TIME MAGAZINE AND MANMOHAN SINGH

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By NEHA THIRANI

SOURCE:NYTIMES.COM

In a widely debated piece, Time magazine carried a cover story that called Manmohan Singh “The Underachiever.” The piece outlined his career path from his childhood in Gah, a Pakistani village, where he labored studiously by candlelight to his political accession. The article argued that at a time when India is in dire need of economic and political reform, Mr. Singh is “unwilling to stick his neck out” and put India back on a growth path. Gesturing toward the much-discussed “policy paralysis” of India’s Congress party-led UPA coalition, the piece states that the party is caught in stasis while the country faces an economic slowdown, a falling rupee and several corruption scandals.
The Congress party responded to the piece by defending their leader. Manish Tewari, the party spokesman was quoted saying, “In the past eight years the UPA government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has provided political stability, social harmony, internal cohesion, economic growth and a greater role in global affairs. This by no stretch of imagination is underachievement.” The piece stirred criticism from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party whose spokesperson said, “He is an honest prime minister of the most corrupt government.”
In keeping with the theme of criticizing the prime minister, Sadanand Dhume wrote a piece entitled “India Singhs the Blues” in Foreign Policy magazine. The extensive analysis states that while Mr. Singh was once revered and respected, his recent fall from grace means that history will not remember him kindly. “The vaunted economist’s government has taken the sheen off the economy and India’s Mr. Clean sits atop a mountain of dirt that has sparked the largest nationwide anti-corruption protests in a generation,” Mr. Dhume wrote. The piece further argues that the root of the problem lies in the division of political and administrative power. It concludes that the lesson to be learned from the experience of Manmohan Singh’s stewardship is that the public must not put much hope in promises that are not supported by action.
“Can New Delhi Get Its Groove Back?” Pratap Bhanu Mehta asks that question in this month’s issue of Foreign Affairs. With a slightly more hopeful outlook the piece points out that while many of the country’s economic indicators are not faring well, the household savings rate has stayed above 30 percent while the country’s private consumption rate — a measure of how people consume goods and services– is around 60 percent. Mehta argues that the distress regarding India’s economic performance comes from misjudged expectations of expeditious growth. Additionally political fragmentation, the erosion of political authority and coalition politics has each contributed to the state in which India’s economy now finds itself. The lack of local leadership and democracy within the Congress government has exacerbated the problem, removing party leadership from ground realities.
Mr. Mehta ends on an optimistic note, saying that while the countries political culture is in a process of transformation, Indian politicians have always shown an incredible ability for reinvention. “It is difficult to imagine that the entrepreneurship India has unleashed, the growing strength of its civil society, and the sense of hope among India’s poor for a better future will remain stymied for long. The anxiety among India’s politicians is, in part, a recognition that something new is taking shape.”