However, he said, it was unfortunate that instead of this initiative, the political parties were interested in fomenting religious fanaticism and not identifying and addressing themselves to serious issues.

Prof Sen said that he did not believe that quotas and reservations were not the main solution but could work towards a meaningful end as part of a corrective whole. It was important to bring the social and economic priorities together and hone them into a single whole.

On globalisation, he said that while he had no major fight with the concept, it was equally true that the politics behind the philosophy had to be used correctly and be connected to ultimately to the welfare of the people.It was necessary to root out problems like illiteracy and poverty first, he said.``If a majority of the people are illiterate, how can they even grasp the finer points and learn from the better ideas of globalisation?’’ he asked. He said that one of the biggest success stories of recent times, China, had accorded topmost priority to education which was one reason why it had forged ahead of the other south Asian countries and indeed, some in the world.

The Nobel winner also dismissed the suggestion that the bullish share market was an indicator of the virtues of globalisation.``The poor must come up first. Without that,nothing is possible.This is only a temporary phenomenon,’’ he added.