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For
reforms to succeed
Why
do economic reforms make nil progress in India? Blame New Delhi for
the narrow view it takes of the means as well as the ends.
The
support of the masses is essential for the reforms to take off. How
to get this is the question which was never posed or answered.
On
the other hand, wrong messages went forth. The reforms spoke only of
wealth creation. Not its distribution. The common man, as a result,
sees only more misery ahead.
The
world may go into recession again. Even so, vast economies, such as
India and China, can unlock unlimited resources to feed high growth
rates. With proper reform measures in place. China, in this respect,
is way ahead.
What
should India do? Elsewhere in this issue we have attempted to
examine the omissions and commissions of the finance ministers, the
custodians of the monetary and fiscal systems.
There
were three of them, excluding a freak one. None of them measured up.
They were all without a feel for the real dimensions of the
challenges. In vain they looked for clues within the framework of
traditional fiscal tools. The radical steps needed to inspire public
confidence never came.
It
is not a question of competency. But political brain. And the knack
for packaging harsh proposals. If subsidies must go for the good of
all, they must. But the neglected lot have a right to ask why. Why
must only the poor pay? Why not tap the hidden wealth of the tax
evaders to pay for reforms? It is not that New Delhi did not know
how much could be easily unearthed.
To
be sure, reforms are expensive to begin with. And no reforms will
succeed unless the finance minister(s) hears the rationale being
endorsed on the street.
The
finance minister who offers cheaper cars but costly sugar and rice
cannot raise public confidence in economic reforms. Dr.Manmohan
Singh, P Chidambaram and Yashwant Sinha failed in their mission for
just this reason. To them reforms meant low cost luxuries.
Finally
Jaswant Singh replaced Yashwant Sinha. Before the change, aspirants
in the queue included Dr.Rangarajan, Bimal Jalanan and Arun Shourie,
according to newspaper reports. Unfortunately none of them makes the
grade. All with improper credentials and poor track records. Even
long years in politics (or on the fringe) are no guarantee for an
insightful mindset and imaginative action plans. Some of the
ministers’ contempt for the masses came to the fore in the scandal
over VSNL.
In
short, there is a short-supply of dependable candidates for the
finance minister’s post. One nostalgically longs for a V.P.Singh
in the saddle. Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani also have
the necessary breadth of personality and the political instincts.
However, they are far too big for North Block. As it is, it looks
like the cause of economic reforms will lapse by default.
That
could spell disaster. For it is facile to chalk up the deadly
eruption in Gujarat and other places to communal machinations alone.
The underlying factor is socio-economic discontent.
The
power of an angry people is far more volcanic than all the RDX with
the terrorists. Procrastination is ruinous. More so when the jobless
rate is set to double in five years. Are the Haryana farmers showing
the way? |
