How economic freedom can be used for development...

I liked reading about late YSR in this Economic times editorial by swaminathan aiyer.

If these facts are true, then YSR was close to what a 'practical' Chief minister can do in India.

There is no denying that there will be corruption & nepotism. But to ensure social growth with emphasis on economic freedom is commendable and YSR should be lauded for that.

This article made me look up wikipedia for the term "crony capitalism".

 and i found this.

 The link has special mention for India (reference to its "licence raj" before 1991) . Interesting.. :-)

The Hindu and its Anti-american ways..

I feel the Hindu is often shortsighted in its approach  towards India's foreign policy.
Why does nt it see the bigger picture?.
The article that i am refering to is yesterday's Hindu editorial on accusing Obama of going bush way. ( Hindu Editorial , 22nd march ,2011).

Let me dissect this editorial. The editorial starts with the stands taken by different governments which have condemned  the attack on Libya. - Russia,China, Turkey etc. . This saws the seeds of Anti-America in the mind of reader.Very clever indeed!. The editorial then compares these attacks with the attacks against kosovo and claims how sarkozy is using this war to project himself as a leader.

Ok, i am not being myopic to these facts. But the Hindu "pretends" that it does not see the big picture. What about the thousands of civilians whom Gadhafi has killed?. Does Hindu have a solution towards the Libyan problem?. Else it should keep quiet. (sorry for sounding exteme here).  As written in my previous post, only practical way of dealing with a bloody ruler like Gadhafi seems to be throwing him out of the power. Peaceful talks may not work. countries are wary about the attacks killing civilians. But, what about the civilians being massacred by Gadhafi's forces?. Any day, it is better to throw him out of power.

By missing these facts and not presenting the correct picture to the reader , Hindu is just re-inforcing its anti-American stand.  When talking about an issue, it should present both sides of the story, which is not the case here. I do not agree with the editorial which misleads the public.

PS- I am not pro-US but just found the strong anti-american bias in the editorial uncalled for.

Update - Read this article in the economist - the comments are also interesting.

India's foreign policy and Libya

The allied forces led by France,the UK and the US started their defensive on gadhafi on saturday following the refuttal of ceasefire promised by him. I read yesterday that India strongly condemned the attacks on gadhafi's forces. Mind you, all the BRIC countries are on consensus on this issue. Russia too came forward and condemned the whole thing. This issue and how this has been dealt by India has raised some questions in my mind.

Firstly, India and four other abstained from voting in favor of the proposal of no-fly zone in libya last week at the UN. This was understandable. India argues that any attack will lead to loss of civilian's lives and a solution to the libyan problem should be achieved through talks and not through missiles.

Now the question is - is this the right way to handle a bloody dictator like Gadhafi?. The way he has projected himself on the TV, the way he has gone about the whole thing makes me feel that this guy is not going to oblige to any talks. He has acclaimed that he will pull each rebel out of their homes and kill each of them. So will India's approach help in his case?.

There is a saying in malayalam that  - "kuthan varunna pothinte aduth vedam othiiyitt karyam undo" . meaning is there any use reciting Vedas to a bull that is running towards to you to attack you.
I feel India's approach towards gadhafi is somewhat similar to the idea in this saying.

Agreed, the allied forces should keep in mind they don't harm the civilians.(more easily said than done).They have not done any good for themselves , when US defense secratary proclaimed yesterday that their aim is not Gadhafi! .This approach is confusing.

If they want to keep peace in libya and act in favor of people, what better approach than throw Gaghafi from power?. This should be the way forward and India will do well if it takes a strong stand in this case and not just sit at home and condemn the strikes against gadhafi.