Three questions: First, is Narendra Modi an economic reformer? Second, where would he rank in the list of India’s reformists: P.V. Narasimha Rao, Dr Manmohan Singh, Atal Bihari Vajpayee? And third, how successful is he in implementing his reformist ideas?
If the answer to the first question is yes, what does he have to show for as he begins his seventh year?
A lot has been announced and welcomed by those like us waiting for reforms to resume after a 10-year drought since UPA-2 began its slow suicide in 2010. Railways, agriculture, banking, manufacturing, labour laws, power sector, civil aviation, FDI in new sectors, PSUs, coal, mining, taxation — the list is impressive. But, as a Class 1 child would do in her arithmetic, draw a line under all these, and the answer will be pretty much zero.
Which brings us, sort of naturally, to the third question. Is Narendra Modi capable of implementing his ideas, especially the big, reformist ideas? You would have to be nuts, or a Naxal, urban or rural, if you said no. Think demonetisation and nationwide lockdown at four-hour notice from 8 pm. That’s decisive.
Why has he, then, been struggling so badly in converting his economic reform ideas into reality? It isn’t just coronavirus. The virus came three months back. India’s economy was in a steep fall for almost two years. There is indeed a factor of ‘the day after’ corona worsening our economic crisis. But there was a severe enough crisis even ‘the day before’. We can begin with his first big reform, the Land Acquisition Bill.
Also read:Don’t absolve Modi by saying he doesn’t have the right team to bring in economic reforms
Granted, you can blame that on politics or Rahul Gandhi. But here is a quick listing from the top of my mind, and with the help of ThePrint’s Senior Associate Editor for economy, Remya Nair. You can add more as we go along. There was a committee to overhaul direct taxes under then-CBDT member Akhilesh Ranjan, which submitted its report in 2019. It’s still not in public, and the file has been sent into, what late George Fernandes had said about India’s defence purchases, “bureaucratic orbit”, circling idly with no destination.
After demonetisation, the prime minister announced his Garib Kalyan Yojana, which was a kind of tax amnesty scheme, hoping to collect big bucks like P. Chidambaram’s VDIS (Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme) of 1997. Zilch came. The tax rate was so confiscatory and punitive, it was no amnesty. Rules drafted were so complex, that you’d be high on something illegal to make a disclosure under these.
There is a pattern to the Modi government’s economic decisions: The follow-up, the design of the plan, implementation takes too long. And by the time it is done, it is such a jumble of bureaucratese that it looks more like an overcooked spaghetti bowl. What is the status of the PSU bank reform, for example? Where is the promised bank holding company? Longer tenure for PSU bank chiefs, accountability of their boards? All good ideas idling in George Fernandes’s deadly orbit.
Power sector reform is a disaster twice over. A third attempt has been announced now. Let’s watch.
The same for coal. So many times has the coal and mining reform, and private sale, been announced in six years, that even Google is confused and searching for clarity. It has been announced yet again, in the latest, pandemic-package.
The inability of the Modi government to sell even one PSU in six years, except to itself in the manner of a Milo Minderbinder in Catch-22, does zero justice to a prime minister with such enormous power. Not even Air India. This year, there is an obvious challenge. But in his first tenure, his teams came up with a sale document so complicated, it might have needed the intellect of a Lord Shiva to unravel it. And then, the courage and strength of a Lord Hanuman to buy the company, and risk spending your life with CBI, CBDT, CVC and the courts, and jail. These four dreaded ‘Cs’ have only become stronger, rather than being reformed in these six years.
Also read: PM, CM, DM: India’s 3 big power centres have been exposed by one disaster
The answer to our first two questions, therefore, lies in the third. Modi comes off poorly, and doesn’t feature anywhere in the rankings of our reformist leaders yet, because his implementation of his own ideas has been poor. So, A+ for ideas, C- for implementation, and maybe B- on the rankings, essentially because of the bankruptcy code, some PSU bank mergers and GST.
Take your mind back to 1991. The political direction for reforms came from Rao’s minority government, but it had a stellar team of civil servants. And this continued until about 2009, after which Congress’s internal politics killed even the thought of reform. List the sherpas who hauled the reform up.
