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I used to sit up all night watching Kathakali performances when I was young.
I used to sit up all night watching Kathakali performances when I was young. Matunga was a centre of South Indian families where we would have festivals where Kathakali dancers would perform. It was fabulouspeople in elaborate masks and costumes and a very slow-moving,stylised acting. Even the battle between Bhima and Duryodhana would take its time as actors swirled around each other before striking.We all knew the plot and the end was predictable.
The current hungama over FDI reminds me of Kathakali. Every word has been said before. Masks have been worn; the BJP suddenly becoming anti-liberalisation,coalition allies getting up to the usual nakhra before predictably walking the plank,the Left doing its noble,hopeless fight against progress,still pining for India to be like they made West Bengala basket case which would then prove the case for socialism.
FDI has been discussed ad nauseum now for twenty years. When Manmohan Singh presented his 1991 Budget,Somnath Chatterjee,speaking on behalf of the CPM,said this was slavery to World Bank and the US. Critics predicted India would be caught in a foreign debt trap,that it would be like East India Company coming back. Much the same was said when Indira Gandhi,on returning to power in 1980,took a IMF loan. The same gang of suspects is chanting tired anti-Imperialism slogans. The Left at least did not block reform when it was supporting the Deve Gowda and Gujral governments. But the BJP is being rank dishonest. It did a sterling job during the NDA regime (1998-2004) in advancing the liberal programme launched by the Congress in 1991-1996 and continued by Chidambaram in 1996-98. India has been lucky that in the last twenty years,there have been only five Finance MinistersManmohan Singh,P Chidambaram,Yashwant Sinha,Jaswant Singh and Pranab Mukherjee. They have all kept to a basic consensus on liberal reform,even while Left was supporting UDF and UPA-I.
The case for FDI in multiple brand retail will have to be made all over again since there has to be the stylised interruption of Lok Sabha and then in the final gasp,the government will win the day. Indeed,the government should take the objections of the States seriously and let them opt out if that is what they wish. Let UP,Bihar,West Bengal and Tamil Nadu opt out. That is after all what a federation is all about. With Delhi,Haryana,Rajasthan,Maharashtra,Assam,Gujarat,Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh willing to welcome FDI in retail,it would be interesting to see how much longer the rest can stay out.
MPs probably dont go to shop in large markets as I have done. Go to any large vegetable,fish and meat market full of scores of shops. What strikes you is that you invariably see rats running around,and,if there is fish,cats as well. Hygiene is non-existent and I dont know if anyone has estimated the cases of food poisoning from materials bought at such shops. The wastage is phenomenal. Nationally,we waste perhaps 20 per cent of all our foodstuff thanks to our romantic preference for the small trader. The price is paid at either end of the long supply chain; by the farmer who loses out from the wastage by getting a bad deal and the consumer who gets shoddy stuff. It is the same everywhere; if you want the farmer to do better,get him linked to a modern supply chain; if you want the consumer to gain,get her to a clean shop.
The dance drama being played out over FDI is a diversion from more urgent tasks. Not only is the GDP growth slipping (as I have been warning) but there are significant challenges to India on the international stage. Pakistans quarrel with the US gives China a huge opportunity to become its principal ally. Myanmar is also up for grabs. The US must be desperate to get in there but China is already there. What happened at Bali was an American bid to shore up smaller Asian states against China. If Pakistan is claimed by China and Myanmar as well,then India is surrounded on all sidesWest,North and East by China. This is not a time to indulge in theatricals.
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