Over two centuries after a motley caucus of treacherous princes, merchants and feudal lords sold the subcontinent to the British, their present-day progeny have done one better by selling the
JUNE 21, 1991. Pamulaparti Venkata Narsimha Rao is sworn in as the Ninth Prime Minister of India. Heading a minority Congress(I) government at the Centre. The Finance portfolio goes to
WHAT ARE the official excuses and arguments being touted in defence of this drastic move described as a 'revolution' of sorts by the media? Let us take you to one
DID YOU find anything new in these arguments and assurances? Didn't you hear the same clamour in 1981 when we had our first big brush with the IMF and more
'SHOCK THERAPY' may be the buzzword for the 90s, but the fixation with the mantra of liberalisation is already a decade-old affair. All through the 80s, especially the latter half,
LET US start with the first salvo fired by the new Finance Minister – devaluation. With two strokes of the pen, the Indian rupee, and hence Indian goods, have been
ALONG WITH devaluation and trade liberalisation, the third crucial component of the present package of structural reforms is the new industrial policy. Backed up by the budget and supplementary provisions
WHILE ANNOUNCING its unabashedly market-friendly new policy package, the government has also added a footnote that care will be taken to provide a safety net for the vulnerable sections of
ONLY IMF! That is the current slogan of the ruling political, economic and intellectual establishment in the country. And the attempt is to desperately evolve a popular national consensus around
OUR GOVERNMENT of course does not accept the very existence of any IMF-laid debt trap or the fact that a package of IMF conditionalities is being imposed on us. Obediently
EVIDENTLY, THE issue of an IMF loan is not just a question of finding a quick solution to an immediate crisis. IMF symbolises a strategy. The strategy which says self-reliance