There were in three categories: Bureaucrat-economists (N.K. Singh, Y.V. Reddy, D. Subbarao, K.P. Geethakrishnan, all IAS), economist-bureaucrats (Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Bimal Jalan, Vijay Kelkar, Rakesh Mohan), and some pucca bureaucrat-bureaucrats who knew how to get things done. Think about A.N. Verma (principal secretary in Rao’s PMO), Naresh Chandra, who held every job or headed every reform committee that mattered (including defence) for those two decades, and Abid Hussain. And tough truth to tell, a memo written under their watch would never need one amendment for clarity or contradiction, forget multiple ones, as is now the norm in the lockdown period.
There are three ways in which they were different. One, the career bureaucrats among them had their moment under the ‘mai-baap’ sarkar sun. When the state had enormous power. Having enjoyed it, they were happy to give it up now. Which is essentially what reform, or the spirit of ‘less government, more governance’, is.
Two, having lived most of their lives through pre-reform years, they had experienced the shortages and miseries that the licence-quota raj brought. Listen to Montek and N.K. Singh recount their stories of the humiliation when a hotel in New York wouldn’t check them in, full secretaries, because Indian credit cards were not valid overseas. Or realising at a big multilateral negotiation in a Geneva hotel, that you could tell whether an Indian had been in a lift by sniffing petrol. Because India still did not allow the import of modern dry-cleaning equipment. A memory bank of such experiences brought the impetus for reform.
And third, combining this IAS group with lifelong economist-bureaucrats brought in intellectual weight. Finally, each one of these was allowed a long tenure in economic ministries. The career of N.K. Singh from joint secretary (commerce) onwards (even now he heads the 15th Finance Commission) is an example. Today, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is the only durable economic bureaucrat.
The current civil service leadership consists mostly of secretaries of the 1985-87 batches. They are children of reform, or let us say, officers of the ‘colour TV era’ (beginning 1982). They don’t know what we were denied pre-reform, but also never knew the powers their predecessors gave away. They don’t have to be on a three-year waitlist for a Premier Padmini, even on IAS quota. They lack that motivation for reform, and they are only now learning to enjoy old powers, with the lockdown.
Think of the power of a civil servant ordering, hey, you 138 crore demented children, you will be on curfew between 9 pm and 5 am because didn’t mummy say it’s dangerous in the dark? And listen again, if you live in the green zone, you can eat tutti frutti ice cream. In orange, maybe strawberry. In the red zone, only vanilla, and that too if I can have it delivered to you. Then say thank you, jaan hai, toh jahaan hai. And reform, you want me to give up these powers? I haven’t even learnt to write a clean memo yet.
Also read: Situation normal, but all locked up: How Modi govt has risked incapacitating India
For the sake of blaming modi……every move of modi is apposed ….wether it is good for us or not…nobody thinks……stop blaming every move of modi….
Nobody would care to blame Modi if he had behaved himself….and conducted himself like a responsible Prime Minister….I’m sure you know what that word means. As of now, nobody would entrust even a job of a “chowkidar” to such a person.
Modi is only a man of Jumlas. He never had any inclination for hard work needed for implementation of ideas. There are tens of big ideas rotting in the back-burner from his previous term.
His style is too predictable now: borrow a good idea from someone else, wrap it up with his own jumla, broadcast it to the world as a great new brain-wave coming out of his supersonic intellect, leave it to his Mantris or babus to follow-up; and then move on to the next Jumla.
His only motto is to take complete credit of all good that is happening in the country. And he has paid media and trolls sitting in his lap to do just that.
very aptly put!…..we are living in sad times….if Modi had any self respect, he should have resigned by now.
So that Pappu, your Charasi-in-Chief becomes PM? None of the morons who are commenting here realize that none of the Congress members who actually are qualified will never get a chance to become PM, the Italian wali will make sure of that
The last para made my day! yes, Modi has failed or rather the politically correct thing to say is Modi has been let down 😀
Policy reform shows the problem of not having confidence in Ministers but putting faith in the Bureaucrats, this has been called out multiple times by the author, no one seems to be paying attention. If a one man show, it is easy to discern what priority take precedence, rest, you can always do tomorrow.
Modi features in our heart.
Sir,
His Gujarat prospered because of Manmohan Singh’s reforms.
He took credit for that and hence has no idea of what economic reforms are.
Just an arrogant man got dissillusionedd with power.
He was best at his Fundamental agenda and he knew that very well and is implementing that meticulously.
Economics is not his cup of tea.
