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The reasons for these conflicts are essentially economic.
We spoke with Rajani Desai, an economist with an Oxford degree.
She's optimistic
and speaks of her country with a kind of scientific detachment.
"There is American influence, certainly,
but it's limited.
Foreign businesses here don't directly influence Indian politics.
They pressure their governments to do it.
Our weakness isn't that they're here, but that we need them here.
We need their raw materials and technology.
So they can impose their terms.
India is socialist in that the government tries to structure the economy,
and capitalist in that businesses are allowed to develop freely
within the government's framework.
Are we badly administered? Yes, we are.
Nothing can be done at this time.
You understand, in such a stratified society,
with such a small elite,
one has every reason to act in one's own interests.
And this is what is done."
What are the reasons behind the economic crisis?
"Mainly the failure of the monsoons in the last two years.
The drought caused poor harvests,
and since the economy is mainly agricultural, grain prices rose.
This was taken as a signal to curb investment, and that led to recession.
We've stepped up grain production.
We still need 15 million more tons a year, but we'll make it.
There's a new generation of capitalist farmers
who use modern methods and have investment capital.
They've been very successful.
But we can't expect this to happen all over the country.
There are so many peasants and so little arable land
that industrialization is necessary,
if only to absorb some of the excess rural population."
This beautiful young woman who speaks like a technocrat
is a living example of Westernized India.