Articles by Satish Jha

UNCTAD's New Thinking Satish Jha COMPARED to its glorious beginning in the mid-sixties UNCTAD has not been known lately for being an effective instrument of expressing the 'other' viewpoint. Blamed by the mainstream developmental institutions as soft-headed and by those whose cause it is supposed to espouse as ineffective, it has been facing the worst of both worlds. Twenty-five years old now, it is planning to build a new reputation for itself. Its Trade Development Report, 1989 (TDR-89) is supposed to give us an idea how. But if the latest TDR is any guide, it is evident that it may not be easy to evolve an'UNCTAD way of looking at things as they are or as they should be.

for tax-payers would appear to have been conceived on the principle of a continuing voluntary disclosures' scheme which in the past was regarded as a time-bound ad hoc measure. The business tycoons should be fully satisfied by such a dispensation. The government-business relationship had dramatically improved and strengthened in the wake of the economic liberalisation policy and the fiscal measures introduced in last year's budget. There was some strain and friction in the relationship for a brief while when perceptions of the two sides about the implications of and obligations under the new economic and fiscal policy differed somewhat. The problems would appear to have been now sorted out and the business- government relationship is moving in the desired direction under the policy of market- oriented economic liberalisation. Those who ruefully noted after the presentation of the budget this year a fall in share prices and 'complete demoralisation' in the stock markets which had been earlier booming were, it now turns out, unduly alarmed by the populist gestures of the government. They have now every reason to rejoice and took forward to high profits and good business.