I would like to congratulate you on the brilliant cover story “WTO – The Scourge of Farmers’ Misery” (Radiance, 4-10 October 2009). However I would like to make a few additional comments on the state of India’s economy and its links with foreign capital. The ‘sudden softening’ of India’s stand on the question of WTO is not very surprising. It is the result of a strong nexus between big corporates and political parties. The likes of Chidambaram and Manmohan have strong corporate lobbies to satisfy and it is not surprising that in such a situation they call Naxalism and not malnourishment, poverty, starvation deaths, farmer suicides the ‘biggest internal threat’ facing the nation. Thus without any economic independence, these politicians have also compromised on our political independence. Thus we now see a country which used to boast about Non-Alignment completely toeing the American line.
Add to this the link between feudal landlords and politicians at the local level and the deeply entrenched hierarchical caste system. Thus the Indian economy can rightly be characterised as semi-feudal, semi-colonial. Now when even the so-called free press and the civil society have been reduced to commodities to be sold to the highest bidders in this age of free market and are being funded by the same corporates whose efforts result in the misery of the masses, it is not surprising that people in many places from West Bengal to Chattisgarh to Andhra Pradesh have risen up in arms to fight against destitution and deprivation, and for a life of dignity.
The chances of progressive change coming through electoral process, not to say non-existent, are very remote. In such a situation, when the privileges of a few come at the cost of the misery of the masses, then masses are left with no other option but to fight against such injustice. To quote P. Sainath, “If you are rich, then India is one of the best countries for you to live in, but if you are poor then you better live in some sub-Saharan desert.”
Umar Khalid
New Delhi