Delivering Development Outcomes

The article “Delivering a Global India: Capital Flows and Development Dilemmas in South Africa’s Mining Zones” by Manjusha Nair (EPW, 24 November 2018) has built upon the ethnographic study of two Indian mining companies in exploring the nuances of the nature of capital and the delivery of developmental outcomes. It is interesting on two fronts: the role of capital, especially foreign direct investments, in bringing in development; and the extent of capital utility in delivering the outcomes of development to local communities. The author has, by and large, succeeded in achieving the first intended goal, that is, highlighting how the Indian mining companies are operating capital and their role in the expansion of South–South cooperation. In the fulfilment of the promises of capital in generating employment through the transfer of skills, both Indian companies have achieved an optimum level of progress.

To quote, in spite of the “state pressure, Indian firms were able to firmly implement some of the projects on ownership and were trying to incorporate diversity and some skill transfer.” However, what is not adequately clear from the findings is the behaviour of firms in rejecting the role of trade unions in workers’ welfare. Had the author elaborated this point, at least in the section on work cultures, it would have given the reader a holistic picture of the firms’ behaviour towards workers’ well-being. It is also necessary to locate the firms’ conduct in explaining the dialectical relationship of capital and labour.