crony capitalism is a much deliberated and researched subject. with the rise of democracy, capitalism has lost its past authoritative hold on the world economy or on economy of individual nations. it may prevail in its present debilitated form in some countries of west asia or africa, even asia, what has superseded it is the ‘crony middleism’ that prevails in contemporary world, allowed in the garb of democracy and fundamental rights.
the middle class of all developed countries and of developing ones has become a formidable force, politically as well as financially. laws are devised, amended, repealed and most policy actions are taken in the backdrop of responses that emanate from the middle class.
this so-called cluster relishes exotic luxuries once enjoyed only by nobles and rich. they drive air conditioned cars, own houses, enroll in famed educational institutions and are then easily absorbed in the job market that is driven more by individual charisma than by capability.
agreed, this doesn’t call for any knee-jerk change in social order, nor does this invite any usurping of positions held by middle class, a thought over desired egalitarianism is, however, called for.
let’s look at this phenomenon in a more realistic manner.
you can access websites of leading news houses and almost every headline would either involve news that impacts the middle class, or the news itself will cover an incident that occurred with a member of this class.
farmers die in hundreds and thousands, families are reeling under the vicious cycle of debt; however what makes headlines is the abduction of a middle class household’s daughter from outside a metro station and murder of a goa perfumer.
it is the indifference that we have developed toward the problems faced by poor which doesn’t allow us to look beyond repo rate cuts and service tax enhances; the issues of private moneylenders and scarce credit facilities for impoverished families take a backseat.
child of a poor father has been scuffling with inefficiencies in government schools, the poor herself is being mishandled at state hospitals, the news, however, talks about delhi university’s cut-off and hillary clinton’s health. the irony is that it is not the rich who is holding the progress of poor, the real culprit today is the middle class, the concept hence emerges, ’crony middleism’.
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