Democracy in India

Just like India is the world’s largest potential market, India is also the world’s largest potential democracy. I don’t think what we have currently in India to be a true democracy. It is what I would call a cargo cult democracy. It is instructive to examine explore the two ideas of democracy and markets in the Indian context.

First, markets. One of the most important lessons mankind has learnt is that markets work. There are, however, very important pre-conditions for markets to work. When those pre-conditions are not met, markets fail. That means, the workings of markets in the presence of failures leads to socially sub-optimal, and even harmful, outcomes. Indeed, if the necessary conditions required for markets to function are not met, market fundamentalism can lead to positively disastrous results.

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Dollar Auctions and Deadly Games

Some years ago during the Kargil episode, I had analysed the conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir as a dollar aution (DA)and written a piece called Dollar Auctions and Deadly Games.

I believe that the model has interesting implications and is worth pondering. The DA game involves the auctioning of a dollar bill similar to an ordinary auction where the winner gets the dollar but with the special requirement that the second highest bidder has to pay the second highest bid amount to the auctioneer.
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As India Develops

My business partner at Deeshaa, Rajesh Jain has been focusing his Tech Talks under the heading As India Develops where discusses challenges and opportunities along the road to a developed India. The topics he introduces in these series of Tech Talks lie at the core of what needs to be done for India’s transition from an underdeveloped to a developed economy.

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India’s primary concerns

The Slimes Times of India is a widely read English newspaper in India. It perhaps reflects the concerns, the choices, the culture, and the mindset of those whom I refer to as the residents of India (as opposed to the residents of Bharat, the larger non-English speaking rural population). The print edition of the paper lands on my desk every morning.
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Nani Palkhivala’s Vision for India

This weblog is about India’s development as seen from my personal viewpoint. Like many others, I too have a vision for India although it is not as well known as the famous Vision 2020. Among all the visions that I have had the privilege to see, Nani Palkhivala’s has resonated the most with what my vision is.

I had found it on the usenet some years ago. Unfortunately, now I cannot trace exactly when it was that Nani delivered this address to the Australian College of Defence and Strategic Studies. Most likely it from around 1999. I include it here, for the record.

Gradualism of Indian Reforms

B-Span is “an internet-based broadcasting station that presents World Bank seminars, workshops, and conferences on a variety of sustainable development and poverty reduction issues.”

A recent video Some Lessons from Economic Reforms in India features Montek Singh Alhuwalia, and has Brad DeLong, Richard Eckaus, and Nurul Islam as discussants. From the site, here is what I gather.
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Dr. Banerjee’s ‘Quo Vadis’ to the Indian telecommunications sector

Advances in telecommunications technology is at the core of the revolution that defines our present global economy. We need
to remember, however, that technology itself is embedded in a larger social context which is shaped by regulation and other
political economy considerations.
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RISC, Deeshaa, and Rajesh Jain — The story so far

The latest issue of Businessworld has an in-depth interview with Vinod Khosla in which Vinod refers to the economic model RISC — Rural Infrastructure & Services Commons. (Unfortunately, the reporter does not get the name of the model correct in his reporting.)
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A Unique View on Outsourcing

I usually reserve my political views for my other weblog at Berkeley Life is a Random Draw (sadly no longer existent.) I am calling a time-out and I will post one personal opinion on a matter that is not directly related to economic development. I received a heads-up from Prakash Swaminathan about a rediff.com article Outsource to India, without compromising US interests by one Mr. John Laxmi.
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Reading: Galbraith’s Journey Through Economic Time

John Kenneth Galbraith’s A Journey Through Economic Time (1994) is, like all his works, fascinating reading. One cannot read a single page without pausing to think and reflect. It is slow going consequently.
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