holds the key to India's global profile and power, but the nature of that growth process and the manner in which the economic challenges it faces today are addressed. The threat to what more recently has come to be defined as 'homeland security' is posed by social and economic backwardness, the inequalities and the political uncertainty this generates, and the quality of economic development.

Mahbub ul Haq and Human Development-A Tribute

A Tribute Sanjaya Baru NOTHING captured Mahbub ul Haq's undying faith in human endeavour and his sense of purpose and optimism better than the closing sentence of a book he wrote bringing together his life's work: "Human destiny is a choice, not a chance".1 It is out of this conviction that Haq worked till his dying day, Mahbub ul Haq, economist, politician, diplomat, propagandist, died at the age of 64 on July 16, 1998, in New York. Born in 1934 in Jammu in pre-partition India, Haq graduated from Government College, Lahore, in 1953 . secured a master's degree from King's College, Cambridge in 1955 and a doctoral degree in economics from Yale University, USA, in 1957. At Cambridge he befriended Amartya Sen and Manmohan Singh and through his life he made friends with scores of Indian economists, politicians and mediapersons. My association with Haq began in Stockholm in 1992, at a workshop on the Human Development Report, and was sustained through periodic interaction, the last being in New Delhi earlier this year, when he came to launch the second South Asian Human Development Report, Haq led a multi-faceted life, but it is his contribution to the notion of 'human development' for which he will be remembered, especially in south Asia. This essay is an obituary and a tribute.

New Economic Policy and Budget-Efficiency, Equity and Fiscal Stabilisation

Efficiency, Equity and Fiscal Stabilisation Sanjaya Baru The finance minister has lei slip the opportunity he had, in the budgets for 1992-93 and 1993-94, to reallocate resources away from most existing commitments to the so-called 'safety net' areas.

A Quiet Coup in the Fisc

Sanjaya Baru The finance minister would like us to believe that his budget was shaped by his philosophy of 'non-doctrinaire socialist pragmatism'. However, what one discovers is only a veneer of socialism covering a hard core of pragmatism. While pragmatism is no dirty word in today's world, the finance minister was obviously unwilling to consider a little bit of that other non-dirty word, namely, perestroika, in his budget There is little evidence of any desire to bring about significant restructuring in the fiscal strategy of the union government, a strategy that the National Front has itself been critical about. What we have on offer is a budget of continuity rather than change.

Different Lessons

Different Lessons Sanjaya Baru Learning io Industrialise: The Acquisition of Technological Capability by India by Sanjaya Lall; Macmillan Press, 1987; pp 259, price not stated.

Economics and Politics of 1992

If the political and military threat from the Eastern bloc united Western Europe in the 1950s, helping the creation of the EEC, now it is the commercial threat from the Far East which is once again bringing Europe together again. Many ifs and buts, however, persist because the differences that divide Europe are still more than the commonalities that unite it. Concern about the implications of 1992 have been expressed in three other quarters as well: among the trade unions, among immigrant communities and, most importantly, outside Europe.

GATT Winter of Discontent

GATT: Winter of Discontent Sanjaya Baru A number of factors have combined to stall progress towards trade liberalisation in the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations and, unless the US and the European Community are prepared to concede ground in certain areas, the future of GATT itself may be put in doubt.

Scale, Location and Diversification-Sugar Mill Industry in India

Sugar Mill Industry in India Sanjaya Baru While significant mill-level economies of scale do operate in the sugar industry, such economies are not always exploited due to specific historical, institutional and locational barriers which act as fetters on capacity expansion. Diversification is one response to a firm's inability to exploit scale economies. Another response is to turn the mill sick and either close it down or invite state take over.

State and Industrialisation in a Post-Colonial Capitalist Economy-The Experience of India

State and Industrialisation in a Post-Colonial Capitalist Economy The Experience of India Sanjaya Baru This paper discusses the salient features of the relationship between state and industrialisation in a post-colonial economy in the context of the current debate on the nature and prospects of 'state capitalism' in India, IT is commonplace that state intervention is a necessary element of the process of capitalist development both in metropolitan capitalist economies and in post-colonial economies. State intervention has not only influenced the pace of capitalist development but has also shaped the nature of that process. Needless to add, there is no unique relationship between state and industrialisation or state and capital. The experience of different countries would differ not only due to divergences in the overall economic structure of various countries but also due to the fact that process of industrialisation is initiated at different points in time in different countries. Further, one must add, thaf in the process of such 'uneven' capitalist development some nations emerge as the 'advanced' or 'dominant' powers while others are left behind and subordinated or colonised. Hence, the role of state intervention in each of these cases would also differ on account of the historically specific conditions under which capitalist industrialisation takes root.1 In the case of India the process of industrialisation began within specific conditions of subordination and accelerated only after political Independence was granted. Hence any study of state intervention and industrial growth must take cognisance of this fact as well. It is within this perspective that we undertake the ensuing discussion. The paper is divided into five sections, in section I we clarify some conceptual issues while section II takes up a brief discussion of the role of the state in metropolitan economies. The latter is contrasted with the experience of colonial and post-colonial India in the last three sections of the paper which infact constitute its core. This paper does not purport to offer an exhaustive survey of the questions involved. Its purpose being mainly to focus on the salient features of state and industrialisation in a post-colonial economy in the context of the current debate on the nature and prospects of 'state capitalism' in India.

Wrong Controls

Wrong Controls Sanjaya Baru Regulation and Development; India's Policy Experience of Controls over Industry by Sharad M Marathe; Sage Publications, New Delhi, 1986;

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