The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Liberalisation as an economic model has failed, say experts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 06, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Liberalisation as an economic model has failed, say experts

Staff Reporter

Conference on corporate social responsibility held at University of Madras

— Photo: K. Pichumani

Social commitment: TIIC Chairperson Sheela Rani Chunkath releasing a souvenir at a conference on corporate social responsibility organised at the University of Madras on Wednesday. Vice-Chancellor of the university S. Ramachandran (centre) and political scientist Kancha Ilaiah are in the picture.

Chennai: The global economic crisis has shown that liberalisation as an economic model has failed and the time has come for more government regulation, a panel of experts from various fields said here on Wednesday.

At a conference on corporate social responsibility organised at the University of Madras, economist Venkatesh Athreya said that the global economy rested on structured inequality. The country had shown unequal growth in various sectors. The dominance of financial capital from outside had curbed autonomous development, he said.

“Capital demands the right to move across boundaries… But nobody is talking about free global movement of labour,” Mr.Athreya said. With cutback in subsidies and opening up of agricultural imports, the number of people below the poverty line in India would far exceed any official estimates, he said.

Sheela Rani Chunkath, chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Industrial Investment Corporation, agreed with Mr. Athreya’s view that the government should have more regulations for the corporate sector.

“The agenda should not be left with the corporations,” she said.

Ms. Chunkath said that corporate social responsibility (CSR) considered by many firms as “risk management insurance” in order to build their image and brands.

It could also be used to distract the public from ethical questions about the firm’s policies or actions. CSR could even be used as a strategy to keep away the government from raising concerns, she said.

“CSR should not become an excuse for the government to shirk its duty,” Ms. Chunkath said. She stressed the need for extended producer responsibility, wherein the cost of the safe disposal of the product is added to its cost. This would serve to protect the environment, she said.

Political scientist Kancha Ilaiah said that corporate firms needed to first think of “caste responsibility.”

Most corporate companies were casteist and their fundamental responsibility was to address this issue, he said.

Ms. Chunkath released the conference souvenir. The programme was jointly organised by the departments of Anthropology and Management Studies. Madras University Vice-Chancellor S.Ramachandran spoke.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu