India’s Budget, Absolute Monarchy to Absolute Democracy,Reclaiming Asia from the West

machadinha

Couple of interesting pieces on ZNet:

Girish Mishra: Theoretical Basis of India’s Budget 2005-06
"Ever since its presentation to the Lok Sabha, the Central Budget 2005-06 has been continuously dominating public discussion, though many other topics have come and gone. Most media people and their pay masters in trade and industry are euphoric. Tarun Das of CII has termed it as “a dream budget”. The middle class salaried people are busy calculating their gains and losses on the basis of reduction in their tax liabilities and hike in petroleum prices and 0.1 per cent new tax on the withdrawal of Rs 10,000 or more from the bank in a single day. Trade and industry people are happy owing to reductions in corporate income tax and customs. Economists are debating the likely impact of these proposals on economic growth and fiscal deficit. While UPA constituents are showering praise, the NDA is either ignoring or finding fault with it..."

Kanak Mani Dixit: Absolute Monarchy to Absolute Democracy
"Nearly two months after the royal takeover of 1 February, it becomes clear that the regime change conducted by King Gyanendra was an attempt to bring back authoritarian rule on the pretext of tackling the Maobaadi rebellion. Since a military solution to the insurgency is impossible even by the reckoning of senior army officers, serving and retired, the proper course would have been to build a front with the political parties and then to engage the rebels. Instead, the king exploited the differences between the parties to prepare the ground for his takeover..."

Wang Hui: Reclaiming Asia from the West
"ASIA, like Europe, wants to create regional institutions strong enough to counterbalance the power of the United States. Two apparently different ideas -- liberal globalisation and the new empire -- have knit together military unions, collaborative economic associations and international political institutions to set up a global order encompassing politics, the economy, culture and the military. This order may be called neoliberal imperialism..."

See also ZNet's AsiaWatch Section.

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