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Focus on...  India and S.E. Asia


In one of our last FOCUSes.. we looked at  China  and  with  this
issue  we  continue looking at the integration of Asian countries
into the New  World  Economic  order.  Whilst  variations  reveal
themselves   as  we  move  from  country  to  country  a  pattern
emerges... the state introducing policies of 'reform' which, with
the  help  of international bodies, aim at setting up an economic
structure serving transnational and domestic  corporate  interest
at the expense of  the not-so-silent majority...

 India looks set to become one of the new  economic  flavours  of
the  year  as  foreign  companies queue up looking for profitable
investment  opportunities  in  the  region.  Recently,  making  a
comparison   with China, trade minister Richard Needham summed up
the attitude when he spoke of India's  advantage  in  having,  'a
stable  democratic  rgime'.  'Stability' is no new concept in the
framework of 'liberal reform'. In the Indian context it brings to
mind  the occupation of Kashmir by the Indian army; the killings,
detentions and human rights violations in Punjab  and  elsewhere;
the  tear  gas  attacks on farmers protesting against the GATT...
This serves to emphasise one aspect of the role of the  state  in
what  is  being  presented  as  a move towards an open and 'free'
economy devoid of state interference. Nothing  could  be  further
from   the  truth  and  the  importance  attatched  to  political
infrastructure  is  betrayed  by  Needham's   comments;   'stable
democratic' rgimes  - as the Newspeak would have them - are  just
the sort of rgimes we like to do business with.

FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT

 And of course the arms business will do as well  as  any  other.
Despite  some  prevarication,  mainly  due  to  attempts by other
Europeans, notably the French, to fill a  perceived  gap  in  the
market,  it  looks  now  as  though  India will go ahead with the
purchase of 66 Hawk trainer aircraft from B Ae for a cool $2.5bn.
Given  the  easing  of  tension  in  the  area  one wonders why a
'stable' rgime should want them... until we recall how  effective
they  have  proved  against domestic populations elsewhere in the
region.
 Many other 'business oportunities' are  there  for  the  private
sector  after  a  budget  in  February  extended the deregulation
reforms which had started in 91 and  also  introduced  a  cut  in
customs duties opening up the country to foreign imports. These

The TNCs are lining up, lured by a  'market'  of  380mn   (or  at
least  the  proportion  thereof  who can afford the high costs of
participation) and of course the supply  of  cheap  labour  which
always attends Asian projects.

budgetary factors simply highlight another aspect of the role  of
the  state  in  the free market. As far as managing economies are
concerned the present elite in India  learnt  a  lot  from  their
British  predecessors  -  obsessed  as it seemingly still is with
colonial paraphernalia in for example the education system.   But
anyway they've done their job. The TNCs are lining up, lured by a
'market' of 380mn  (or at least the proportion  thereof  who  can
afford  the high costs of participation) and of course the supply
of cheap labour which always attends Asian projects.  The  Indian
government  is  keen to bring in foreign capital to help finance,
in particular, the electricity supply industry.  A  $280m.  power
station  -  the  first  of its kind to be paid for by the private
sector - is to go ahead with GVK Industries announcing the  start
of  construction  towards  the  middle  of  this  year. The Asian
Development  Bank  and  International  Finance  Corporation  -  a
venture-capital   outfit   and  part  of  the  World  Bank  which
specialises in investments of this sort - is also  involved.  The
power  ministry  has also received expressions of interest from a
further 35 foreign companies who want in on the action.

THE WORLD BANK AND THE GATT

 We should perhaps not be surprised, once the World  Bank's  name
is  mentioned,  to  realise  that  we  are  now talking of forced
resettlement of rural population in order that urban  elites  can
be  served.  India is not new to the activities of the World Bank
which put forward the $450m to pay for  the  Sardar  Sarovar  dam
recently  which went ahead despite local protest which claimed it
was simply a project which served  rich  farmers,  businesspeople
and  builders  and  would  prove to be an ecological and economic
disaster - not the first or last time the World Bank has  had  to
face  such  criticism  of  its  'development'  policies.  Indeed,
returning to the  rural/urban  split,  the  usual  picture  of  a
divided  country   is  there  to see for those who are willing to
look. It is in the high growth cities like Bombay where you  will
see the Mercedes, designer clothes etc. And the

the rural poor in India, 'are paying a price for the reforms  but
not yet seeing many of the benefits'.

