Re: [ ::: ♥Keep_Mailing♥ ::: ]™ IS MODI ACTING AS CHIEF MINISTER?

BEAUTIFUL

On Sun, May 24, 2015 at 11:30 PM, Mohamed Jaffer <mjkassam@gmail.com> wrote:

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Mr Modi acts as if a lot of small improvements add up to transformative gains.

 They don’t. He is still thinking like the chief minister of Gujarat, 

not a national leader on a mission to make India rich and strong.

 If he is to transform his country, India’s one-man band needs a new tune.

A YEAR ago Narendra Modi came to office promising to bring India 

“good times”, by which he meant jobs, prosperity and international renown. 

His progress has been frustratingly slow. 

The problem is hardly a lack of opportunity. Voters gave his 

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the biggest parliamentary mandate for 

change in 30 years. Mr Modi has concentrated more power in his own

 hands than any prime minister in recent memory. The problem is that 

India needs a transformation—and the task is too much for a one-man band.

The Modi blues

Much has gone well, though serendipity shares the credit. 

Helped by oil prices, Mr Modi has presided over an improving economy. 

Inflation is down, interest rates are dropping, the rupee is stable, and

 fiscal and current-account deficits have shrunk. Official statisticians

 claim that India’s growth, at 7.5%, outpaces China’s—meaning 

the country has the world’s fastest-expanding large economy. 

Foreign direct investment is up. So are the prime minister’s visits 

abroad, where he cuts an impressive figure. 

 Though he fails to control the Hindu-extremist bullies who back him,  

fears of grave communal violence have so far not been realised.

There is no doubting Mr Modi’s conviction that India is about to achieve 

greatness, and he may well be right. Within a generation, it will become

 the planet’s most populous nation. It could be one of the world’s three 

largest economies. And it could wield more influence in international

 relations than at any time in its history. But, in his heart, the prime minister

 believes that only one man is destined to lead India down this path: 

Narendra Damodardas Modi.

But when it comes to reform, Mr Modi’s record is underwhelming—. 

The past year saw auctions of coal deposits. 

The past few days have brought the tiniest of baby steps towards privatisation: 

eight state-run hotels may be sold off. Mr Modi points out that foreigners

 may now invest more in railways, insurance and defence. He is cutting 

red tape to create a friendlier business climate. Poorer Indians will increasingly 

get cash welfare, not cheap rations in kind: since April the world’s biggest 

cash-transfer scheme has replaced artificially cheap canisters of cooking gas.

 Massive subsidies on diesel have been scrapped; whopping ones on 

paraffin should follow. And by encouraging people to open 150m new 

bank accounts, linked to a biometric database of 850m people so far, 

the government is creating a structure to provide better poverty relief.

As welcome as this is, it sells India short. Mr Modi is making two mistakes. 

The first is to think that time is on his side and that big unpopular decisions

 can wait, perhaps until he has control of the upper house as well as

 the lower one. That rests on a delusion among Indian leaders that they 

must consolidate power first and reform later. In fact a brief period exists

 in which to get change going, early in the parliamentary term.

Mr Modi already faces twinges of popular discontent.

 Surly voters drummed his party out in state elections in Delhi. 

Some dislike his attention to diplomacy overseas. This week he 

wrapped up a trip to China, Mongolia and South Korea, completing 

52 days abroad in 18 countries over the past year. Others are put off by

 his narcissism, embarrassed that he met America’s president, 

Barack Obama, wearing a dark suit with all 22 letters of his name 

stitched over and over into its golden pinstripe. As he cracks down

 on groups like Greenpeace, some complain of his authoritarian streak.

The second mistake is for Mr Modi to think that he alone can bring

 about change. On the contrary, the only way for him to realise his aims is

 to draft in help. And it could come from three main sources—India’s states, 

other national politicians and the power of the market.

He has made a start by devolving some power to states. 

The idea is to create a manufacturing boom (though that would, at a minimum, 

also require wider changes to the way land is bought, labour hired and roads built). 

As they compete in setting priorities for policy and spending, the

 go-getting states will become models for the rest. Good policy will be 

rewarded thanks to a national goods-and-services tax that creates 

a common market—and hence competition—across India. Mr Modi says 

he wants the tax by next April, as promised, though parliament has 

just delayed it. The sooner, the better.

All together now Unfortunately, national politics is a long way 

behind the states. Mr Modi cannot blithely assume his power 

will grow. The prime minister’s office cannot expand to do everything.

 It is time to relaunch his government by bringing in outside talent. 

Like the previous government, he should get in bright people from 

the private sector—especially as the BJP is short of capable leaders—

to strengthen, say, the finance ministry and the corporate-affairs ministry. 

In parliament Mr Modi could sometimes compromise with the 

opposition Congress party, to rush through the sales tax, say, or

 make buying land simpler.

Lastly, he needs to use markets as agents of change. Mr Modi should

 lead a national campaign to ease the world’s worst labour laws. Perverse

 restrictions on domestic trade in farm produce should go. Private companies 

could compete to make the railways more efficient. Infrastructure must be

 built faster, which requires a better law on acquiring land. State-run banks

 should no longer be subject to political meddling, but recapitalised and 

put in independent, ideally private, hands. Foreign investors could raise

 standards in Indian universities. Across the woefully bad education 

system a focus is needed on excellence in teaching and standards—

easing the way for more private providers.  

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