The Quotable: Lord Meghnad Desai

Today, an interview with Lord Meghnad Desai appeared in The Indian Express.

I found it very interesting. Below I have listed a few quotes from that interview.

The Best Quote:

• There are no Indians left, only OBCs, Dalits, Hindus, Muslims, and you get your agent to get you your entitlement.

On the civil society fighting for it’s rights:

• I think, eventually, civil society will learn not to rely on the state for redressal of its grievances. The state does not exist to either grant human rights or to guarantee human rights. You have to fight your own fight to have them and when they are violated you have to fight and you have to fight absolutely neutrally — you have to fight for the human rights of the bad guys as well.

On NREGA:

• All you promise people is one hundred days of work. There are alternative polices which could do better. NREGA says don’t be mobile, you stay there in the villages and jobs will come to you. Historically, how have the poor got out of poverty? By their own efforts and very often by migration. NREGA is a way of doing something which is very well meaning, but it’s a palliative, it is putting a colourful Band Aid. It is not a solution to poverty.

On the fuel price hike:

• It’s not enough. Why should you or I subsidise car drivers?

On the view that duties need to be cut on import of oil

• No. I come from a country where there is more than 100 per cent hike on petrol prices, because car driving is bad, bad for the environment, bad for the traffic and it should be discouraged. And if somebody is driving, he can afford anything. Mercilessly tax them.

On globalisation:

• I believe it’s the most positive force in the world. Without globalisation, India and China would not have been where they are right now. The decline in Indian poverty levels from roughly 40 per cent in 1980 to roughly 20 per cent would not have happened without globalisation.

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