November 21, 2004

Dr Manmohan Singh, the architect of India’s neo-liberal economic reforms, is back at the helm of state affairs, this time as prime minister, raising hopes in the external corporate sector of further liberalization of the country’s economy and greater opportunities for it to make profitable investments. The choice of pro-market reformist and an economist of great repute for the coveted post by the Congress leadership was commonly interpreted to mean that he will now complete the unfinished agenda he embarked on 13 years ago as finance minister.

But that was not to be and little did he know how uncomfortable his second stint in government could be, to begin with. In fact, he has landed himself in a catch-22 situation. His dilemma stems from the fact that he is not mandated yet to further liberalize the economy and that his presence there is also necessary to calm the anxieties of foreign capital. And, if political expediency demands, he may even be asked to roll back some of the earlier reforms.

This paradoxical situation for Dr Singh arises from two unforeseen happenings. First, mere winning more seats than the BJP alliance, itself an unexpected event, did not mean forming a new government for the Congress-led combine. Only the support of the left parties, which captured 60 seats this time, could make it happen. Second, he, being a dark horse, was found to be the most suitable among the contenders for the job when Sonia Gandhi decided not to become prime minister.

The left parties agreed to give outside support but their numerical strength enables them to decisively influence the new government’s basic policies. And they won’t, they made it clear, allow the mantra of free market economy to further aggravate poverty, destabilize indigenous small-scale industry and sell off state units at cheap prices.

The authors of this book, written on the life of the new prime minister, chose to title it Manmohanomics to give an impression to the readers that it is about the economics Dr Singh stands for. But what does Manmohanomics mean has not been explained by the authors, nor have they made it clear how his approach to economic planning makes him different from other economists.

In fact, the book is more a eulogy of Manmohan Singh than any objective assessment of his economic policies; they find no fault in what he did in the past. And, of course, it is a well-timed effort from the marketing point of view to become a good seller notwithstanding the fact that it lacks the attributes of a good book. It does not take up the burning issue of economic reforms and try to explore how far India can go to court the neo-liberal order.

However, it is another matter that India cannot afford to antagonize multinational capital at this stage and that makes the task of new finance minister, P. Chidambaram, uneasy. He himself belongs to the neo-liberal camp and has no option but to continue to reaffirm India’s commitment to market-oriented economic reforms, to set at rest western investors’ doubts over the influence of the leftists on the Manmohan Singh government.

The chapters on Kashmir, Pakistan, foreign policy, national security, relations with the US and other issues dealt with in the book contain nothing new for the information given there is based on published reports.

The book written by two fans of Singh — Vivek Garg, a social worker, and Ravish Mishra, a journalist — throws light on the person and the extraordinary career of the new prime minister who always preferred to remain on the sidelines. Sometimes described as the “czar of India’s economic reforms” Dr Singh obtained his doctorate from Oxford University (962), was a professor of economics at Punjab University (1957-1965), served in UNCTAD as an adviser (1966-1969), joined the Indian government in 1971 and held positions of chief economic adviser (1972-76), finance secretary (1976-1980) governor, Reserve Bank of India (1982-85) and deputy chairman, planning commission (1985-87).

Manmohan Singh was born in a village named Gah, 50 miles from Islamabad, in 1932. His father was a dry-fruit merchant. He had his early education in Amritsar where the family had moved to before Partition. From the outset, he has been a simple, unassuming, humble, decent and a clean person. He has always considered himself to be and behaved like an ordinary Indian. He keeps, and drives himself an old Maruti 800 and does not allow official transport to be used by his friends or relatives. He is a known workaholic; a very religious person, visits gurdawaras frequently; and is very fond of Indian classical music.

To qualify to become the PM, Manmohan Singh, being a Sikh Punjabi, had to be helped by the Assam chief minister Hiteswar Saikia to get elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam state in September 1991. When the election commission raised an objection that he does not qualify to contest because he is not a resident of Assam, Mr Saikia made him a tenant in his house in Gauhati. Singh pays a monthly rent to Saikias and now to his widow after his death. In fact, he has made it his permanent address. He has been re-elected from the same state to Rajya Sabha in 1995 and then in 2001 for six-year terms.

Since 1991, the Indian economy has been functioning within the parameters of an economic order put into effect by Manmohan Singh. He was picked up by the then Congress prime minister Narasimha Rao to salvage India from a serious crisis. At the time the foreign exchange reserves had declined to a mere one billion dollars — enough for a week’s imports of essential commodities. Deficit financing was already too high and international lenders were reluctant to finance the deficit. And there loomed a real danger of India’s default on its foreign loan payments.

It was at that juncture that Manmohan Singh, who was not a member of either houses of parliament, was called upon to wave a magic wand to set things right. As he took over, the IMF agreed to negotiate a loan package with the condition of reforms which he carried out. Although Singh initiated the neo-liberal reforms, it is interesting to observe that it was the government led by the Hindu right-wing party, the BJP, which carried forward these reforms with a vengeance. It did so to reap political dividends by seeking close relations with the US.

To be precise, this year’s electoral verdict is not merely against the BJP. It is also against the neo-liberal dispensation. Not surprisingly, the Congress, sensing the popular mood, came out with an election manifesto that did not conform to the neo-liberal agenda although it had itself fathered it. Its Common Minimum Programme (CMP) is committed to economic reforms but with a human face, ruling out wild takeovers of companies in insurance, banking, telecom and other service sector entities by the multinationals. The CPM agreed to by all coalition partners and the left represents a shift away from neo-liberalism. Its main focus is on the centrality of state intervention for improving the living conditions of the people.

Manmohanomics: Journey to South Block — Life of an Indian Prime Minister
By Vivek Garg & Ravish Mishra
Manas Publications, 4858, Prahlad Street, 24, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi — 110 002, India Tel: 011-23260783, 23265523
Email: manaspublications@vsnl.com  Website: www.manaspublications.com
ISBN 81-7049-211-4
256pp. Rs495

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