A politician, before he can become a statesman, has to remain in office long enough
A reputed economist Finance Minister, the Author of liberalisation and opening up of the economy, under a Chanakaya of a Prime Minister, with a free hand, simply lifted the economy out of shambles and put it on the move about 15 years ago. And that economist is today the Prime Minister. Given a chance, he would like to vigorously pursue his economic strategy, but today his government is dependent on the communists for its very survival and their economic theories are not exactly identical to his. Will this economist turned politician to remain in office long enough to become the Statesman, we can all be proud of?
While you must have read all about the PM's interview to McKinsey Quarterly, DDT brings you some quotable quotes from the PM in the interview.
• The first and foremost priority is to finish the unfinished task which the founding fathers of our republic set out for us at the time of our independence: to get rid of chronic poverty, ignorance, and disease, which have afflicted millions and millions of our people.
• We are a coalition government, and that limits our options in some ways. Privatization happens to be one such area.
• But I must confess to you that in the prevailing milieu, the thinking in our coalition is that for enterprises that are doing well under competitive conditions, we must have special justification to prove to our coalition colleagues that there is need for privatization :
• When we talk about labour reforms, we are essentially talking about 10 percent of our labour force, which is accounted for in the so-called organized sector. Outside this 10 percent, for the 90 percent we are a completely flexible labour market
• We don't have a broad-based consensus in our coalition for me to assert that I can move forward in a big way
• It is my task to carry conviction to our Left colleagues in Delhi. I haven't given up, and I am confident that when all things are considered I think the reform will have more broad-based support
• Our coalition today represents nearly 70 percent of the Indian electorate, so we may be slow moving, but if we build a consensus, that will be far more durable than any other mechanism that I know of.
• Our role is to convince their national leadership that what is good for West Bengal can also be good for the rest of the country. I haven't given up hope
• I have full confidence in the patriotism of our Left colleagues to believe that in the final analysis of what is good for India, they will also be on board.
• I feel we have to do a lot more on manufacturing because, ultimately, services respond to what's happening in the production sector.
• I've talked to a large number of producers—people from Hindustan Lever and others—and they've been telling me what India needs most is a unified food law. We have just now prepared the bill, and it will be introduced in parliament.
• With regard to education, I think at the top we have an excellent superstructure. The IIMs and IITs, the regional engineering colleges, they have served us well. I believe empowering our people means empowering by investing more in their education and health.
• one must understand that economic policy and decision making do not function in a political vacuum
• If I have any message, it is that it is our ambition to integrate our country into the evolving global economy.
• Fifteen years ago, a Congress government launched this economic-liberalization program, integrating India into the world economy. Since then, three governments have come and gone, but the direction of economic policy has been, year after year, toward more liberalization
• India's future lies in being an open society, an open polity, a functioning democracy respecting all fundamental human freedoms, accepting the rule of law and, at the same time, to emerge as a successful, internationally competitive market economy.