Free Markets and the UDCs'

<>In a country like India it does not require one to be an economist to imagine the consequences of unbridled laissez faire regimen. It would herald an era of Robber Barons. A Darwinian winner takes it all scenario which would ultimately strain the social fabric beyond repair causing violent unrest and misery.

The reasons for such an eventuality are not far to see. India might be the worlds largest democracy but there is hardly any effective mechanism that protects the rights of its citizenry. Anyone with adequate money and muscle power could hijack the system for its own narrow gains at the cost of society at large. The much-touted legal recourse is so costly, slow and tedious that few venture to invoke this despairing course. There is no welfare system worth the name that could ensure minimal health and education facility to its citizenry.

In a milieu like this compounded by abject poverty and illiteracy you have a virtual gun-powder keg that only needs a few sparks to ignite. It is a catastrophe waiting to happen.

But under the new uni-polar world order led by free market hype (equated with democracy) the third world wannabes are making the situation so vulnerable that collapse of capitalistic order becomes a palpable reality. It is the Johnny’s come lately who are lending credence to this fear and it becomes imperative on the Rambo Nations of the west to realise this reality lest their mad hurry to usher in free market capitalism becomes a self defeating exercise.

Anil K Singh