Icons and reform politics in India: The case of S. M. Krishna

Asian Survey

Volumn 46, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 238-256

  Pani, Narendar ^a  

^a TIME   (India)

Author keywords

Bangalore; Icons; India; Karnataka; Reforms

Indexed keywords

POLITICAL ECONOMY; POLITICAL REFORM;

ASIA; EURASIA; INDIA; KARNATAKA; SOUTH ASIA;

EID: 33646251622     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/as.2006.46.2.238     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. See Rob Jenkins, Democratic Politics and Economic Reform in India (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
2. Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, "Iconization of Chandrababu: Sharing Sovereignty in India's Federal Market Economy," Economic and Political Weekly 36:18 (May 5, 2001), p. 1542.
3. Joel S. Migdal, Strong Societies and Weak States: State-Society Relations and State Capabilities in the Third World (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1988), p. xvi.
4. Atul Kohli, "Centralization and Powerlessness: India's Democracy in a Comparative Perspective," in Zoya Hasan, ed., Politics and the State in India (New Delhi: Sage, 2000), p. 228.
5. Judy Pearsall, ed., The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th ed., Indian ed. (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 704.
6. This has been true even after Manmohan Singh became prime minister. As prime minister he has had to step back from his role as an iconic reformer. He cannot be seen to be opposing the entire system of patronage politics that still has a prominent place in the Congress Party. Moreover, presenting himself as an iconic reformer does not help in dealing with the left parties on whose support his government survives.
7. Rudolph and Rudolph, "Iconization of Chandrababu," p. 1542.
8. Krishna in 2001 was voted the best chief minister in the country by the news in magazine India Today, based largely on his image as a reformer.
9. Krishna studied at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, in the U.S. and later at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. For reasons best known to those in the rough and tumble world of Karnataka politics, this earned him the sobriquet of Oxford Krishna.
10. Tax Reforms Commission, First Report of the Tax Reforms Commission (Bangalore: Government of Karnataka, February 2001), p. 17.
11. Ibid., p. 15.
12. This risk was not just at the level of the state as a whole. Krishna has never been in a position to take his constituency, Maddur, in Mandya District of southern Karnataka for granted. A volatile constituency, it has not hesitated to reject Krishna in the past. Indeed, in 1984 he lost by a huge margin as the Congress candidate from the Mandya parliamentary constituency of which Maddur is a part. In fact, in the Maddur segment itself, he trailed by a margin of over 13% of the valid votes polled. This was at a time when a wave in favor of Rajiv Gandhi was giving Congress candidates comfortable victories in neighboring constituencies, just as it was across the entire country.
13. All figures on Karnataka government expenditure for the years 1998-99 to 2000-01 are from the Finance Department, government of Karnataka. The unpublished tables containing this data were provided to the author on December 31, 2001.
14. First Report of the Tax Reforms Commission, p. 39.
15. Final Report of the Tax Reforms Commission [Bangalore: Government of Karmataka), October 2001), p. 130.
16. Ibid.
17. The Final Report of the Tax Reforms Commission noted that arrack was probably being sold above the official price of Rs 85, while the end price in Maharashtra was only Rs 60, see p. 173.
18. First Report of the Tax Reforms Commission, p. 22.
19. Ibid., p. 111.
20. "With No Takers, NGEF to Get the Axe," Time of India (Bangalore), December 30, 2001, p. 5.
21. Interview with K. Jairaj, than managing director, Bangalore International Airport, Ltd., in Bangalore, January 2002.
22. Ibid.
23. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, for instance, introduced a sharp increase in water rates in December 2001.
24. "New IT Policy Forward Looking S. M. Krishna," Economic Tunes (Bangalore), March 19, 2000, p. 3.
25. "400 KM of Roads Will Be Ready by June: BCC," Times of India (Bangalore), January 10, 2000, p. 3.
26. For a note on the links between various BATF members and Infosys, see Krishna Prasad, "Infy Rules," Outlook, December 17, 2001, p. 72.
27. Managing India, telecast by CNBC India, January 21, 2002.
28. These bodies were the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Bangalore Police, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Bangalore Development Authority, and Bangalore Telecom.
29. For a graphic descrition of events on polling day, see "Bangalorean Shows He's Not Bothered," Times of India, November 12, 2001, p. 1.
30. See, for instance, the advertisement in New Indian Express (Bangalore), Fabruary 21, 2002, p. 5.
31. Figures provided by Industries and Commerce Department, Government of Karnataka.
32. Although precise figures are not available, a chart produced in an internal document of the Industries and Commerce Department, Government of Karnataka, a copy of which was given to tha author, indicates that Karnataka's shara of All-India FDI declined from around 19% in July 1999 to around 5% in August 2001.
33. Figures on Karnataka government expenditure for 2000-01 are from the Finance Department, Government of Karnataka. The unpublished tables containing this data were provided to the author on December 31, 2001.
34. Figures presented by K. Jairaj, then commissioner of Bangalore Mahangara Palike, to a BATF review meeting in July 2000, Bangalore.
35. Presentation, see ibid.
36. Managing India.
37. Sara Webb, "Government-linked Firms Spark Debate in Singapore," Asian Wall Street Journal, December 26, 2001, .