Politics

Published : Sep 09, 2011 00:00 IST

INDIAN politics is now at a crossroads (Cover Story, August 26). The United Progressive Alliance and the opposition have made the situation more complicated rather than solving the problems the country faces today such as price rise, corruption and terrorism.

PRABHAT PATNAIK'S powerful essay (Roots of the malaise, August 26) traced the roots of corruption to the neoliberal policies so enthusiastically pursued by successive governments at the Centre. His scholarly analysis of the subject and theoretical explanation of the primitive accumulation of capital in the transfer of public property to big corporates was amazing.

The economist has rightly raised the alarm that the anti-corruption plank could turn into an anti-democratic platform.

Norway

MOST people thought that extreme hatred towards a particular religion could manifest itself as extreme right-wing terrorism only in South Asian countries such as India and Pakistan (Slaughter in Oslo, August 26). The violence in Norway has changed that belief. Now it is clear that Islamophobia can result in terrorist attacks even in places that have a small population of Muslims.

It is interesting to know that along with Anders Behring Breivik, the man responsible for the Norway attack, many prominent politicians of Europe are against multiculturalism.

Judiciary

NOW, Justice Dinakaran has written a letter to the President indicating his desire to withdraw his resignation letter (Resignation before removal, August 26). All the correspondence relating to Dinakaran's being made a judge of the Supreme Court should be put in the public domain. The recommendation was made by the then Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan.

In India, even something as elementary as the code of conduct for judges is not in the public domain.

In the U.S., the code of conduct for judges and for judicial employees is in the public domain. Indian courts have shied away from such transparency. Court proceedings should be telecast live to help curb judicial corruption and improve the quality of judgments.

Railways

GOING through the article Dangerous Ride (August 26), one is struck by the rapid deterioration in the services of Indian Railways. Although the rail network is the lifeline of the nation, its importance has been devalued by successive Railway Ministers, who have used the Ministry as a way of fulfilling their political ambitions.

Hopefully, the new Union Railway Minister, Dinesh Trivedi, will revamp the system in a professional manner to enable the Railways to scale the heights of excellence while assuring all passengers a safe journey.

U.S. jobs

THE article Jobless production (August 12) reinstates the relevance of the old comparative advantage theory in today's global competitive market.

The theory demands that both the innovators and the foot soldiers stick to their relative strengths to benefit from their comparative advantage positions. In a competitive market, productivity is synonymous with profitability.

Whatever be the reduction in cost, if innovations do not multiply profits, they are not seen as improving productivity. Profitability ultimately depends on the ability to get benefits from the relative advantage of the self and the disadvantage of the competitor.

In fact, advanced economies can resolve the unemployment problem simply by sharing the benefits of innovations with all the stakeholders in the economy. A reduction of half an hour in the standard working hours would ensure full employment. But why should competitors bother to think of unemployment when they are free to engage cheap Asian labour to increase their profit?

The big debate in the U.S. is how to orchestrate strategies to retain its comparative advantage in the global market. Whatever be the rhythm of the debate in the U.S., its comparative advantage will not be affected so long as Asian countries continue to train foot soldiers for the U.S.

Sai Baba

HOLY men always advise their disciples to shun the pursuit of material wealth on the grounds that it is morally corrupting to accumulate wealth (Pandora's box? July 29).

But the discovery of crores worth of gold, silver and cash at Satya Sai Baba's chamber at Puttaparthi goes to show that the self-abnegation preached by holy men is only meant for the public and not for them.

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