Two Decades of Market Reform in India

Some Dissenting Views

Edited by Sudipta Bhattacharyya

Publication date:

15 December 2013

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780857283269

Have neoliberal policies truly yielded beneficial effects for India? ‘Two Decades of Market Reform in India’ presents a collection of essays that challenge the conventional wisdom of Indian market reforms, examining the effects of neoliberal policies enacted by the Indian government and exploding the myths that surround them. In particular, the volume questions the perceived benefits of India’s reform policies in the areas of growth, agriculture, industry and poverty alleviation, and examines how the government’s focus on preventing a fiscal deficit caused a large-scale decline in development expenditures, which in turn has had a negative impact on the well-being of the poor. With its rich and insightful analysis, ‘Two Decades of Market Reform in India’ bravely shines a light on the true implications of India’s neoliberal governmental policies, and provides a revealing indication of how policy reform since 1991 has, at times, detrimentally affected the general populace of India.

List of Tables and Figures; Foreword by Prabhat Patnaik; Acknowledgements; Chapter 1: Introduction: A Critical Look at Two Decades of Market Reform in India – Sudipta Bhattacharyya; Chapter 2: Development Planning and the Interventionist State versus Liberalization and the Neoliberal State: India, 1989–1996 – Terence J. Byres; Chapter 3: Predatory Growth – Amit Bhaduri; Chapter 4: On Some Currently Fashionable Propositions in Public Finance – Prabhat Patnaik; Chapter 5: The Costs of ‘Coupling’: The Global Crisis and the Indian Economy – Jayati Ghosh and C. P. Chandrasekhar; Chapter 6: Theorizing Food Security and Poverty in the Era of Economic Reforms – Utsa Patnaik; Chapter 7: Globalization, the Middle Class and the Transformation of the Indian State in the New Economy – Anthony P. D’Costa; Chapter 8: The World Trade Organization and its Impact on India – Parthapratim Pal; Chapter 9: The Changing Employment Scenario during Market Reform and the Feminization of Distress in India – Sudipta Bhattacharyya and Uma Basak; Chapter 10: Privatization and Deregulation – Ashok Rudra; Chapter 11: Macroeconomic Impact of Public Sector Enterprises: Some Further Evidence – R. Nagaraj; Chapter 12: Liberalization, Demand and Indian Industrialization – Surajit Mazumdar; Chapter 13: On Fiscal Deficit, Interest Rate and Crowding-Out – Surajit Das; Chapter 14: Going, Going, But Not Yet Quite Gone: The Political Economy of the Indian Intermediate Classes during the Era of Liberalization – Matthew McCartney; Contributors

‘“Two Decades of Market Reform in India” provides a powerful corrective to the simplistic, celebratory views of the Indian economy that have prevailed since the country embarked on neoliberal reforms in 1991. A must-read for anyone interested in understanding the ongoing economic transformation of India and its social and political implications.’ —Jyoti Saraswati, New York University and author of ‘Dot.compradors: Power and Policy in the Development of the Indian Software Industry’