Shekar’s last paragraph is ridiculous. It is not the fault of the bureaucrats of different hues. Mr Modi does not like to have competent (and hence perhaps questioning) civil servants around him. If only he learns to seek their advice, suggestions and queries , trusts and gives them a better elbow space, most will deliver.
The reviews are more interesting than articles. It reflects how difficult it is to “Once own Idea”,
Once you buy Idea of either Modi is good or bad, you start identify with idea or thought process. Any different views is seen as attact on once self.
I think time come we should see Politics from Indian point of view rather than Pro Modi or anti Modi lense.
The titles/headlines interspersed in the article are also clear indicators of the mindset of Shekhar and co. and you can’t expect anything better or delivered with a positive mind, favourable the least.
Shekhar Gupta you’re paid to write against Modi.Anyway it makes no difference to aam junta of what you write in purchased media print. Opposition jobless circulate fake news about the govt.Now defunct congress cannot shake the confidence of us in Modi govt.
…..can have neither positive…
When the headlines are predecided the articles can’t have neither positive nor better words. And Shekhar Gupta is perfectly and honestly true to the salt feeded to him by his masters whosoever ………
Mr. Gupta, when will you realize that India is tired of your mostly unwarranted criticism of PM Modi?
The PM is not perfect, no one can be, after all we are all human. However there is widespread acceptance in India that PM Modi is patriotic, highly competent, is a good leader and above all, is an honest man. He is trying hard to bring the change and development that India needs for rapid progress.
It is time that you changed your narrative Mr. Gupta.
The answer simply lies in demonetisation , it was a failure and to my thought if it would have been a success it would have been biggest reform after 1991 . but it failed completely nobody questioned it . modi or his team knows how to sell anything to Indians but like the congress bjp is internally not reformed to bring reforms.
In India the very courage to reform is not there in any party . modi has done only one thing brought the term of development in election campaign.
You are only partly right. Many people think demonetisation was a good idea, implemented badly. The advertised idea was to curb black money cash transactions and fight corruption. But how will that happen by replacing 1000 with 2000 notes ?
The purpose of demonetisation was to exclude the opposition in the UP election. It did not matter if the economy was derailed and jobs were lost. Hindus find it difficult to believe Modi is that cynical.
The majority did not question it because Hindus had believed Modi was Mr. Honest slaying 70 years of Congress corruption. He asked for 58 days. After 58 days, Hindus continued believing him.
Hindus can be galvanised to fight for Hindu-Muslim communal issues, but they are largely docile over development and social issues. They accepted how migrant workers were treated; even the migrant workers accepted it.
It is like Dalits accept their subjugation.
Superb
Modi hater Librandus confusion on reformist PMs list is no different from their confusion of secular PMs or performing PMs. Except Modi hater Librandus who else is interested in creating confusion on Secularism, intolerance, performance, nationalism and now governance reforms and making these words meaningless. Modi hater LIBRANDUS believe that they have the absolute right to decide on the reformist PMs list. They also believe that they had the monoply on defining what actions are reform and what actions are not reforms, who is secular and who is not, who is intolerant and who is not,….
Blaming bureaucrats is the easy and safe way out. It is a question of ideas and concepts.
Funny all the bhakts yelling about Shekar being biased and writing essays about it, cannot name a single significant economic reform that Modi has successfully implemented. Shouldn’t be that difficult, go on, give us one substantial economic reform he has implemented successfully – it has been after all 6 years since the most amazing PM has been in power.
The mandate of 2014 could have started the process of changing the naseeb and taqdeer of all Indians, including the poorest. The mandate of 2019 could have taken the process forward. As for the bureaucrats, they cannot take even a restroom break without written permission, in triplicate.
One of the best analysis that I have read in a long time. It is not so complex. Lets consider only economy related laws. What does Modi government have to show? – GST and IBC. Now let Modi government ask itself this question that how does it compare with 1991 liberistation or Vajpayees privatisation. The answer will be obvious. Better than Manmohan Singhs, but not better than others . The proof of pudding lies in eating and 10 years of total power is a very long time to judge yourself on the basis of the output only ie GDP growth. Dont judge yourself based on inputs ie Laws created. History will only judge you by the output. Self Introspect, dont get fooled by cheerleaders, the government is no where near the best government that could have been there, atleast in economic aspects. Government needs to be miles away from those who are praising it exponentially, they are all fooling this government.
BECAUSE PRINT IS A STOOGE OF ITALIAN MAFIA
In economics, as in sports, it is the finisher who wins matches. Modi is not a finisher, never was.
