Has liberalisation helped the Indian poor? This collection of case studies is one of the strongest evidences that it hasn't.
It takes 89 days of procedures to start a business in India, compared to 11 days in Pakistan and 7 in Singapore. The licence-permit-quota raj for the poor is still alive and kicking. Did you know over 80 per cent of Delhi’s cycle-rickshaws are illegal? That since it’s illegal for the puller to own a rickshaw he can’t pull, he must forever be poor?
There are more staggering examples. Economic freedom is more valuable for those at the bottom rung of the development ladder. Why doesn’t the state let the poor live and work? Why don’t we have laws that pass the Livelihood Freedom test? Surely questions that need to be honestly answered in the 15th year of reforms.