Bees saal baad

by charvaka Mon Aug 01, 2011 1:26 am

It is twenty years since Manmohan Singh presented his momentous budget where he quoted Victor Hugo: no power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come. The Soviet Union was in the process of collapsing, and RBI had already airlifted tons of gold to the Bank of England to secure emergency cash to pay the oil import bill. The IMF was waiting in the wings to impose a "package" and a new government was in power in Delhi after elections delayed by the assassination of a former prime minister. India desperately needed some bold steps, and bold steps were taken.

As growth of 7-8% becomes the norm, there seems to be no interest in accelerating that to 9-10%. In the long run, this may not necessarily be bad though, because spreading the welfare state even as the country grows its GDP is a more stable, democratic way out of abject poverty than the path followed by China.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/07/31/bloomberg1376-LOPVGT0YHQ0X01-4HCP6FVH8BVNR6JIH9BOTOV8ND.DTL

by Marathadi-Saamiyaar Mon Aug 01, 2011 1:44 am

Actually, MMS unshacked the economy FULLY, out of necessity and as a last resort.

Actual loosening of the central economy started right after Mrs. Gandhi lost when the Janata Party went Morarji way. Indira returned in 1980/81 and continued the process stung by the abject failure of her sovietstyle 20-point economic program. With Rajiv - a west oriented common man - at her side, things started moving. Then when Rajiv took over, it was Viswanath Pratap Singh - the so called uncorruptible free market Maharaja - who loosened the central hold considerably. But, the crash and bad economy during 87-91 India's change of policies did not make much impact (remember even Bush lost due to the Economy).

But, MMS is given 100% credit for India's turnaround - forgetting PVN, VP Singh, and Indira herself.

by charvaka Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:23 am

The Economist on Singh's legacy.

http://www.economist.com/node/18988536

Many of the reformers of 1991 have, like Mr Singh, resurfaced in this
government. But the tasks they face this time round are quite different,
in two big ways. In the 1990s they freed the market for outputs,
allowing companies to produce what they liked, how they liked. But
successive governments have failed to repair the markets for inputs like
labour, land and power. Of its many delayed infrastructure projects,
70% are stalled because of problems acquiring land, a process still
governed by an 1894 law Mr Singh’s government has been trying to amend
for over three years. The government urgently needs to fix this problem,
and to reform both the labour laws, which make it too hard to fire
people, and the power market, which is haemorrhaging cash and unable to
deliver enough electricity.

by artood2 Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:32 am

Marathadi-Saamiyaar wrote:Actually, MMS unshacked the economy FULLY, out of necessity and as a last resort.

Actual loosening of the central economy started right after Mrs. Gandhi lost when the Janata Party went Morarji way. Indira returned in 1980/81 and continued the process stung by the abject failure of her sovietstyle 20-point economic program. With Rajiv - a west oriented common man - at her side, things started moving. Then when Rajiv took over, it was Viswanath Pratap Singh - the so called uncorruptible free market Maharaja - who loosened the central hold considerably. But, the crash and bad economy during 87-91 India's change of policies did not make much impact (remember even Bush lost due to the Economy).

But, MMS is given 100% credit for India's turnaround - forgetting PVN, VP Singh, and Indira herself.

IG and VPS contribution was negligible. in fact, India had to mortgage/sell a lot of gold during Chandrasekhar and that was the result of the policies of preceding govts. Madhu Dandvate, the FM during VPS govt was a socialist and not a proponent of free market. VP singh himself had finance portfolio during Rajiv Gandhi govt. His Janata Dal conssitently opposed economic reforms under PVN.

PVN on the other hand deserves a lot of credit for picking MMS and providing the political will for his program. His astute (corrupt?) political maneuvers made sure that his minority govt survived the term while implementing the program. Sadly his legacy is that of corruption rather than an economic champion.

by charvaka Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:42 am

artood2 wrote:IG and VPS contribution was negligible.

IMO, both Indira's and Morarji's contributions to the economy were negative on the whole. Even as Deng brought China out of socialism, they were trying to be more socialist than the other. Kicking Coke out was just a visible example of their policies. VP Singh actually contributed to the reforms under Rajiv Gandhi. He wasn't much of a socialist as Rajiv's FM, but put that garb on under the Janata Dal regime.

artood2 wrote:PVN on the other hand deserves a lot of credit for picking MMS and providing the political will for his program. His astute (corrupt?) political maneuvers made sure that his minority govt survived the term while implementing the program. Sadly his legacy is that of corruption rather than an economic champion.

PVN deserves credit for throwing off the socialist garbage rather quickly when he needed to, although he had been living with it for all his political life. There was a lot of pressure from the Communists and from his own party when the implications of the 1991 budget became clear to the politicians. Throughout his tenure PVN provided ample political cover to MMS and his policies. Without that, the reforms would have been stillborn.

by artood2 Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:53 am

The word "socialist"and ("secular") was added to the preamble to the constitution during emergency so that tells you where Indira's leanings were (There is nothing wrong with socialism though as the French will tell you). I think the Coca Cola incident happened under Morarji Desai. Janata Dal and left were the most vocal opponents of economic reforms and JD leaders trace their political legacy to the JP govt of 1977.

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