Asian Window

The new government — regardless of who forms it — must focus on integrating Dalit entrepreneurs and Dalit employees into the mainstream. The solutions are fairly easy, writes Chandra Bhan Prakash, a leading thinker on Dalit issues, in Mint

A consensus on issues of national concern can sometimes be hard to reach, particularly in a democracy of more than a billion people, and one that has countless social markers. In India, there seems to be a consensus of an exceptional order on the question of economic reforms. The country’s two main political blocs—the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance—are closer to each other on economic reforms than not. Even the Left-ruled West Bengal is embracing economic reform despite its ideological pretensions. At the same time, however, there are a few dissenting voices that question the process—as well as benefits—of the economic reforms that were initiated in 1991 by then finance minister and current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

more

Similar Posts:

• Indian Communist chic
• Meanwhile, with the other Gandhi: Rahul as PM?
• The battle for the soul of the BJP
• The fall and fall of India’s political leviathans
• The world’s 100 most powerful women