Letters: A laissez-faire approach

This refers to Bhupesh Bhandari’s article “The man who hates profit” (White Knight, October 26). India started its march to prosperity through an untested idea of a mixed economy. That economy was initially functioning on the lines of Fabian socialism. The nation’s earnings were placed at the disposal of bureaucrats and politicians in the form of public sector undertakings (PSUs). Politics was to drive the economy. The Constitution was merely a copy of the Government of India Act, 1935, with no time given for its evolution. Such an unwieldy Constitution allowed quotas to proliferate at the cost of national growth. In this context, I believe we need to switch to a laissez-faire approach by adopting more of a free market, dismantling the loss-making PSUs (like Air India) and rewriting the Constitution duly embodying experiences gained in the last six decades. This will ensure a clean slate for the future.

J C Joshi, Lucknow

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