Home
Publications
Search
Register
Log inThe self-aggrandizing pomposity of Modiji
2 posters
Page 1 of 1
The self-aggrandizing pomposity of Modiji
by confuzzled dude Sat Sep 27, 2014 5:33 pm
It's odd for a political leader to take a victory lap in a foreign country. But that's exactly what Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Hindu nationalist who was elected in a landslide four months ago, will do while visiting the U.S. in a few days. He'll kick things off with a big rally on Sunday, when 20,000 Indian Americans will fete him at Madison Square Garden while thousands more (who couldn't get tickets for the sold-out event) watch the festivities on giant screens in Times Square.
Modi is officially here for the U.N. General Assembly meeting. But that's not what this is all about. From the Indian prime minister's perspective, the main purpose of this American extravaganza is surely to thumb his nose at the U.S. political establishment that placed a travel ban on him in 2005, after he presided over a pogrom of Muslims in the state of Gujarat when he was the chief minister.
https://theweek.com/article/index/268782/the-self-aggrandizing-pomposity-of-indias-narendra-modiModi seems to have the autocrat's instinct to be the star attraction. His gaudy displays — literally unprecedented for visiting leaders — are not merely unbecoming. They are also deeply disturbing, because they highlight Modi's need for self aggrandizement. That does not bode well for the massive economic decentralization — the hands-off approach — that he himself touted as essential for offering a decent standard of living to all Indians.
Maybe he'll learn to keep a lid on this tendency as he grows in office. Right now, however, it seems to pervade his economic decisions, making even many of his cheerleaders nervous about his ability to lead India's socialist, centrally planned economy to a free market one. He has pushed symbolic measures — such as scrapping the 64-year-old Planning Commission, offering grades, headmaster-like, to the council of ministers, and ordering government staff to maintain full hours — but ducked anything resembling transformative reforms.
confuzzled dude- Posts : 10205
Join date : 2011-05-08
Re: The self-aggrandizing pomposity of Modiji
by Marathadi-Saamiyaar Sat Sep 27, 2014 5:42 pm
https://theweek.com/article/index/268782/the-self-aggrandizing-pomposity-of-indias-narendra-modi[/quote]confuzzled dude wrote:
Modi is officially here for the U.N. General Assembly meeting. But that's not what this is all about. From the Indian prime minister's perspective, the main purpose of this American extravaganza is surely to thumb his nose at the U.S. political establishment that placed a travel ban on him in 2005, after he presided over a pogrom of Muslims in the state of Gujarat when he was the chief minister.
https://theweek.com/author/shikha-dalmia
Shikha Dalmia is a senior policy analyst at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank advancing free minds and free markets, and a weekly columnist here at The Week. She is also a Bloomberg View contributor and writes regularly for Reason, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and numerous other publications. She considers herself to be a progressive libertarian and an agnostic with Buddhist longings and a Sufi soul.
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM "her?" Perhaps she should go live in Agra for 2 months and comment - if she does not get raped by the love Jehadists.
Marathadi-Saamiyaar- Posts : 17675
Join date : 2011-04-30
Age : 110
Re: The self-aggrandizing pomposity of Modiji
by confuzzled dude Sat Sep 27, 2014 5:44 pm
Indeed, there are plenty of areas where sound policy seems to have taken a backseat to Modi's need for control and ego-inflating. Here are four.
1. Trade. For a leader who came to office with a mandate to focus on domestic issues, Modi has spent an inordinate amount of time tending to foreign affairs. Besides America, he has already traveled to neighboring Nepal and Bhutan, led a delegation of handpicked Indian business tycoons to Japan, and hosted the Chinese President Xi Jenping. Modi insists this is necessary commercial diplomacy to open India to investment and trade.
What was particularly dismaying is that the WTO deal should have been an easy political call for Modi given that the previous administration — no ardent friend of free trade– had already done the tough work of inking it. The only plausible explanation why Modi walked away is to keep farmers dependent on his handouts, precisely the kind of populism that he blamed for India's economic backwardness.
2. Food. Just before Modi departed for America, he inaugurated the first of many new "food parks"that the Ministry of Food Processing (yes, such a thing still exists in India!) at great expense. The idea is to avoid losses from food spoilage that farmers incur while carting their produce to urban centers on India's horrible roadways. The food parks, scattered all over rural India, will house giant storage facilities and private food processing factories that will buy produce from farmers directly.
Such efforts are testimony that Modi is not ready to live up to his admonition that the "government has no business being in business." Modi would help farmers far more by allowing foreign retailers such as Walmart into the Indian market. This plan, that Modi previously rejected, would have cost Indian taxpayers nothing, and their capital and expertise would have modernized India's supply chains.
3. Banking. Modi rose to fame — and office — by beating up on schemes that offered poor people handouts rather than opportunities. But his recent injunction to government banks to help make bank accounts universally available — with $85 of overdraft protection — is reminiscent of the heyday of socialism in the late 1960s. Then, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi nationalized India's banking sector to bring more Indians within the fold of financial system.
