15 monsoons ago

PM: In 15 years, you’ll again prove prophets of (economic) doom wrong

Indian Express: Saturday, July 29, 2006

NEW DELHI, JULY 28: In a message aimed as much to the Left as the carping critics within his own UPA coalition and Congress, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today gave a ringing defence of economic reforms initiated ‘‘15 monsoons ago’’ and predicted that the ‘‘Prophets of Doom’’ would once again be proved wrong another 15 years from now.

The NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards function provided the perfect occasion for the Prime Minister to talk of the ‘‘fruits’’ of ‘‘the most far-reaching reform of our economy’’ that began in 1991. Singh underlined the fact that most of the nominees for the award were not even in business 15 years ago. And that a majority of them were first or, at most second, generation businessmen — proof enough that they were ‘‘the children of a new India’’, a testimony to the ‘‘competitive abilities of Indian enterprise’’, a reaffirmation of the ‘‘innate creativity and enterprise’’ of the Indian people.

‘‘Those who worried in the early 1990s that Indian business would not be in a position to take on the challenge of globalisation have been decisively proved wrong by each one of you,’’ the PM told the awardees. And then, tacitly acknowledging that the naysayers were still very much around, added: ‘‘I am confident that 15 years from now you, and many more like you, will once again prove the ‘Prophets of Doom’ wrong.’’

Without directly alluding to the problems he was facing from within over pursuing second-generation reforms, the Prime Minister made it clear that there was no going back to old certainties. ‘‘The challenge before each one of us is to manage change. To get a grip on the processes of change. Help people adapt to change. This is the biggest challenge facing the political leadership of our country,’’ he said.

He once again highlighted that the world wants India to do well, that there were no external hurdles to India’s development. ‘‘If there are any hurdles, they are internal,’’ he insisted. While the government would remove the ‘‘hurdles’’ on the ground, it was for ‘‘each one of us’’ to erase the ‘‘the hurdles in our mind.’’ The media, civil society and business leaders all had a role to play, he added, but carefully avoided any mention of the political class. editor@expressindia.com