Seriously Shekar… How long will you suck up to and defend the omissions and commissions of a gutless, visionless, imagination less road side gutter politician like Narendra Modi ? Why dont you call a spade a spade man… Narendra Modi is a wimp running India into a gutter…. and you are blaming the bureaucrats….. Ten years later when we look back and assess who are the people who mollycoddled a lumpen regime you will be in the front row along with Subramaniam Swamy, Surjit Bhalla, Arnab Goswami, Rajeev Kumar, Amitabh Kant…. Shame on you….
The points made in this article are spot on. But the reasons for them are not fully so.
Yes, Modi has spelt out some bold ideas. And yes, they’re all implemented terribly. Why?
Why, when you’re coming up with new, smaller notes during demonetisation, didn’t you realise that ATMs needed tinkeing before they could dispense money?! Who would know that? Only someone who has working knowledge of ATMs. So it’s clear that there was no one with such expertise in the team that implemented notebandi. Nor was anyone in the banking sector consulted. And more importantly, the practical, ground level implementation was not thought through – the common factor in all of Modi’s ‘reforms.’
Take a look at CAA-NRC. Nobody, even the ruling duopoly know how exactly the NRC will work out, or under which conditions a person will be included or excluded. That gives rise to speculation, rumours and protests. It’s clear that again, the practical aspects of implementation were not planned at all. The Assam NRC threw up a lot of Hindus as illegal immigrants, and so to protect their vote bank, they came up with CAA. They also felt that a lot of Bangladeshi Muslims had spread across India, so came up with NRC to catch them. Or perhaps they just wanted to eliminate Mulsims who don’t vote for them. But together, CAA-NRC is a bomb on the poor as well as Muslims, an aspect they did not consider, or ignored. If CAA-NRC is implemented, it will cause the same hardship to the common man as Demo and the lockdown did.
So it’s obvious that Modi & Co simply think of an action (Mostly to checkmate a rival, manage headlines, or gain votes) and then announce it a hurry. They do no think it through, and plan to wing it when it comes to the implementation. In such circumstances, what is a beauracrat supposed to do?! The failure of the reforms is due to the muddled thinking at the top. In addition, there’s not enough people with different experiences and expertise in the implementing as well as ideation teams.
The recent agricultural and labour reforms are also likely to go the same way. They wanted to do something to manage the bad publicity due to the suffering of migrant labour. So they annoumced these in a hurry. When you suspend ALL labour laws, aren’t you throwing the baby out with the bathwater?! Wouldn’t the right thing to do be to scrap the clauses you don’t want and add or strenghten the clauses you want?! But that takes time, effort and a keen focus on the details. It also requires involving a lot more people. Many, like Raghuram Rajan or Urjit Patel, were discared because they had an independant opinion and voiced it. If you’re surrounded by chamchas, you’ll only learn about issues when it’s too late.
Modi needs to add more people into his inner circle, and include different, dissenting viewpoints too. Else, as the author rightly pointed out, all the reforms will only amount to wasted opportunities. And considering the agricultural reforms, that would be tragic!
As for the land reforms, I’d say that Rahul Gandhi saved Modi from electoral defeat. Ask a poor farmer if he’d prefer to face poverty in an urban slum or on his own 1 bigha, and you’ll know why! Nandigram is an example of what could have been.
Why just blame Rahul Gandhi for Modi’s victories. Voters like you also have a good share of Modi’s success at elections. You and Rahul Gandhi and others like you live in their make and believe world can’t defeat Modi.
Subin, excellent and correct points.
You have pointed out the poor planning for implementation – for example the calibrating the ATM machines for the new notes; or designing the new note to fit the existing machines.
Likewise, the mess created when NRC was tried in Assam.
However, the problem is not just on the implementation : it is the so-called ‘bold reform ideas’. The problem is they all stem from an inherent wickedness taught by the RSS. That is the root of the problem. Wickedness was behind demonetisation – the purpose was to get the upper hand in the UP elections by having control of the money supply, and starving the opposition of funds. For that, destroying the the economy is not an issue for them. Likewise, CAA-NRC when taken together aimed to declare say 30% of Muslims as non-citizens and put them in concentration camps – that is an RSS driven desire. India was heading for civil war, Covid saved India – temporarily.
