With the global financial crisis slowing spreading its claws across India, the government which till now was flaying India’s exponential growth story has been forced to rethink its policies.
But what a great time for India to have a crisis like this!!! Phew... you must be wondering how that could be true. But I mean it. In fact, with Manmohan Singh at the helm of affairs, India couldn’t have asked for a better timing to deal with this crisis. Manmohan Singh’s antics back in 1991 are still not forgotten. With a foreign exchange reserve just enough to meet India’s import needs for another week, the good doctor had swung into action and had introduced what is now known as the economic reforms era. And the results are there for everyone to see.
Now with another crisis looming large over the head and with the doctor along with his old and trusted team of P Chidambaram and Montek Singh Ahluwalia back at the helm, they shouldn’t find themselves in an unfamiliar situation. Given the huge similarities between the 1991 era and today’s situation, I wonder whether they are nostalgic at times.... recalling their past days.
With its honeymoon with the US and the 123 behind the back, the government should now try to get the economy back on track. In spite of the current scenario, it’s basically a US crisis which is spilling over to other parts of the world. And this has led to the recent market meltdown (where are those decoupling stories I had been hearing of, its back to the same old days of waiting for global market cues every morning and promptly falling in line). We are still a very stable economy in ourselves. Hence the FM who is dying a hundred deaths every time the Sensex slips should focus more on getting the fundamentals right. Oops... they are already right, he needs to make it stronger.
Or rather it’s time for P Chidambaram (PC) to lay back a bit and let Manmohan Singh (MS) call the shots in the finance ministry... (For those wondering how the title of the post fitted in, I hope I have cleared your doubts now). After all, isn’t this the ideal time for the ‘Economic Reforms Part – II’ to be unleashed. And who’s better than the doctor himself to get his hands on it. Manmohan Singh, with his hands tied by the Left for the major part of his rule, would like to take some positives back home. And here’s a golden chance awaiting him!!! Its time which will tell whether he is successful in his second innings. Till then, Indians are keeping their fingers crossed. For now, we can only hope that he starts on the path already traversed by him in 1991.
