He has been a recluse for years now. His antipathy towards Consumerism and Free Markets are well known. But he has a point that all those who swear by “Right of Center” ideals must take notice of. Former general secretary of the BJP, K N Govindacharya in a free wheeling interview to Arun Chaubey of the Zee News spoke on a number of issues but one caught Offstumped’s attention.
When asked the below question
You have spared a lot of time in studying the impact of liberalisation on Indian society. What is your observation?
Govindacharya reiterated his known views against Markets and Consumerism. It was not what he said against Markets and Consumerism that was new and significant but what he said about how these issues ought to be tackled.
I feel that the battle has to be fought on multiple planks. It has to be decentralised, diversified and localised so that localised communities which defy the dominance of the state as well as market and yet are able to lead a prosperous life based on inter-dependence and cultural advancement. Besides, it requires a three-pronged robust effort in the direction of intellectual, constructive and educational activities in a decentralised, localised mode.
Unlike most Left of Center ideologues (some confused to the Right) who see the “State” as the panacea for all ills and the doer of all goods, Mr. Govindacharya is breaking ranks here to advocate greater autonomy to local communities by freeing them from the clutches of centralized bureaucracies and State Control and giving them the choice of charting their economic course.
He goes on to further expand his thinking on the role played by the “State” in response to the next question on whether he would return to active politics.
the state has played the role of obstructor, disruptor and speed governor upon the society
When confronted with the situation in West Bengal sometimes even well-meaning Right of Center ideologues have tended to side with State in its pursuit of “industrialisation”. Incidents like Nandigram have demonstrated to us the dangers of a “Statist” approach to economic change. Industrialisation cannot and should not be a diktat from Kolkota. It has to be a consensual choice of the local community in Nandigram. The role of the State must be limited to creating the right incentives for local communities like Nandigram to make choices in favor of industry over status quo and in facilitating the process by which local communities court industry or industy courts local communities.
Ultimately the freedom to choose the course each local community must take to realise its economic destiny, must rest with the local community. Such a choice would be consistent with the thinking of many of the founding fathers in the Constituent Assembly as well asGandhi and Golwalkar. Recently we saw echoes of the same thinking in the context of Rural Innovation Networks in Gujarat from Prof Anil Gupta of IIM Ahmedabad.
While we may agree to disagree with Mr. Govindacharya on his views on markets and consumerism we can definitely agree with him on less state intervention and more freedom to local communities.
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[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerpt He has been a recluse for years now. His antipathy towards Consumerism and Free Markets are well known. But he has a point that all those who swear by “Right of Center” ideals must take notice of. Former general secretary of the BJP, K N Govindacharya in a free wheeling interview to Arun Chaubey of the Zee News spoke on a number of issues but one caught Offstumped’s attention. When asked the below question You have spared a lot of time in studying the impact of liberalisation on Indian societ [...]
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2007/11/india-govindacharya-has-point.html
“Unlike most Left of Center ideologues (some confused to the Right) who see the “State” as the panacea for all ills and the doer of all goods,…”
Govindacharya’s is clearly a Gandhian view. But that view was laughed at by Nehru (who, apparently, is also a Gandhian!).
It’s hard to disagree that local communities should take development into their own hands and with enough success stories others, incl. places like Nandigram, will imitate.
But central/state governments does not have the patience (and such actions will also impact their swiss accounts – incl. commies). And the local governments have little power to tax and make decisions over their economic status.
Decentralization of governance is definitely the way forward for development. However it’s bound to be misused if the power is concentrated in a few local aristocrats. Especially the law and order enforcement, judiciary need to be outside the ambit of local communities to ensure that the law of the nation is upheld.
Idea Here is not about decentralization! The idea is about being more inclusive on issues relating to common man, it’s more about creating an architecture which function keeping in mind the aspiration of billion people of india living in 21st century.In short in todays india it’s not about thinking out of box and have a brilliant idea to bring succor to billion people in all sphere of life. It’s more about creating a new administrative architecture where only deliverance of policy remains paramount driving that administrative setup.I am sure a lot could be achieved by billions indians by this new and only shift in polcy by any new leader of our great country.
[...] From Article 370 to urban crowding to flexible labor laws there is a case for taking Federalism in India to its original intent as envisaged by the founding fathers of the Indian Constitution which even Swadeshi Socialists like Govindacharya recognize. [...]