Modi defies expectations

In the four months since he has taken office, Mr. Modi has disappointed those who were hoping for an Indian Margaret Thatcher, proving to be cautious and incremental in his use of economic policy. Instead, he has set about changing the architecture of the state, diluting the powers of ministries and concentrating them in his office. Mr. Modi is building a machine for governing, one that he intends to operate for a long time.

It is not yet clear whether he can pull it off. To succeed, Mr. Modi must bring about fundamental changes in India’s economy and steer a stable course in a country prone to incendiary conflicts. Observers here, surveying still-unfilled positions in his government, wonder whether Mr. Modi will be able to trust outsiders enough to bring in policy talent. And critics say his concentrated power will make it more difficult for his own officials to question him.

“Even in Indira Gandhi’s time, you had advisers who were very powerful, they were larger than life and capable of giving input,” said Siddharth Varadarajan, a journalist and senior fellow at Shiv Nadar University. “Here you have a prime minister whose strength is reminiscent of Indira Gandhi’s, but I think it goes beyond that, because you’d at least have that layer of advisers.”

Journalists now have virtually no opportunity to ask questions of top officials. As the Editors Guild of India complained in a letter published Tuesday, much of the bureaucracy has gone silent, and journalists have found themselves scrambling to get even basic information from the prime minister’s office, which has yet to appoint a contact person for the news media.

India’s business titans are another group facing an unfamiliar new landscape. Long accustomed to maintaining personal, informal contacts with officials in the ministries that grant crucial approvals, they must now fall in line with a new protocol: Meetings are to be formal, held in government offices, and presumed to be under the scrutiny of the prime minister’s apparatus.

This is, on one hand, a way of ensuring that payoffs are not offered or received. It also gives corporate leaders the sense that they are being kept at arm’s length, at least for the moment, said one executive from a large Indian company, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“Is Modi taking the demonstrative step of being wary of industry?” the executive said. “If that’s just messaging, it’s also risky, because you are almost sending the message that industry is the cause of corruption. If he actually believes it, that’s terrible. Even if it’s just signaling, that’s bad enough.”

Mr. Modi’s supporters say his centralization of authority has begun to yield results: Ministries that previously worked as independent fiefs have fallen in line, and long-delayed projects have begun to move. India’s economy is showing signs of a revival, growing at an annualized rate of 5.7 percent in the first quarter of the year, after languishing under 5 percent for nearly two years.

But Mr. Modi’s time to make decisions is limited, and a backlog is said to be piling up. A surprising number of senior positions remain unfilled — notably, that of defense minister, despite this government’s keen focus on defense. Arun Jaitley, a veteran lawmaker close to Mr. Modi, is temporarily serving as both finance minister and defense minister.

In some cases, the difficulty may be in identifying outside experts who are fully trusted by Mr. Modi’s team. But that, said an analyst who consulted with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s parliamentary campaign, is hardly surprising — Mr. Modi has never depended much on any one aide or adviser.

“He is his own master completely,” the analyst said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “He has no problem seeking advice or talking to people. In terms of trust, I don’t think 100 percent he trusts anybody.”

"And though 100 days is hardly enough time to cast a full assessment of governance, it certainly functions as a diagnostic especially when framed against Modi's 12-year tenure as chief minister of Gujarat, which is where this report claims its predictive licence", it adds further.

Commenting on the "politics of development, the report observes that the Modi model of development is based on a deeply authoritarian vision that is focused almost excluding considerations of social inclusion, economic equality or environmental sustainability. This exclusion manifests itself in Modi's policies as a consistent hostility towards Democratic processes of informed consent and public deliberation."

Modi's "development agenda remains subservient to corporate interests", it adds. Similarly, commenting on his economic policies, its says "despite rhetorical campaign promises of impending prosperity under Modi administration, the past 100 days establish clearly that the key difference in economic policy from the preceding United Progressive Alliance( UPA) government is one of degree and not of kind. This is evident in the budget which signals a further withdrawal of the state from social investment, increasing privatisation, and placing corporate interests at the center of all economic policies."

truthbetold wrote:True. that is how it happened in usa .
2008 Nov 5  barrack obama was found to be phone.
2008 Nov 6  barrack obama was declared a dictator.
2008 Nov 7  barrack obama was identified as a communist.
..
..
2014 Sep 25  barrack obama will be impacted by congress.
..
..
2017 Jan 20 barrack obama leaves white house and flees back to Chicago.
i told you. he was gone before he could warm that oval office chair.

truthbetold wrote:What Barrack Obama is enemyless. There are no unfavorable articles about him?

Some idiot who has no idea about India and modi writes a canned article (probably paid by some congress wallahs) in a paper known to sell its space for paid content (ask chavan if you have any questions.

I do know whether modi is going to succeed or not. No one knows.  He himself does not know.  But he is making an effort. 

These kind mindless article should be ignored by any person with common sense. It excites only those who are desperate to find news that support their beaten down hopelessly lost political philosophy.

truthbetold wrote:Opinion is not fact. Imagined problems are not clear signals.

truthbetold wrote:CD

you and writers with your idealogical bent relentlessly campaigned before indian elections and lost big time. Got slapped around. Neither you nor your friends have credibility with people.   Your so called evidence is still conjecture or recycled material.  There are facts available from modi govt as it is barely 100 days old. Just boldly repeating lies about non existing evidence nullifies whatever left of your credibility.

Further, you have no credibility as an observer because you never raised a finger to point  the problems of UPA rule. In fact you did the opposite. You backed that utter flop show with and openly supported their corruption, dithering and incompetence.

confuzzled dude wrote:

truthbetold wrote:CD

you and writers with your idealogical bent relentlessly campaigned before indian elections and lost big time. Got slapped around. Neither you nor your friends have credibility with people.   Your so called evidence is still conjecture or recycled material.  There are facts available from modi govt as it is barely 100 days old. Just boldly repeating lies about non existing evidence nullifies whatever left of your credibility.

Further, you have no credibility as an observer because you never raised a finger to point  the problems of UPA rule. In fact you did the opposite. You backed that utter flop show with and openly supported their corruption, dithering and incompetence.

Full of rants and unsubstantiated claims. I've said many times that if Modi can't win now will never win given the screw ups of UPA. People wanted the previous govt out they voted them out; for all your chest thumping your hero got just 31% of the vote share so wake up and smell the coffee

truthbetold wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

truthbetold wrote:CD

you and writers with your idealogical bent relentlessly campaigned before indian elections and lost big time. Got slapped around. Neither you nor your friends have credibility with people.   Your so called evidence is still conjecture or recycled material.  There are facts available from modi govt as it is barely 100 days old. Just boldly repeating lies about non existing evidence nullifies whatever left of your credibility.

Further, you have no credibility as an observer because you never raised a finger to point  the problems of UPA rule. In fact you did the opposite. You backed that utter flop show with and openly supported their corruption, dithering and incompetence.

Full of rants and unsubstantiated claims. I've said many times that if Modi can't win now will never win given the screw ups of UPA. People wanted the previous govt out they voted them out; for all your chest thumping your hero got just 31% of the vote share so wake up and smell the coffee

The question was were you objective in pointing out UPA mistakes.  No you were not. You have no credibility.

using words like rant does not make an on opposite observation go away.  Earn some credibility . Then we can have a sensible conversation.

confuzzled dude wrote:

"And though 100 days is hardly enough time to cast a full assessment of governance, it certainly functions as a diagnostic especially when framed against Modi's 12-year tenure as chief minister of Gujarat, which is where this report claims its predictive licence", it adds further.

Commenting on the "politics of development, the report observes that the Modi model of development is based on a deeply authoritarian vision that is focused almost excluding considerations of social inclusion, economic equality or environmental sustainability. This exclusion manifests itself in Modi's policies as a consistent hostility towards Democratic processes of informed consent and public deliberation."

Modi's "development agenda remains subservient to corporate interests", it adds. Similarly, commenting on his economic policies, its says "despite rhetorical campaign promises of impending prosperity under Modi administration, the past 100 days establish clearly that the key difference in economic policy from the preceding United Progressive Alliance( UPA) government is one of degree and not of kind. This is evident in the budget which signals a further withdrawal of the state from social investment, increasing privatisation, and placing corporate interests at the center of all economic policies."

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/43382023.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

-> Pretty soon people will realize their mistake and there will be calls for his ouster.

confuzzled dude wrote:

-> Pretty soon people will realize their mistake and there will be calls for his ouster.

truthbetold wrote:Cd
Your self pronouncements do not prove anything.
You stand out as a vicious biased propagandist against cbn. Such is aware of that for a long time. Such is also aware that your biases stem from your personal  reasons. So there is not much to discuss with you about cbn or jagan.

Your incessant carping about modi only reveals your own inability to look at reality.  You have trouble adjusting to a reality that keeps proving you wrong. You keep posting and rest of us will keep corrrecting.

Time keeps moving. Reality will provide proof. Most people of Indian origin are positively delighted by changes in India and will wait for the hard work to bear fruit.

Merlot Daruwala wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

-> Pretty soon people will realize their mistake and there will be calls for his ouster.

No, Indians are incapable of living free. They love being told what to do, preferably by a larger-than-life strong man/woman, and then they are happy. Modi is only following in the illustrious footsteps of Indira Gandhi, Mamata, Amma etc. To his fanatical following, he is Supreme Leader God.

WHEN Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party won a thumping majority for its pro-growth promises in India’s elections in May, hopes swelled that the new government would adopt economic reforms that had proved beyond the brittle coalitions of the past. Yet in defiance of the maxim that the boldest steps are best taken early, Mr Modi has so far eschewed dramatic change.

Cuts to subsidies (such as on fuel and fertilisers), which cost 2.3% of GDP last year, have been deferred at least until a committee of experts produces a fresh report to add to the existing library of studies on the subject. There is no firm timetable for a national goods-and-services tax, which would boost GDP substantially by removing barriers to trade between India’s many states. Caps on foreign direct investment in many areas, including supermarkets, remain in place. Instead the government has taken a series of small steps, ginning up India’s sluggish bureaucracy, for instance. Is the chance to reshape India’s economy slipping away already?

But unless the government does its part by adopting more radical reforms, the 9% annual growth that India briefly enjoyed before the financial crisis is hard to imagine. The world economy, after all, is much more sluggish now.

Mr Modi’s defenders say the big reforms to taxes, subsidies and labour laws that would boost growth require the co-operation of India’s states. His party is hoping to win more local seats (see article). But getting states’ support takes time. Then again, that is a good reason to start soon.

(Reuters) - The U.S. business lobby on Thursday questioned the reformist credentials of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the eve of his visit to the United States in which he will encourage investment and declare India open for business.

"Since taking office, Prime Minister Modi has declared India 'open for business' and promised to incentivize investment and 'give the world a favorable opportunity to trade with and produce in India,'" the Alliance for Fair Trade with India said in a letter to Obama.

"Thus far, however, the new Indian government has produced troubling policies of its own," the group said, adding: "These actions send perplexing and contradictory new signals about India’s role in the global marketplace."

The business alliance also complained about India's raised tariffs and "burdensome" new testing requirements on imported information and communication technology products.

Stephen Ezell, senior trade policy analyst at the Washington based Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, told a teleconference that Modi had taken some positive steps, including an easing of some restrictions on investment in the defense, insurance and railway sectors.

"However ... we’ve also seen the continuation of existing — and even the promulgation of some new — trade-distorting policies that do give us some pause," he said.

Chris Moore, of the National Association of Manufacturers, said Modi and his administration were "saying positive things."

"But their actions tell a different story."

Patrick Kilbride, of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the Indian government's plans to review the environment for intellectual property rights, but said it remained "very poor."