Wickedness is the driving force. In some ways, it is a grace that Indian inefficiency gets in the way of implementation ! Otherwise, if we had the same wickedness of the Nazis and German efficiency, it would be even more catasthropic !
Indian inefficiency for implementation of a good reform idea is a problem; the same Indian inefficiency may save India when the reform idea is wicked !!
Modi will never be comparable to any Indian PM , All of our previous PM’s have basic intellect ( some were very very smart ) . This one clearly knows he doesn’t have that. See any of his actions and talks !!!!
Really? None of them shown it, or India would be superpower by now
Well, let’s face it. India whether one likes it or not, has never had great PM’S like Lal Bahadur shashtri or Nehru. Great Presidents yes, at least the furst three. Presidents,. Politics, nOT statemanlike behaviour, is the order of the day. A waste of time evaluating qualitiesof PMs in tough times like these. Let’s wait and see.
Decision making is a complex activity when it impacts over 130 crore citizens, diverse in multiple ways. These call for wide deliberations with experts from relevant fields. It calls for a thorough planning, a well designed process of implementation, risk & impact analysis, a review process etc. unfortunately we seem to have failed in following up on these basic norms. The 4 hrs notice for demonitisation, underprepared GST implementation, March lockdown again with 4 hrs notice without any solution or even thought for lakhs of migrant labourers in transit, having already initiated their journey, are some of the examples. In fact the crux of migrant problem adversely affecting crores of them has its genesis in the way first lock down was implimented. Even after having announced this, it could have been managed better by steps like special transport arrangement for those stuck in transit. State Govts too were taken by surprise and were at a loss on designing a structured solution for managing the issue. Delayed action of arranging travel when we were close to or in midst of community spread of Virus. Even today, after months of time, we have not been able to upgrade minimum infrastructure requirements.
The worst part is that we don’t seem to be learning from our failures and continue to repeat the same mistakes. Nation will have to bear the adverse impacts & pay a heavy toll.
Mr. Modi in theory is a wonderful Prime Minister. But the reality is different because it is never the idea but the implementation that is important.
Mr. Modi and his ministers have shown that they do not have the foresight and strategical planning to to take an idea to its finish point. The important question should be if it is because of a lack of talent in his team or the fact that you have to focus on implementation without getting distracted by politics and the fawning of his fanbase.
A reformist has a Vision. Narendra Modi has delusions and hallucinations. A reformist spends his time listening to experts. Narendra Modi spends his time talking down to experts. A reformist has his feet on the ground. Narendra Modi has his feet in front of a mirror. A reformist deep down has a desire to serve the society, and from that derive his own ego satisfaction. Narendra Modi deep down has a desire to serve those who serve his ego, and from that derive some more of his own ego satisfaction. So, in computer jargon, a reformist works by a flow chart, Narendra Modi works in a do loop. I hope you more or less understand what I’m trying to say.
Sweden’s PM has listened to experts on Corona virus and followed their advice. Do you know how the experts have become prisoners of fake data and killed numerous lives in Sweden? Only stupids would argue to blindly follow the advice of experts. If Modi haters are not stupid, what are they?
@dev . don’t rush in like a fool. Only time will tell whether Swedish expert was wrong . Let the pandemic play out and we know the mortalities everywhere. It is little premature to sit on judgement .
On this specific issue of the pandemic, I have a fear that India might top all the charts. And who can deny that Narendra Modi has been at the helm! None other than his own party has been TomToming it.
That will be the fault of the smart Indian public. Better not to have a lockdown so that 600 millions Indians would have been decimated. At least India would have got a fresh start. Pity
Mr Sanjiv Bhatla. I completely agree with the thrust of your arguments.
When it comes to blame for the COVID fiasco, I doubt the PM will be there to accept his sins of omission and commission. Indeed, in keeping with tradition, the wily PM will ensure that somebody else will become the fall guy.
For instance, when demonetisation was proven to be a disaster of massive proportions, Arun Jaitely (RIP), Nirmala Sitharaman, Sambit Patra and a host of other flunkeys were paraded in front of TV cameras vigorously deflecting the blame from Saint Modi. And the hordes of blinkered, middle-class Modi worshippers and Modi cult members who were not affected by demonetisation jumped on the bandwagon zealously protecting the PM from any criticism of his self-goal.
BOTTOMLINE: When things go well, and credit has to be accepted for the work of previous PMs, Modi will be there to receive the accolades. When things go south, everyone but Modi will be blamed. Thus the PM escapes both responsibility and accountability for his actions. Not very different from Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un.
