'Why I'm losing hope in India': Very much worth a read

[Sukla Sen]

It's a mad rush from a rule-based neoliberal capitalism - with a spattering of elements of welfarism, towards a brazen form of crony capitalism - within the broader framework of (visibly way more rabid) neoliberal capitalism.

India is, right now, undergoing a sort of tectonic shift - both in terms of politics and economy.

Large sections of even those opposing the regime - including much of the Left, are unable - intellectually untrained, to comprehend and acknowledge.

<<Opportunities we couldn’t imagine growing up in the 1970s and ’80s emerged from nowhere and changed our lives, and many of us believe history will keep repeating, with the pain of the pandemic shocking the economy out of its pre-Covid inertia.

So it breaks my heart to have to suggest to today’s rising generation that this crisis is different than others we have weathered, that the walls are closing in again, and the opportunity set for India is shrinking, perhaps for a very long time. The national dream of emulating China’s rapid growth is receding — by some economic yardsticks, we can’t even keep up with Bangladesh.

A disturbing arbitrariness has crept into policymaking, institutions have decayed and the economy’s structural deficiencies have worsened. Animal spirits have been sucked out of all but a handful of firms. Zombie business groups are perched atop the debris of debt-fueled expansion, waiting for politicians to signal what role they still have, if any. The defeatist slogan of self-reliance, which blighted our parents’ generation, is back. Politicians are using religious discord and caste conflicts to drive a wedge in the society.

To make matters worse, India has handled the coronavirus pandemic with the same inept authoritarianism that’s come to define its approach in all spheres, economic, political and social. With more than 9 million infections, India is the second-worst affected country after the United States. The economy slipped into an unprecedented recession last quarter.>>

(Excerpted from: <https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-opinion-india-and-modi-are-losing-china-battle/>.

Very much worth a read.)