growth is linked to financial  services,  advertising  and  other
business  services.  Just the sort of area of the economy in fact
that the GATT was supposed to  bring  west  whilst  manufacturing
industries  took  to  the  Special  Economic  Zones of the poorer
countries. But when computer programmers in India get salaries of
around  2,000  per annum we can start to understand why the banks
are laying off staff here in the UK.
 Meanwhile according to last year's report on  Human  Development
from  the  UNDP  the rural poor in India, 'are paying a price for
the reforms but not yet seeing many of the benefits'. A third  of
the  population  are living in absolute poverty and the record in
the  child  labour  and  literacy  stakes  are  abysmal  (see  J.
Shotton's Inside India Freedom  19/3/94 for a deeper analysis).
 How right the UNDP was in saying that the poor  have  not  'yet'
seen  the  benefits.  How wrong they were in the implication that
the benefits are on the way. The TNCs within the framework of the
GATT  and  with  the  full  support  of the Indian state have the
economy  sown  up  even  in  the  rural   areas.   Copyright   on
'scientifically improved' seeds is now enshrined in international
law bringing with it a need for fertilisers and  pesticides  sold
by   the   same  international  corporations  who,  it  has  been
calculated, stand to make some $61bn a year from the third  world
in  this  area alone.The agreement will deny farmers the right to
the traditional re-use of seed from their harvest and if they use
seed  of  their own the onus will be on them to prove its purity.
This is all a bit hard to swallow given that the  materials  used
by  the  companies  in seed production have been derived from the
traditional farmers  who  have  cultivated  them  over  countless
generations.

RESISTANCE

 This could prove the end of the line for  the  small  farmers...
but they are not going to take it lying down.
  The fightback is being spearheaded by the 10m. strong Karnataka
Farmers  Union.  This grassroots organisation is run on anarchist
lines. Much in the tradition of  syndicalist  organisations  like
the  Spanish CNT it is locally based with no centralised funding.
It is non-sectarian and has managed to overcome  Indian  internal
divisions  as enshrined in the caste system. On Gandhi's birthday
last year 500,000 assembled in Bangalore to hear speeches  before
taking  direct  action  against the local offices of Cargill, the
main TNC involved in the seed dispute in  the  region.  Meanwhile
the  union  is putting the principles of mutual aid into practice
by setting up co-operatives to develop, store and exchange  their
own seeds.
 Professor M. D. Najundaswami, a key figure in the union,  claims
traditional   farming  methods  are  more  effective  than  those
espoused by modern agri-business because they

Professor Najundaswami is convinced that India should  have  gone
down the road of Gandhi's village based development model

rely less on inputs and less on  water.  The  traditional  system
also  provides,  free,  its  own  organic manure and there is the
advantage of food and fodder crops being able to share  the  same
fields.  Such  traditional  methods  have  broken  records in the
production of rice, sorghum, wheat and sugar. As we saw in  China
so we see repeated in India: traditional practices in the primary
economic sectors such as food  production  are  superior  to  the
advances  of  the  scientific  west.  Professor  Najundaswami  is
convinced that India should have gone down the road  of  Gandhi's
village based development model rather than Nehru's state-planned
superstructure, 'We now have the final stage of the process:  the
current craze for trade liberalisation and globalisation. This is
not right for India: we have  not  solved  the  problems  of  our
people'.
 Najundaswami clearly identifies himself with that movement which
bubbles   up  in  different  forms  throughout  Asia  and  indeed
throughout the world. Whether you call it  Sarvodaya,  or  Ching-
t'ien  or indeed Anarchism perhaps doesn't really matter. As long
as people recognise authority  for  what  it  is  and  oppose  it
consistently there is still hope.

FT 30/3/94 Chomsky Year 501 p115 ibid p116 Information  from  The
Guardian 11/3/94