The Hindu Business Line : `Globalisation will result in poverty, unemployment'

Prof Prabhat Patnaik said globalisation would result in growth of unemployment and poverty. This was evident from the fact that India had witnessed an increase in unemployment, especially rural unemployment in the 1990s.

HYDERABAD, Jan. 3

GLOBALISATION today is the globalisation of finance capital, and not production capital. The flow of finance capital will not lead to development. In fact, globalised finance does not want an activist State that would make investments, according to Prof Prabhat Patnaik, Professor of Economics, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Speaking at the plenary session of the Asian Social Forum here on Thursday, he said that the flow of finance capital rather than production capital would lead to an increase in unemployment and poverty.

This was evident from the fact that India had witnessed an increase in unemployment, especially rural unemployment in the 1990s.

A rise in unemployment and poverty would, in turn, lead to a rise in ethnic and communal strife and divisive tendencies among the people.

He said each State in our country was independently negotiating with the institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Every State was being voluntarily pushed into the "lap of imperialism" and Andhra Pradesh was in the forefront in this regard. Imperialism uses conflicts in the States to further its cause and a glaring example in this regard was Yugoslavia.

In this context, he wanted an alternative to the existing economic policies that would be based on the control of capital flows and control of trade through tariff barriers. Such an "alternative is not only possible but is necessary for our social survival". The alternative should not only stop de-industrialisation but also protect the interests of the people.

Referring to the existing 60 million tonnes of buffer stocks of food grains, Prof Patnaik said that we could have eradicated poverty in a substantial measure in the country by distributing the food grains to the hungry masses. Similarly, he said that India was the least taxed country in the world and we should tax the rich in order to increase public investments and expand social expenditure.

Almost all the speakers at the ASF plenary session, including Ms Nora Cortinas of Argentina and Mr Abdel Saleh of Palestine, wanted the people to stage a united against imperialism and globalisation.

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