KOCHI:Noted economist and writer S Gurumurthy on Saturday said that the whole of the present day economic system was founded on irreverence, with devastating consequences. “Social engineering takes place by undermining traditions, culture, respect and reverence,” Gurumurthy said while delivering the keynote address at the inaugural session of the National Seminar on Integral Humanism, organised by the Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram at Bhaskareeyam here. “Modernity lacks reverence. No reverence for nature, parents and teachers. Today, the entire economic system is founded on irreverence, and the consequences are devastating,” he said.
Gurumurthy said that Asia successfully recovered from the economic crisis of 2008, unlike the West that is yet to find a way out, because it followed a market economy but stopped short of converting society into a market. “In 2008, a shock of high magnitude came, from which the West has not recovered yet, but Asia survived. That is because Asia follows market economy, but has not transformed society into a market. There is a huge difference between the two. That is where Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya becomes relevant. Society is the centre of economic polity,” he said.
Gurumurthy pointed out that Deendayalji studied society empirically. “Empirical study is the way of seers. It is not research. It is backed by intuition, intense identity with the people and practice of self-discipline of a higher order that enables the person to intuitively understand what society is. That is what Mahatma Gandhi did,” he said.
India is a country that has made progress without any significant foreign investment. Gurumurthy attributed that progress to the ‘saving culture’ of household. “In India, family savings has risen from 19 per cent to 29 per cent, and national savings from 23 per cent to 37 per cent. National investment has gone up from 24 per cent to 40 per cent, which accounts for nearly ten per cent of the GDP growth. In contrast, in a highly individualised country like the U.S, savings fell sharply from 80 per cent to -20 per cent in the third quarter of 2006, which is a reason why that the U.S is yet to recover from the economic crisis,” he said. “At a G-20 governors’ meet in October 2005, it was observed that there was no uniform development model that fits all countries. Each country should be able to choose development policies and approaches that suit its specific characteristics, while benefiting from the accumulated experiences in policy making. This is the first admission of failure by the West in its own economic architecture,” Gurumurthy pointed out.
“It has been taken to the extent wherein sexual freedom is considered as modernity. The hyper individualism practiced over the family and society ends up producing a shameless society,” he said. “In 1965, the divorce rate in America was very small. Today, 55 per cent of the first marriages end up in divorce there. As much 67 per cent of the second marriages end up in divorce. If someone marries for a third time, 73 per cent of such cases end up in divorce. Nearly 51 per cent of the families are led by single parents. That is the result of the hyper-individualism practiced over the father, mother, family, neighbourhood and society. You produce a shameless society,” he said.