2006年VOA标准英语-India's Communist Parties Slow Pace of Economic

（单词翻译）

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
18 June 2006

 
Activist¹ of Indian Communist Party listens to a speaker, unseen, during a demonstration² against hike in gasoline prices, in New Delhi, India, June 6, 2006 
  
India's economy has been on a high growth path in recent years, but economic reforms that could make the situation even better are lagging behind.  Analysts³ say the country's influential⁴ communist parties are obstructing⁵ economic change.

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Supporters of India's powerful communist parties recently led noisy street demonstrations⁶ in major cities, demanding the government roll back a nine-percent hike in gasoline prices.

The Congress Party-led coalition⁷ government stood fast. It said it had to raise domestic fuel rates to limit the huge losses being suffered by state-run refineries⁸ as a result of soaring global crude oil prices.

The government won that argument. But analysts say increasing opposition⁹ from two mainstream¹⁰ communist parties is putting a brake on the pace of economic reform in the country. The communists are not part of the Congress-led coalition, but the government cannot survive without their support in parliament.

As a result, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who kicked off India's economic reforms as finance minister in 1991 and is a champion of free-market policies, has quietly sidelined several important changes.

Earlier this year, communist opposition forced the government to shelve a plan to reduce food subsidies¹¹. Last year, the parties, which oppose privatization, blocked government plans to sell stakes in profitable state-run firms.

T.K. Bhaumik, the chief economist¹² at Reliance Industries, says India's failure to move ahead with tough reforms is discouraging foreign investment in a range of areas.

"Labor¹³ reform is a critical necessity, and not much action has been take," he said. "If you are talking of [a] market economy, why can't you talk of market economy for labor, why can't you talk of market economy for agriculture, why can't you talk of market economy for infrastructure¹⁴, which is another critical area of reform?"

Rigid¹⁵ labor laws forbid large manufacturing units from laying off staff without government approval. As a result, textile manufacturers tend to keep their factories small, and relatively¹⁶ inefficient¹⁷. Analysts say this is why the Indian textile industry is not witnessing the kind of growth seen in China.

Leftist parties have also blocked the government from easing restrictions¹⁸ on foreign investment in areas such as infrastructure, insurance and retailing¹⁹.

It was the move away from India's traditional socialist²⁰ economic policies, started by Mr. Singh and the Congress Party in 1991 and later accelerated by the Bharatiya Janata Party, that is credited with sparking India's current economic boom.

Despite the slow down in economic reform since Congress ousted²¹ the BJP in 2004, India's economy is still growing at a rate of around eight percent. But analysts say the communist-led obstructions are preventing the country from attracting the kind of large scale foreign investment that could raise growth to even higher levels