Addressing the Student’s Union of London School of Economics and Political Science in 1923, Bertrand Russell said, “One of the peculiarities of the English-speaking world is its immense interest and belief in political parties. A very large percentage of English-speaking people really believe that the ills from which they suffer would be cured if a certain political party were in power. That is a reason for the swing of the pendulum. A man votes for one party and remains miserable; he concludes that it is the other party that was to bring the millennium. By the time he is disenchanted with all parties, he is an old man on the verge of death; his sons retain the belief of his youth, and the see-saw goes on.”
After more than 100 years, his words not only remain true, but also equally applicable to the democracies which are not English speaking; Indian subcontinent being a classical case in point. In the past 75 years, the citizens of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal have swung the pendulum several times in the hope of ushering the millennium; but success continues to elude them.
Ten days ago, Dr. Manmohan Singh, inarguably one of the finest politicians India ever had, took his last breath. His demise triggered a debate over his achievements as the prime minister of India. Since, Mr. Narendra Modi was chosen to succeed him, it was natural to draw a comparison between the 10-year governance of Dr. Singh and 10-year governance of Mr. Modi.
More notably, some of prominent people who had been critical of Dr. Singh’s performance, publicly admitted that they were unduly harsh on Dr. Singh by accusing him of causing “policy paralysis”. They are now recognizing that Dr. Singh’s tenure indeed witnessed highest economic growth (7.8% CAGR over FY05-FY14) and several transformative and innovative policy decisions. For example—
· Constitutional right based social welfare programs (Right to National Identity (Aadhar), Right to Employment (MNERGA), Right to Education (RTE), Right to Information (RTI), Right to Food (NFSA), Right to Healthcare (NRHM) etc.).
· Significant changes in the foreign policy paradigm, enabling India to form strategic partnerships with several developed countries including Japan, France, the US, Germany and Australia. Signing of the Civil Nuclear Deal with the US marked the most important milestone in the Indo-US relationship.
· Establishing a strong framework for financial inclusion. Required the RBI to ensure a banking channel in all habitations with 2000 or more people.
· Establishing a best-in-class core for digitization of the economy through UIDAI and NPCI.
· Further opening of the economy by permitting/enhancing FDI in retail trade, pension, insurance etc.
The tenure of Mr. Modi has been more about implementing and strengthening some of these policy initiatives; rather than taking new policy initiatives.
Incidentally, like “policy paralysis” in 2013-2014, influencers are now trying to swing the pendulum through building a “tax terrorism” narrative. Fortunately, like “policy paralysis” this narrative is also ill-founded. More on this tomorrow.
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