Time is telling that you the fool.
Its 8nteresting to note not a single commenting supporting the article which ultimately makes it biased! When the majority people elected him for a second term, proves people like his administration! Why do we punish criminals ? To save other innocent and as a warning to others to reform. Even ex PMs could do nothing to stop corruption. Atleast there is purge. Loans go directly to farmers accounts. Many reforms are there. Demonotisation was a reform. Who will deposit the black money into accounts? It got rotten. Pakistan could not input fake currency n pelting in J&K stopped! Now pakistan is trying to input fake currency through other countries. Article 370 removed, J&K now open n integrated. Some, error might be there, but we have one hell of an efficient PM. Masses support him and love him, that’s what matters!
Your point is understood in spite of your poor writing skills.
The author needs to get real. Modi is no reformer in the sense of giving up discretionary powers of government. No point in blaming bureaucrats. They are selected by the government in power and take their cue from it. This is a government that wishes to occupy the commanding heights of every aspect of life in India. The only reason it hasn’t done so is because of a lack of capacity. The intent is there. If it was/is serious about reforms there was nothing to stop it from Day 1. Making excuses about Rahul’s June is just that an excuse. The reality is that the government has tasted blood Viz excessive and uncontrolled power with zero accountability and is not ready to give it up.
Rahul’s jibe
Dear Sekhar Gupta, Do not blame the bureaucrats. Power stems from the top and stops there. P V Narasimha Rao was the real reformer. He gave the ideas and freedom to Dr Manmohan. He collected ace bureaucrats around him , gave them mandate and saw to it that his diktats were executed. He was truly passionate about brining the country to the fore. Narasimha Rao was a genius., original thinker and a politician who understood the needs of the poor. He was clear that what India needed was generation of massive employment opportunities for the Indian youth. He was very clear that what India needed was infusion of foreign investment on massive scale. He was very clear that “minimum government” with “maximum governance” in real sense of the word was the need of the hour – not as an empty slogan. In the first three years of his tenure, people at large talked only about economy and forgot caste, community, religion or language. Narasimha Rao would have taken India to dizzy heights but for the nasty politics played by Madam Sonia who undermined him from the bottom because she was jealous of him – that a non member of the Nehru Dynasty was stealing the thunder. In my opinion he was the only reformer prime minister though credit must go to Dr Manmohan too for his brilliant execution of His Master’s Ideas. ak pattabiraman, chennai
P. V. Narsimha Rao was India’s greatest Prime Minister. Modi is not equal to even his little toe.
Well said Mr Vish !
Excellent comment Mr Vish !
Bureaucrats cannot be blamed for Modi’s self-created, hare-brained schemes like demonetisation, a flawed GST, a violent anti-Muslim stance that jeopardises India’s standing abroad, a callous attitude towards migrants, the backing of pseudo-science, the squandering of the nation’s meagre resources on vanity projects like the Patel statue, bullet trains, 2 new heavily customised and extremely expensive Boeing 757 planes to fly the PM, an unwanted reconstruction of government buildings including the PM’s Residence in Delhi, multiple foreign trips, the funding of bizarre “cowpathy” projects and so on. And to that list one must also add the BJP’s funding of its Göbbelsian propaganda wing, the infamous BJP IT cell.
You hit the nail on the head with your statement about uncontrolled power with zero accountability. As the British Liberal Party politician Lord Acton (1834-1902) succinctly put it:
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”
That quote applies to perfectly to the Modi-Shah duo. As it did to former PM Indira Gandhi and her out-of-control son Sanjay Gandhi.
Mr Shekhar Gupta, you have lost all creditability as a Fair & unbiased Journalist when you wrote an Article advising fellow Journalists to write Fake Stories,Fake News against an elected Prime Minister for the purpose of defeating him. Other day, You allowed a Retired Lt Gen to write a shabby Article against Indian interest when India & China are at logger head at Border. This shameless Retired high ranking Officer who openly asked Army to revolt against Modi if he get elected in 2019 election. How you can allow such a nuisance man to write sensitive defense related article in your website ” The Print” ? How to believe your expressed opinions in the present Article is true or fake opinion? You have openly advocated to spread Fake news & your opinions in the Article could be part of Fakery.
I totally agree with you
Shekhar Gupta has lost all credibility!
Mr Pandurang Kamath: Why don’t you go and immerse yourself in Arnab Goswam’s hot air if you do not like what The Print publishes. In any case, since the bulk of Indian media is paid media, or more precisely BJP Paid media, you surely have a lot of choice to hear Göbbelsian Modi propaganda don’t you sir ?
And then, where is the fake news in this article? Should media only write articles extolling the virtues of the Godhra man?
One take home point – bureaucracy likes complexity, and many of the rules are complex. The problem with complex rules arethat they are difficult to follow, knowingly or unknowingly. A simplified bureaucratic approach is needed. But will it come? The power or bureaucracy is through complexity of rules and regulations that one is not able to follow, and then approach them for clarification and rectification. I agree on ideas A+, and a lower grade of implementation due to confusion, knowing stonewalling or demoralization.
Shekhar Gupta , this is the best , I have read from anyone on Modi’s reforms.
Simple, all his actions so far have benn detrimental to the intersets of the members and cronies of the past dispensations.
At least for the time being they are the list makers. The Bureaucrat-economists are used fot giving respectability to reform ieads but are twicked at the last minute to accomodate the vested interest.
Sitting in BJP IT cell and under the watchful eyes of Amit Malviya , your role is abundantly cut and clear. It appears Modi has become Bharat. Any one who writes anything contrary to the abject and nefarious designs of RSS cahoots or Andhbhakt of Modi Shah combine is anti nationalist! Remember support your Nation Always but the govt Only when it is doing Right things. That is nationalism.
If not Narenrabhai Damodardas Modi…then no other prime Minister or leader in THE WORLD can feature in any list of reformists..Thats all what i have to interact on this article
Opinions any can have. If you have a point support it with bare facts otherwise better you silk and keep quiet.
Please name one important economic reforms he did in past 6 years except bankruptcy code and GST (mismanaged). All his reforms are inspired by politics and populism
Can u list the reforms that Modi has successfully implemented??
Why blame the bureaucrats? why this convoluted logic of blaming on the Generation after 1982?This is
just another version of blaming the millennials.the Modi Govt has actively sought to undermine the
administrative services,the random and repeated shunting and shuffling, bureaucrats being made
scape goats for any mistakes – real or notional( remember S.C Garg shunted after the budget)silencing of IAS associations,lateral entry etc.
Why is Mr Gupta so actively trying to shift the blame on those who are powerless?Shouldn’t the buck stop on top?
Dear Guptaji,
As per my knowledge there was no reform by UPA 1 and UPA 2 , in fact UPA 1 survive because of world growth story started in early 2002 and halted because of GFC of 2009. UPA started rackless spending starting from 2008 to 2012 which gave us high inflation years and artificial growth.
I think Modi do not understand correctly Indian ‘jugadu’ system while going for demonetisation, his clear intention was to clean bank NPA by getting couple of hundred crores in black money which did not happen because of poor implementation and BJP party corruption.
Guptaji,
Your Saturday columns are reserved exclusively to bring down Modi / his stature / popularity in one or the other way. And you fail miserably in it.
Your daily ‘cut the clutter’ is juvenile where you struggle to read into the research efforts of your newly joined no-experience interns where insights are lacking. Equally horrendous was your efforts to show the rankings based on impact of Lancet and NEMJ in medical journalism again and again not even once mentioning that these scores were out of a possible score of 100.
Your digital media venture ‘ThePrint’ is full of mediocre trollers not journalists.
Best of luck.
How about writing a GREAT article of say 300 words. Print would publish it, I am sure!
Aren’t you yourself one of the trollers ? Presumably paid by the BJP IT Cell ?After all, apart from abusing the Print, you do not make any attempt to even counter-argue. But then, I guess your mentors Babu Bajrangi and Praveen Togadia did not teach you to marshal facts and argue did they ?
So just scoot back to your shakha and insert your lathi into whichever orifice best aids some circulation to your atrophying brain
Facts!
1 ->Every Saturday National Interest column is proof.
2 -> Every Cut the Clutter appearance is proof. Have u watched Najam Sethi? or his Sethi Se Sawal? Guptaji can’t even read properly his own notes forget remembering them.
3 -> Jyoti, Ruhi, Shivam… countless examples of trollers.
I see countless trolling of comments by you here and Ulta Chor Police ko Dante.. of course as usual with below the belt language. Shame on you.
