December 27, 2024
The Indian Exp.
Manmohan Singh was an economist with spectacular domain expertise, but as Finance Minister in PV Narasimha Rao’s Cabinet, he was deeply conscious of the limits of India’s political economy of change. When he was the FM, I went along with him for a meeting with Petroleum Minister B Shankaranand. I was quite disappointed when he spurned Singh’s persuasion efforts to disinvestment in government oil companies. Shankaranand described these as ‘temples’ built by (Jawaharlal) Nehru. Manmohan Singh ticked me off. “Nandu, don’t be so impatient, please recognise that governments must survive to reform,” he said. He was deeply conscious of the limits of the political economy of change, of consensus being necessary for political stability. He taught me to be patient with the tardy pace of reforms.... Read More