NEW DELHI, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Nobel economic prize winner Amartya Sen Monday called on India to make a fundamental change of its politics and political economy, according to Press Trust of India.
Calling for reforms, Nobel laureate economist Sen said India needs a fundamental change in politics to usher in an inclusive and equitable growth, as he said the situation in India is "very difficult" for the country's majority poor and low-income communities.
"We do want many, many changes that include reforms, which has made a contribution to India and could make more but it requires not just policy changes, it also requires quite a fundamental change in politics and the political economy of the country," Sen was quoted as saying Monday when launching his new book "An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions" he co-authored with Belgian-Indian economist Jean Dreze.
"We believe that India is in a very difficult situation now and the glitter of the achievement might well hide that," he said at the book's launching ceremony in Kolkata.
"An educated and healthy workforce brings economic growth and for that we need a fundamental change," Sen added.
He also criticized the government for being biased against the country's poor while protecting the interests of the minority rich.
For instance, as much as 2 percent of India's total GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is spent on power subsidies for the relatively privileged who can afford to drive private cars, even as one third of Indian households have no electricity connection at all, he said.
"It's an effort to engage and tell India how and why it has ended up behind an economically far weaker country like Bangladesh in key human indicators," he added.
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