Posts by atanu

The story is simple. A newspaper, Mid-Day, had published a series of articles critical of a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. Last week a ruling by the Delhi High Court sentenced four journalists associated with those articles to four months of imprisonment because it held that the reports amounted to contempt of the Supreme Court.

The Indian press protested that ruling and when the journalists approached the Supreme Court, it put the sentencing of the High Court on hold. [BBC story here.]

The Indian economy has been growing rapidly the last few years and necessarily requires enormous amounts of energy for it. As it is dependent on imported hydrocarbon fuels for its needs, it has an interest in those states which are potential energy suppliers. The stability of Myanmar is a matter of concern for India as it is considering investing US$ 150 million in natural gas exploration there.

As an economist with an interest in economic development, I have always been intrigued by the relationship between democracy and economic growth. That is so because I call two distinct places home: India, where I was born and grew up, and which is the largest democracy in the world; and the US, where I spent much of my adult life, attended universities and worked, and which is the most powerful and successful democracy in the world.

I confess that to whatever extent the idea of democracy is appealing to me, I am not overly impressed with the actual implementation of democracy in India. I am also not sure that granting universal adult franchise was the right thing to do at the time of India’s political independence in 1947. Democracy, it appears to me, is not just about exercising choice but rather it is about informed choice. I think that in India we have what I call a “cargo cult” democracy, as I have argued before on my blog.