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- Ratin Roy’s Column Manmohan Singh Had Such Qualities Which Are Not Visible Today
9 days ago
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Ratin Roy, former member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council
Dr. Manmohan Singh will be evaluated from today’s perspective and also on the basis of the actions of his successors. This perspective reveals important qualities about Dr. Singh’s legacy that are no longer visible.
He was adept at his work as a policy-maker. He had been serving as a financial advisor since his third decade of age. He has been in the field of policy leadership as Chief Economic Advisor, Member-Vice Chairman of the Planning Commission and RBI Governor.
In each of these roles he set new standards, be it controlling runaway inflation in the 1970s, setting up the Sukhmoy Chakraborty Committee to change the way the Indian financial system functioned or the Seventh Five Year Plan’s emphasis on financial There should be a shift from investment to increasing productivity and technical capacity. Even in the South Commission, he insisted on giving a new identity to the group of post-colonial countries, now called the ‘Global South’.
In his 20-year-long career before becoming a minister or Prime Minister at the Centre, he consistently did all these things and built good teams rather than taking or seeking credit for his achievements. This is in stark contrast to today’s leadership style, where every accomplishment is presented as a master stroke of the leader’s genius.
Economists often sarcastically remark that Dr. Singh was a better politician than economist. But this was because they were confident in their analytical abilities and were able to broaden their horizons.
He did this in two ways. First, by mastering economic policy and economic-diplomacy. Second, by developing the art of working closely with every policy-economist on the scene, be they their seniors, like Bagicha Minhas, Arjun Sengupta, Sukhmoy Chakraborty, or their peers, like C. Rangarajan, Bimal Jalan, IG Patel, Or those who came after him, like Vijay Kelkar, Montek Ahluwalia, Kaushik Basu, Raghuram Rajan.
This ability to nurture the best talent is a rare quality in the world of policy, possessed only by those who do not feel insecure from within and who have patient faith in the judgment of history. Despite being Finance Minister and Prime Minister, he was never an elected politician.
He was surprisingly successful in these difficult roles. This was because he was aware of why he was entrusted with that particular political task – as Finance Minister to deal with India’s worst economic crisis since independence, and as Prime Minister to lead an inclusive, To run a coalition government, which can save itself from electoral vicious cycles. He performed both the responsibilities successfully.
The Congress Party had long ago abandoned the ideology of economic prosperity. This was the reason why there was very little opposition to his actions to promote economic prosperity. He was also able to overcome many global crises. Their not being elected leaders protected them from political insecurity and jealousy.
He used his formidable policy and diplomatic skills to record stable economic growth. Implemented important policy reforms. Saved India from global economic crises. And improved relations with America and neighbors. He did all this without blaming his predecessors or colleagues.
Not being a professional politician, he was unwilling to use retaliatory force against his less powerful critics. During his time the PMO intervened to tell the JNU administration not to expel the students who protested during his visit.
He also learned a lot during his political career. This reveals his subtle political sensitivity, which continued to develop. I remember him patiently explaining to some of us that economic policy in India is a delicate balance between empowerment and entitlement.
Dr. Manmohan Singh was definitely lucky in this sense that he was selected to do some important work. But he did the tasks assigned to him well – this in itself was no mean feat. (These are the author’s own views)