The major failure of Dr. Manmohan Singh's government has been inflation and the in-ability to create jobs. Inflation can be controlled since there are clearly identified economic policies Which can cool down an economy. The policies might be painful, but they work.
Controlling inflation with the least pain is an art and an economist must have sufficient political skills. Such an economist must understand how much pain people can take.
But creation of jobs requires great intelligence and mastery of many skills. An economist usually sticks to the policy of more liquidity and pumping money into the economy. Further, banks set encouraged to make money cheaper so that businesses use more of it to generate activity. These are the traditional tools and work in most cases.
But in the Indian context, the industry sector is going down. Agriculture used to be labour-intensive. But not any more. The service sector is also limited and does not grow unless there is economic growth. While the sector sector creates jobs, it is linked with the general state of the economy and cannot grow when other sectors are languishing.
For whatever reasons, in the last 5. Years, Dr. Manmohan Singh has been unable to make jobs available. The next government will face the first challenge of creating jobs for the urban and educated youth. The BJP has been saying that it has a plan. But it looks very doubtful.
To my mind, the easiest and most effective step would be to ensure that fast environmental clearances are given, keeping in mind the need to protect the environment. Even small quarries need clearances and they take two years. The logjam in the Supreme Court on environmental issues must be met head-on. The UPA Government let things drift and the end result has been policy paralysis.
If the next Government focuses only on the economy in the first 100 Days, then it might have a chance. A highly talented team of Ministers is needed for the Economics of the country. Otherwise, things will drift as in the past 5 Years.
No comments:
Post a Comment