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RESISTING CORPORATE INDIA - RECLAIMING DEMOCRATIC SPACES
SETTING THE AGENDA
SPECIAL EDITION OF FOCUS ON INDIA
NOVEMBER 2006
This special issue of Focus on India was released during the
India Social Forum (9-13 November 2006) in New Delhi. It can be downloaded from
www.focusweb.org/india
EDITORIAL
NEW STRUGGLES AND ALLIANCES NEEDED TO REALISE ANOTHER WORLD
In India it’s not business as usual. Economists claim that
India is hurtling along the superhighway of growth and audaciously predict that
alongwith China, Russia and Brazil, it will be one of the giant economic forces
in the coming century. The Outlook magazine recently (November 6 2006) carried
a cover story with the title ‘Taking over the World’ waxing eloquent on
India Incorporated and how the axis of corporate power is now shifting from
Europe to Asia. While there is quite a bit of corporate spin and hyperbole
surrounding these prophesies they should not be underestimated by progressive
forces. From a business point of view India is firmly on a corporate-led
reforms trajectory that seems irreversible – there will be more Special
Economic Zones (SEZs), new world class infrastructure in urban areas, super
highways, five-star hotels, airports, super markets and shopping malls and less
of government intervention in public policy.
The Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
government has closely worked as an agent of big business. Nothing epitomises
this better than a banner sponsored by the UPA Government and Confederation of
Indian Industry (CII) at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year
under the ‘India Everywhere’ campaign which said ‘15 years, six governments,
five prime ministers, one direction’. Reality is not far from this. Corporate
India is on the warpath; between January and October 2006 Indian companies
spent thrice the money buying foreign firms compared to what MNCs have acquired
here.
But alls not well with the Corporate India project. Mobilisations
across the country, by farmers and social movements against SEZs, have dampened
the government’s enthusiasm. The stalemate in the World Trade Organisation and
the likely collapse of the Doha round of trade talks is good news for the
world’s poor and bad news for corporate India. Trade liberalisation is down but
not out yet and India has been pushing for bilateral free trade arrangements in
South and South East Asia. The spectre of urban chaos looms large with schemes
such as the National Urban Renewal mission. Urban groups across the country
have questioned the anti-democratic and pro-corporate nature of the mission and
are working on alternative visions for people friendly cities. The
Bush-Manmohan nuclear deal will heighten geo-political tensions in South Asia
and beyond. The deal is under fire in the US Congress and there are fissures
among members of the UPA government.
Social movements, agriculture and labour groups and other
civil society formations must create more effective alliances and prepare for a
new kind of struggle. A struggle to squarely take on the stratagem of Corporate
India and reclaim democracy. This would require the return of people power. The
task before progressive forces in the country is formidable – it is not only to
stop and roll back the assault of corporate India but also to be able to create
the space for building alternatives to the current system. As thousands of
activists converge in Delhi, we hope the ISF infuses a spirit of hope and
optimism.
In solidarity,
Focus on the Global South, India.
November 2006.
CONTENTS
Section 1: Trade
1. Doha Round Collapse Best for Developing Countries -
Walden Bello
2. New Seeds Bill: The Fast Track to doom of the Indian
Farmer - Afsar H. Jafri
3. Services Industry Drives India GATS Negotiations - Benny
Kuruvilla
4. Chavez’s ALAB Project: The Dawn of A New Integration? - Susana Barria
5. China, the WTO and Globalization: Looking Beyond Growth
Figures - Dorothy Guerrero
Section 2: Defending and Reclaiming the Commons
6. Water: Forfeiting Democracy for the Mirage of 24/7 –
Afsar H. Jafri
8. Land-Grab By Rich: The Politics of SEZ’s in India -
Sanjay Sangvai
9. Micro Credit,
Macro Problems - Walden Bello
10. Twelve Things the ADB Does Not Want You to Know by
Peoples Forum against ADB
11. Fuelling
Discontent: The World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Singapore -
Shalmali Guttal
12. The IMF: Shrink it or Sink it - A Consensus Declaration
and Strategy Paper
Section 3: Peace and Human Security
13. The Bush-Manmohan Nuclear Compact: Heightening
Insecurities in South Asia and Beyond - Varsha Rajan Berry
14. In Beirut, Jubilation and Trepidation - Herbert Docena
15. International Conference to Abolish Foreign Military
Bases, 5-9 March 2007 in Ecuador
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