Industry Interests, Institutional Inertia and Activism. Late Liberalization and the Environment in India

Abstract

India’s economic reforms have been in the news since the country formally adopted a Globalization-Liberalization (G-L) model in 1991. The formal ushering in of G-L followed the return to power of the federal government (centre) of the Congress party which was in opposition for just under two years. The general elections of 1996, when the Congress party lost, also put the reforms on the front pages with some expectation that the new government would cause a change in the economic scenario. As will be seen from our discussion, such expectations were soon belied. Indeed, it is arguable that they were hardly ever realistic in the first place.