4. Manufacturing. While in America, Modi will push his much-hyped "Make in India" initiative to move India's industrial base from service to manufacturing and create jobs for the 10 million youth who join the workforce annually. He will assure companies that they will encounter a "red carpet not red tape" and "single window assistance" in acquiring land and licenses for new factories. But this window will be operated under the aegis of the prime minister's office, whose economic agenda will determine winners and losers. Modi has already identified 25 sectors that he wants to prioritize. This might speed up some chosen projects, but won't end India's patronage economy.
His fans should save their adulation till he shows real signs that he isn't planning to run the Indian economy like his personal fiefdom — but then such a man wouldn't court their adulation, would he?
1. Trade. For a leader who came to office with a mandate to focus on domestic issues, Modi has spent an inordinate amount of time tending to foreign affairs. Besides America, he has already traveled to neighboring Nepal and Bhutan, led a delegation of handpicked Indian business tycoons to Japan, and hosted the Chinese President Xi Jenping. Modi insists this is necessary commercial diplomacy to open India to investment and trade.
What was particularly dismaying is that the WTO deal should have been an easy political call for Modi given that the previous administration — no ardent friend of free trade– had already done the tough work of inking it. The only plausible explanation why Modi walked away is to keep farmers dependent on his handouts, precisely the kind of populism that he blamed for India's economic backwardness.
2. Food. Just before Modi departed for America, he inaugurated the first of many new "food parks"that the Ministry of Food Processing (yes, such a thing still exists in India!) at great expense. The idea is to avoid losses from food spoilage that farmers incur while carting their produce to urban centers on India's horrible roadways. The food parks, scattered all over rural India, will house giant storage facilities and private food processing factories that will buy produce from farmers directly.
Such efforts are testimony that Modi is not ready to live up to his admonition that the "government has no business being in business." Modi would help farmers far more by allowing foreign retailers such as Walmart into the Indian market. This plan, that Modi previously rejected, would have cost Indian taxpayers nothing, and their capital and expertise would have modernized India's supply chains.
3. Banking. Modi rose to fame — and office — by beating up on schemes that offered poor people handouts rather than opportunities. But his recent injunction to government banks to help make bank accounts universally available — with $85 of overdraft protection — is reminiscent of the heyday of socialism in the late 1960s. Then, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi nationalized India's banking sector to bring more Indians within the fold of financial system.
4. Manufacturing. While in America, Modi will push his much-hyped "Make in India" initiative to move India's industrial base from service to manufacturing and create jobs for the 10 million youth who join the workforce annually. He will assure companies that they will encounter a "red carpet not red tape" and "single window assistance" in acquiring land and licenses for new factories. But this window will be operated under the aegis of the prime minister's office, whose economic agenda will determine winners and losers. Modi has already identified 25 sectors that he wants to prioritize. This might speed up some chosen projects, but won't end India's patronage economy.
His fans should save their adulation till he shows real signs that he isn't planning to run the Indian economy like his personal fiefdom — but then such a man wouldn't court their adulation, would he?
confuzzled dude- Posts : 10205
Join date : 2011-05-08
Re: The self-aggrandizing pomposity of Modiji
by confuzzled dude Sat Sep 27, 2014 5:54 pm
Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:
https://theweek.com/author/shikha-dalmia
Shikha Dalmia is a senior policy analyst at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank advancing free minds and free markets, and a weekly columnist here at The Week. She is also a Bloomberg View contributor and writes regularly for Reason, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and numerous other publications. She considers herself to be a progressive libertarian and an agnostic with Buddhist longings and a Sufi soul.
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM "her?" Perhaps she should go live in Agra for 2 months and comment - if she does not get raped by the love Jehadists.
There we go again with ISIS style personal attacks
confuzzled dude- Posts : 10205
Join date : 2011-05-08
Re: The self-aggrandizing pomposity of Modiji
by Marathadi-Saamiyaar Sat Sep 27, 2014 6:12 pm
confuzzled dude wrote:Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:
https://theweek.com/author/shikha-dalmia
Shikha Dalmia is a senior policy analyst at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank advancing free minds and free markets, and a weekly columnist here at The Week. She is also a Bloomberg View contributor and writes regularly for Reason, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and numerous other publications. She considers herself to be a progressive libertarian and an agnostic with Buddhist longings and a Sufi soul.
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM "her?" Perhaps she should go live in Agra for 2 months and comment - if she does not get raped by the love Jehadists.
There we go again with ISIS style personal attacks
That is not a personal attack...that is the reflection of UP state of affairs. Personal attacks are bad only when the person is there personally in front.
Marathadi-Saamiyaar- Posts : 17675
Join date : 2011-04-30
Age : 110
Similar topics» Modiji is the best bet...
» Modiji, while you're at it
» Modiji endorses RSS
» Modiji, next only to Castro
» Comrade Modiji
» Modiji, while you're at it
» Modiji endorses RSS
» Modiji, next only to Castro
» Comrade Modiji
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum