``Problems arise when people in countries enjoying protective environment are suddenly pushed into a highly competitive situation,'' Sen told reporters at his first post-Nobel conference here.

Ironically, the governments of India and Pakistan, he said, had been active in intervening in industry which proved counter-productive while being inactive in education and health.

Globalisation, Sen said, could be a major force for prosperity only if it is backed by national social and economic policies. The blame, he said, should not rest on globalisation but on the policies with which it was ``being married.''

Reiterating that he wasn't against globalisation, Sen said that countries threatened by it were those wherehuman development was low. He suggested creating a ``social safety net''as in Western nations to safeguard people's interests when things begin to go wrong.

Praising the Delhi School of Economics, Sen said some of his best students came from there. The Nobel Laureate, who taught at DSE from 1963 to 1971, said he had done his initial work there which helped him win the prize.

Referring to the prosperity enjoyed by South East Asian countries compared to the Indian continent, Sen said it was fashionable to say that the reason was that they had opened up their markets.