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No globalisation please
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Prem Shankar Jha's new book was launched in the Capital this past week
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HEADY STUFF (From left) Sage editor, Tejeshwar Singh, Minister of Petroleum, Mani Shankar Aiyar and author Prem Shankar Jha at the book launch
If you have set your heart on a better future for our society, then take a pause. "The Twilight Of The Nation State: Globalisation, Chaos and War", the fifth book from Prem Shankar Jha, renowned author and columnist, states otherwise. The result of Jha's nine years of research, this 400-odd page book just brought out by Sage Publication, attempts to study the disorder that follows this golden age of capitalism, and warns that it will not only bring turmoil in the country but also "dismantle the entire edifice of a civilised society".
The book, released by Minister of Petroleum, Mani Shankar Aiyar at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi this past week, also says that the root of the conflict lay not in capitalism but in the technological change that drives it. And hence, the very word, `globalisation' has a dangerous meaning in Jha's dictionary. But he also offers a solution - "a common wealth for all nations" that would make each nation responsible for its contribution to the global economy.
Lighter moments
When the subject of the book is so serious, a well-attended, intellectually-charged launch, was, but natural. Yet Aiyar provided some lighter moments when he analysed the book critically in an interesting, though long speech. He said that capitalism and technology go hand in hand and hence, there is not much to worry about. He labelled Jha's book as a pessimistic account of a worried nationalist. "Jha is dreading a world that Nehru sought to dream of," he asserted.
Aiyar also said that the suggestion of common wealth is not a workable one. "The last four pages are damp squib. They threaten to thwart the `orgasmic delight' of the book. It's like wooing a beautiful girl in a café in a long drawn conversation. Just when you think that you have succeeded, the lady looks at her watch and says, `I am sorry I need to go. My husband is waiting for me'," said Aiyar to a delighted audience. Jha himself, commenting on the `damp squib' part of the book, said that what he meant in those pages was that the technology leap is bringing chaos and hence, "one should just moderate the pace of change."
RANA SIDDIQUI
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