Preconceived Notions

Preconceived Notions AS one intimately associated with the EPW for a number of years, I am dismayed by the ' what I don't like to see does not exist' kind of editorial policy of judging Indian economic reforms. It has been drummed by you into the ears of EPW readers that the economic reforms would bring disaster to India. This has been a persistent theme in all issues of EPW over the last three years. You had predicted that balance of payments would deteriorate, inflation will worsen, GDP growth rate will fall, industrial sector, particularly capital goods industry will be ruined, tax receipts will go down and so on. However, in the edit 'Behind the Gloss' (September 10, 1994) you admit that "on the face of it, many aspects of improved economic performance the large foreign exchange accruals and reductions in current account deficit, the rise in government tax revenues, the improvement of the fiscal balance, the pick up in private sector investment, the acceleration of growth of industrial output and the moderation of inflation are more or less palpable". After that one would have expected you and your colleagues to turn the light inward. Instead, you still don't want to concede that the reforms have succeeded in many ways, notwithstanding your wish to the contrary. You go off at a tangent and accuse the policymakers of "sweeping under the carpet the other fundamental socio-economic problems" and in the process tie yourself in knots as I would show below: