No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come. Thanks to Dr Manmohan Singh, this quote of Victor Hugos became known to every Indian on 24th July 1991 and now that Dr Manmohan Singh will become the PM, is being plastered across every newspaper again.
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Dr Manmohan Singh is perceived as the architect of reforms and you find arguments that this reformist FM will now become a constrained PM, courtesy the Left. What is this business of reforms with a human face? Isn’t that anti-liberalisation? I have some friends in finance ministry and I thought I would ring them up to find out what the new Budget was likely to contain. As possible interpretation of the expression - reforms with a human face. But I wasn’t successful. Not because work on the new Budget hasn’t started. But because I wasn’t able to get through to North Block for two successive days. Are you aware that because of what they did to the Sensex, power in North Block has been cut off and the phones don’t work? Power will now emanate from South Block.
I do have a preview of the new Budget and economic policy. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that an intense debate rages throughout the country as to the path we should adopt. In a democratic society it could not be otherwise. What can we learn from this debate? The most important thing that comes out clearly is that we cannot realise our goal of establishing a just society, if we abandon the planning process I believe that without an intelligent and systematic co-ordinated resource use in some major sectors of our economy, development will be lopsided. It will violate deeply cherished values of equity and it will keep India well below its social, intellectual and moral potential. The election manifesto of the Congress Party identifies areas for special emphasis in our strategy of development. These include a substantial augmentation of employment programmes, the construction of dwelling units for the weaker sections of our society, an expansion of the programme for irrigation wells and so on. This would need a change in, and some reorientation of, plan priorities, with a shift towards investment in rural areas and expenditure on programmes designed for the benefit of the poor. This is from the Budget speech for 1991-92.
“Agriculture is the foundation of our national prosperity and no strategy of economic development can succeed in our country if it does not ensure rapid growth of production and employment in agriculture. Nor can we hope to provide sufficient jobs for our growing rural labour force unless we can transform the economy of our rural areas. This calls for a multi-pronged strategy involving effective implementation of land reforms, large investments in irrigation and drainage, improvement in water management systems, control of land degradation, strengthening of the credit system and improvements in agricultural extension and research. Much of this effort has to be made by state governments since Agriculture is a state subject, and it is our hope that state governments will give these issues the highest priority. The Centre on its part is firmly committed to continued funding and revamping of the various poverty alleviation schemes, which are major elements in our development strategy. This is from the Budget speech for 1992-93.
“The policy initiatives we have taken do not in any way reduce our commitment to take care of the poor and disadvantaged. On the contrary, we have taken steps to minimise the burden of adjustment on the poor and working classes. We must ensure that our economic strategy gives full support to agriculture on which the livelihood and well being of the majority of our people depend, and to agro-processing industries which have a tremendous potential for increasing employment and income in rural areas.” This is from the Budget speech for 1993-94.
“We must reorient our development policies and programmes to address more effectively the problems of poverty, unemployment and social deprivation which affect a large mass of our people, particularly in rural areas. This is from the Budget speech for 1994-95. We cannot simply spend our way into prosperity. Those of us in politics have a special responsibility. The pursuit of competitive politics must not be allowed to distract our people’s attention from the basic task of nation building. This is from the Budget speech for 1995-96.
“Time and again, the Indian people have shown that they can be relied upon to make sound and sensible decisions. I have every reason to believe that when the time comes, our people will be discriminating enough to recognise the friendly hand that alone can help our nation to move forward on the road to peace and prosperity and preserve its unity and integrity. This is from the interim Budget speech for 1996-97.
Do you detect any contradiction between these quotes and what the Budget for 2004-05 might contain? I don’t. Do you detect any contradiction between the reformist Manmohan Singh and the constrained one? I don’t. Reforms have always been about a human face. Reforms have always been about broad-basing income growth and prosperity and necessary state intervention for the poor and the disadvantaged. Unfortunately, too often, the reformist FM has been equated with import duty and exchange rate changes, FDI policy liberalisation and even disinvestments. When out of office, Dr Manmohan Singh has often been a critic of reforms, such as privatisation. However, this has been a criticism of the route reforms have taken, their composition. And their sequencing. Consequently, reforms have often bypassed the poor and the disadvantaged. Reforms with a human face are about mainstreaming them and about necessary state intervention in physical and social infrastructure. There is no contradiction. That is what reforms should always have done. Such liberalisation is always difficult, much more difficult than tinkering with external sector policies. But that’s no argument for staying away from them. The journey from North Block to South Block is primarily about fulfilling that pledge.
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