Indian PM Manmohan Singh has started a debate over inequality in India in a surprising speech last week. Especially surprising for the Oxford educated economist Dr. Singh who is the architect of India's liberalization. Also interestingly he quoted Keynes from "Economic Consequences of the Peace", which may provide a hint to his ideological orientation. http://www.mbauniverse.com/innerPage.php?id=ne&pageId=326 -raghu.
-------------------------snip In a modern, democratic society, business must realize its wider social responsibility. The time has come for the better off sections of our society - not just in organized industry but in all walks of life - to understand the need to make our growth process more inclusive; to eschew conspicuous consumption; to save more and waste less; to care for those who are less privileged and less well off; to be role models of probity, moderation and charity. ............... Four, resist excessive remuneration to promoters and senior executives and discourage conspicuous consumption. In a country with extreme poverty, industry needs to be moderate in the emoluments levels it adopts. Rising income and wealth inequalities, if not matched by a corresponding rise of incomes across the nation, can lead to social unrest. The electronic media carries the lifestyles of the rich and famous into every village and every slum. Media often highlights the vulgar display of their wealth. An area of great concern is the level of ostentatious expenditure on weddings and other family events. Such vulgarity insults the poverty of the less privileged, it is socially wasteful and it plants seeds of resentment in the minds of the have-nots.
