PM's `one-sided’ approach on market risky: Lord Bhikhu Parekh

Prime Minster Manmohan Singh's "one-sided approach on the market", could prove risky, according to UK-based economist Lord Bhikhu Parekh.

He said Singh was pinning all hopes on the market, and "this approach is one-sided and has its dangerous blind spots".

At the same time, the approach of Jawaharlal Nehru, that laid stress on the state, and that of Mahatma Gandhi, which focused on the civil society, too, were similarly unidimensional and had pitfalls, he added.

Lord Bhikhu Parekh said this while releasing a book, `Economics, Policy and Development, An Intellectual Journey', written by former RBI governor Dr I G Patel in Vadodara last night.

According to Parekh, the three agencies of social and economic change, the state, the civil society and the market had equally vital and independent roles.

He said while reliance on the state alone led to centralisation and stifling of entrepreneurship, reliance on civil society encouraged fragmentation, lacked national coordination and led to "middle class domination of all significant activities".