"The will power of people has touched its nadir which is a result of the directionless process of liberalisation and globalisation," he said in an informal chat with UNI here on Sunday.

"Even at the time of slavery during British regime Indians were hopeful of freedom, but now almost everybody is expressing serious concern over the future of the country be it an industrialist or a man living below poverty line," he said.

The former prime minister said at this stage economic reforms were too important to be left to economic experts and a handful of politicians. The leader warned that in the near future the country might have to face a social unrest like some of the South-East Asian countries were facing now after opening up their economy toextreme levels. "India may have survived the crisis, it his high time that we rethink and reorient our policies for entering the next millennium smoothly," he said.

Since the early nineties, the successive governments kept on thinking on the same line without any tangible results in the area of economic development , Chandra Shekhar said.