I was reading the book called power politics written by the famous author Arundhati Roy. She is thee author of “ The God of Small Things”. I find the book very interesting in the issue of international terrorist, the similarity of strategies and policies at global and national level. I decide to write a review of the book and share it to my fellow Ethiopians. I divide it in to two main sections. The first four pages are the whole idea of the book. In the second section I try to point out the similarities of the main content of the book and Ethiopian politics and development strategy at present.

Section 1. Book Review

Introduction

Arundhati Roy, author of The God of Small Things, wrote the book ‘Power Politics’ about how the construction of big dams, privatization of essential resources such as water and energy, and public services is dangerous for the livelihood of the majority in India. Roy mentioned about corruption in the developing country, nuclear disarmament, global capitalism and terrorism. The outcomes of self contend strategy and use of violence against innocent people. She also highlighted the importance of working to bring democracy for all that is compatible to the culture and religion of all.

The first part of the book is about globalization and life of the poor versus rich people. Roy strongly disagrees with globalization and argues that globalization only benefits the rich and affects the poor. To support her argument she talked about the agreement reached between Indian government and World Trade Organization. Technically this agreement lets the Indian government to export its product but in practice it can not do so. Actually the points she mentioned about globalization is true, trade can make a real difference in the fight against global poverty if it is traded fairly. International charities such as Oxfam oppose globalization and argue globalization is not in the benefit of poor country. Oxfam ranks Europe first followed by US, Canada and Japan according to an index which measures trade protectionism .They impose the highest trade barriers to the most importance industrial products to poor countries. "If Africa, East Asia, South Asia and Latin America were each to increase their share of world exports by 1%, the resulting gains in income could lift 128 million people out of poverty”.

Part 1. Construction of dams in India , corruption , environmental issue

Roy returns to the issue of the Narmada valley development project. This project displaced millions of poor people, ravaged eco-system and biodiversity. The dominant corporation that produces power equipment and other power companies such as ENRON want to privatize the natural resource and the infrastructure with the cooperation of Indian political party. Roy says “To snatch these away sell them as stock to private companies is a barbaric dispossession on a scale that has no parallel in history” . On the contrary Indian authorities do not show any sign to protect the environment from being polluted by big factories that affects the livelihood of thousands of poor people who depend on the natural resources for survival. It suggests that the global companies are running only for their own interest with no consideration for the poor which I believe is unethical business strategy that is why this global companies are out of market now a days.

Some study showed that the contribution of these large dams to Indian food production is less than 10% , and ten percent of the total grain produced every year is spoiled or eaten by rats. The cost of electricity is more expensive than the existing power company. The indigenous company are forced to be out of market that can produce the same product and sell at cheaper price. The strategy followed by Indian government on the construction of big dams to boost its economic growth was carried out with out carefully studying the cost benefit analysis, consulting or informing to the public about the development projects. It is important to see that with out the participation of the general public any development plane is not feasible and will make it unsuccessful. Now India is paying out more money in interest than its debt that is used in construction of those dams which in turn affects Indian expected economic growth.

Quaraw,

I read the second part of your review first. Now I see that you have discussed the experience of Indian dam construction. One thing I want to mention is the difference between foriegn intervention of the market and the participation of indigeneous private sector in some key economic sectors like power generation. Most people argue that the private sector is only interested in profit and that some common intersts may be breached by this private companies (like pollution of the environment, and monopoly of market) But we have no proof that the same greed and carelessnes does not exist in the government. Infact I have a feeling that there is more of them in the government that corporate companies.

I have no opposition that the governement is spearheading the power generation industry but my opposition is that it is monopolizing it. indegeneous private companies should be allowed to participate in this sector and it is their right. I like the policies of the government in the banking industry. It kept to be the leading bank owner, It separated regulatory part of it (National bank) and the corporate (Commercial bank and Development bank) It also allowed the Indegeneous private companies to participate in the sector. I know that one style doesnt fit all but the governments policy in the banking industry is a good balance of free market and government intervention.