“Indian development presents a paradox”
By Dr DK Giri, Director of Schumacher Centre
During 26-27 November I was a part of an Indian delegation invited to attend a seminar in Paris. The bilateral seminar was between scholars from India and the European Union organized in partnership between FEPS – Foundation of European Progressive Studies (Brussels), JJF – Jean Jaures Foundation, (Paris), and ADS -Association for Democratic Socialism, (New Delhi).
The topic on 26th was “Growing Inequality, Fighting Globalization Challenges.” The discussion centred on fighting inequality in various forms, the growing disparity between rich and the poor in a global economy, ethnic deprivation and so on. The way to create an egalitarian society is to promote inclusive growth and development within multicultural and plural democracy. But Indian development presents a paradox – while it is an established democracy, a multicultural society, has a decent economic growth for over a decade or so now, poverty is still widespread, chronic and persisting. The participants agreed that while India and Europe had a lot in common, both the unions had different trajectories and strategies in their democracies. While India currently is devolutionary, European Union is evolutionary.
On the second day, we had a closed door discussion on “India and European Union, common grounds in foreign policies”. It focused mainly on the emergence of EU as a political personality in the international arena and the difficulties it faces in doing so. India’s foreign policy compulsions also figured in the deliberations. The participants rued the fact that despite shared foreign policy principles, EU and Indian are not working as closely as they should in international politics.
Our delegation consisted of myself, Prof. T.K. Oommen, Chairman, Schumacher Centre, Dr. Meera Mitra, sociologist, Member of ADS and Schumacher Centre, Dr. Subbha Somu, Member, National Commission for Backward Classes, Dr. Ravni Thakur, Associate Professor, Delhi University. The other batch of delegates from India consisted of Sri Mani Sankar Aiyer, Former Union Minister, Kanwal Sibal, Former foreign Secretary, Manoj Joshi, a senior journalist, and Uday Bhaskar, former Director, IDSA.
Overall, it was a good meeting, generating warmth, understanding and an atmosphere for a free and frank exchange of ideas.