The Times of India Inc

Now, one knows that the Times is a business, but it really is shocking sometimes the extent to which it is by business, for business, and of business. Take today's editorial, "Fast Forward." It would appear that the business classes' desperation at achieving more reforms cannot be contained now that they are rid of the Left; how else can one explain how reforms have leapt to the headlines? That is, it really needs to be explained how the opening up of the insurance sector has anything to do with our current economic situation.

That the editorial takes this as common sense is a reflection of how normal it has become for particular interests to masquerade as public interest. (As if "the public" at large would benefit from the privatization of PSUs, as recommended). Likewise for pensions and banking. These specifics speak simply to the concerns of the financial classes and are given disproportionate weight in the editorial, while key matters are addressed with bland generalizations like "agriculture" and "infrastructure" as an after-thought in the final para.

The piece appropriately begins by making reference to the SP; it could not have been a better parrot of narrow interests than Amar Singh was for Anil Amabani. How this passes for reasoned opinion is beyond me, its baldness only an indication of how firmly entrenched these interests are.