The Devil of Economic Fundamentalism

by Javed Jamil

reverse the flow of money from the villages to the urban areas. This can be done by taking the following steps:

  (1) Creating demands for more agricultural items. There is scope for huge expansion in the food market, especially the fruits. The fruits cultivators must combine to form an organisation. This organisation must embark upon a full-fledged campaign through mass awareness programmes and media advertising about the relative benefits of fresh fruit juices over the bottled drinks. People must be informed that the bottled drinks have very little nutritious value and are often injurious to health; spending on them is sheer wastage of money. Aggressive advertising for fresh juices of apple, orange, pineapple, sugar-cane, pomegranate, etc, and also for drinks like mango-shakes, milk shakes, almond-milk and milk pista can raise their sales to dizzy heights. Similarly, the sales of milk products, eggs, different types of vegetables and meat may be assiduously pushed. If this is done, the beneficiaries will be mainly villagers and the urban poor. Big farmers will also benefit, but this must be understood that even the biggest farmers are poor, compared with the industrialists.

  (2) At the village level, the villagers may cooperate to establish small firms and shops. They may also set up roadside refreshment centres where fresh juices, milk, and other food items may be sold to travellers. The villagers that are close to the cities may establish some picnic spots, parks etc, and the fondness of the urban middle class and elite for clean and unpolluted atmosphere may be used to attract them.

  (3) Research centres for rural development must be established; these must concentrate not on the borrowed ideas from West but unveiling the sordid designs of the economic fundamentalists to thwart the agricultural growth. Their chief aim must be to ensure that the villages play a more significant role in the circulation of money and that the villagers get shares in the national income proportionate to their population, their hard labour and significance of their work.

  Still, there is tremendous scope of employment in the rural areas in the developing counties. Every village must have a police station, a well-furnished hospital, a high school, and a branch of nationalised bank. In a country like India, with about half million villages, this can provide opportunities of employment to more that 5 million people. There must be a reservation of at least 20 per cent in these jobs for the candidates with rural background. There may also be an administrative staff to assist the rural councils (Panchayats.

  Emphasis on small scale industries is essential. This will give the skilled and non-skilled workers and small businessmen an opportunity to enter the circulation in a greater way. The small scale industries, too, must combine at the national level to undo the tactics of big industrialists. They must contribute to a common fund that would be able to unveil the intrigues of the economic fundamentalists who have been constant­ly engaged in throttling the small scale industries by raising the issue of consumer rights, quality control, child labour and environment.

  If the fruits of economic growth are to be generalised, the statistics denoting the pattern of distribution must be regularly publicised. Income Distribution Index and Assets Distribution Index must be introduced as the most important indicators of development. On the basis of these indexes, the economy may be categorised as Tyrannical, Exploitative, Tolerable, Good and Excellent. As soon as the distribution pattern enters the exploitative phase “Economic Emergency” must be declared. During 'economic emergency', the government must have powers to take strong corrective steps and take back the assets exceeding a specified limit. Ceiling on industries may also be considered as an emergency measure disallowing industries to manufacture beyond a specified limit. Strict price control may also be applied.

  Though in a free market economy prices are fixed through mutual agreement between sales and purchases it often tends to be on the higher side. The big industries try to make inelastic the demands of even those consumer items that may actually have been elastic, by modifying the perceptions and tastes of the people, and by creating status symbols through high profile advertising and the media. This enables them to fix the prices of their products giving 50-200 per cent profits. In paternalistic economics, the government should play a guardian role; while normally, market may be allowed to fix the prices themselves, the government should compel the manufacturers and traders to reduce prices, if it feels that they are on the higher side. It is ironical that, while the big industrialists get nauseated at the slightest mention of any price control measures by the government they themselves do not permit their wholesalers and retailing agents to charge prices determined by themselves. The government may keep prices in check, either through direct intervention, or may alternatively form a Price Watch; this body may make public the ideal prices of all the products without forcing the companies to follow the directions. Such declarations would be an incentive to those companies that are charging moderate prices for their products; the majority of companies would be left with no choice but to readjust prices at the lowest possible level.

  Globalisation is another thing that requires reconsideration; for globalisation is only a trap laid by some developed countries to capture the markets of the developing world. For true globali­sation, the trading must be bilateral between any two countries; the amount of trade must be equal, (or there must only be change of goods and not currency), and the developing nations must be allowed to fix the prices of their products using the same parameters that are used by the developed nations. Till now what happens is that the developed countries create an impression that their products are more essential for a prosperous life, and because there is a great amount of research involved in their works, their prices are high. The developing nations are being increas­ingly lured by foreign investments. They have started believ­ing that their investments are additions to the country’s wealth. They forget that their investment soon starts trapping the wealth of the country which is slowly but steadily drained out of the country. Foreign investments are usually made in purchasing the capital goods and infrastructure; this does hardly benefit the country in which the plants are being set-up. Foreign investments should be allowed only if (1) the investments are utilised in producing such items as are essential for the country, and were being previously imported, (2) if these products are chiefly meant for export, and (3) if all the profits earned are reinvested or spent within the country. If these conditions are not met with, it is better to shun globalisation and restrict foreign investments.

  Resurrection of the Scientific Sprit

  In the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, science achieved preponderance in the affairs of the world. But, with the march of the twentieth century, economics outsmarted science. This was an ominous development as it led to misuse, in extremely dangerous proportions, of the various disciplines of science. The scientific sprit is no longer visible any-where; scientific researches are being misused to exploit the masses in order to attain economic and political supremacy. The outcome of the misappropriation of science and medicine has been that a large number of life-threatening diseases are increasing in incidence at an alarming pace, people are killing one another, and family peace and social order are conspicuous by their virtual nonexistence. It is, therefore, high time now that the scientific and medical spirit were resurrected without any further delay.

  Science in general, is the name given to understanding the truths of the universe and to utilise them in the best possible way for the peace, progress and prosperity of mankind. Medical science, in particular, aims at alleviating the sufferings of men ,and to create conditions favourable for a disease-free and tension-free life. Montgaine (Essays,II) says: "Health is a precious thing, and the only one, in truth, which deserves that we employ in its pursuit not only time, sweat, trouble, and worldly goods, but even life; inasmuch as, without it life comes to be painful and oppressive to us. Pleasure, wisdom, knowledge and virtue, without it, grow tarnished and vanish away." It is, therefore, essential in keeping with the scientific and medical spirit that all the development,
political and adminis­trative activities must be aimed at ensuring health, family peace and social order.

  All the disciplines of science are invaluable as they discover the know-how to produce the materials of all hues and colours required by human beings; but, the medical sciences are most important, for the onus of keeping a close vigil on the emerging threats to human existence and inventing remedial measures falls on their shoulders. With the control by the economic fundamentalists on all the branches of social life the capability of the medical experts to influence policy decisions at the national and international level has undergone substantial ero­sion. If the world is to be rescued from the imminent doom, the medical world must immediately assume a leading role in society; it must not feel shy of holding the reins of administration along with the experts in other scientific fields. The medical scien­tists must, at least, put themselves in a position where they do not have to follow the directions of the politicians, bureaucrats and economists; instead they must be able to mould the policies in a way