It’s your personal view ,not everyone’s in th he country
Can you please List out atleast 2 reforms
Sir ji
He is still serving as PM wait till he departs .
Then only he will be evaluated amongest his peers.
His history is being written on a day to day basis, as his style of governance unfolds. He is there just because of TINA factor. All his big decisions have been expedient. The vision keeps shifting, if there is any at all.
Rather than attribute Vanaprastha wisdom to the 1991 set, I would suggest that the collapse of the Soviet bloc gave them an anti statist foundation.
Shekhar sir, also selected the babus(the perfect whipping boy) for modi government’s failure.
It is the government of the day that punishes for any contrary view(former finance secretary), hounds the honest officer and wants to satisfy everyone.
It is the PMO that want to spoon feed the country. It craves for power. When made radar statement, it tells how much he enjoy control.
PMO is in love with adventurism, and showmanship that is leading to impatience with policy, good officer(inability to nurture) intolerance to any critical view.
When highest political leaders craves for power why a bureaucrat will give power, and in return do what political boss want.
So, reasons for this mess is
1-Excessive centralisation.
2-Intolerance to any critical view, seeks yes man as major quality.
3-Adventurism with policy.
4-Wants to satisfy everyone( swadeshi lobby, reformist lobby) .
Because anytime they bring a Policy the whole opposition comes out together along with liberals and fascists supporters who have to just oppose anything that is shown to them.
So the time gets wasted in explaining things to those nincompoops.
Cry, My Beloved Country.
As the Time passes ,the True colours shall become visible to all.
there is only one color…..its called SAFFRON !!!
You must be blind then
Guptaji, your article is both brilliant and pedestrian at the same time – brilliant for its insight into the bureaucratic mind, pedestrian for delving into Modi sarkar’s poor economic record.
The reason for inability to get the economy humming is that a) economic activity requires participation from Indians – ordinary Indian workers, businesses, industrialists, professionals should be able to trust the govt to ensure that they are going to make money – fairly and consistently. b) It also requires the govt machinery to trust it’s citizens that left to their own devices they will be able to deliver the goods so that govt coffers are replenished well and spending on social sector, healthcare, defense, public infrastructure will grow adequately.
On both counts this govt has been found wanting right from Day 2 of the first Modi sarkar. The difference between Rao, MMS/Sonia and Vajpayee govt and Modi sarkar is the former 3 govt had a light touch so trust level was higher – this sarkar has created a fear factor and as Aamir Khan says in 3 Idiots – Fear is not good for the grades, sir. Prof Viru Sahsrabuddhe could reform himself, the ability of Modi sarkar to itself reform and understand this lesson is crucial.
What bloody rubbish…?
To the writer of this article –
Are you blind/deaf or don’t have enough brain to assess/analyze what our PM is doing?
It would be great to hear from you. Can u please list few reforms which has impacted the common man yet please.
When the core part of narrative is to prove Modi as a failure and its obvious that Shekhar Gupta wants to prove that repeatedly then we have such bogus judgemental articles like this one. Shekhar Gupta himself admitted post 2019 election victory of Modi that the media was in denial about Modi governments achievements in his first 5 year tenure. He said toilets had been made, electricity had reached every household, gas was made available to those who used wood as fuel, corruption had come down etc etc. That video is still available for all to see. So Gupta knows well why Modi was elected back in 2019. So since he cant harp on that he uses the words ‘reforms’ which is a very conveniently way to flog any politician. In criticising him almost everyday through his vehicle The Print, Gupta and his ilk forget that people want a honest doer at the helm of affairs in this country. Not someone like from the Gandhi family who comes with an assurance of big ticket corruption. People have burnt their fingers under their misrule. Gupta expecta that the rot of 60 plus years can be remedied with a magic wand. With demo many corrupt politicians saw their cash turn into waste paper. The source of money can now be traced. This was the achievement but by constantly telling lies and giving lopsided opinions this Lootyens media gang often tries to create the narrative that everything Modi is doing is bad. First Gupta should talk of reforms in his own profession. Today most journalists are not only highly superficial and incompetent but they are highly corrupt too. They take money from leading industrialist and use their names to promote their own blogs, you tube channels etc. Here they pedal their own opinion as some sort of universal truth. Its not some honest, unbiased joirnalism at play here. Hence when. Gupta pontificates there are very few takers. The corrupt still continues to be seen as the most corrupt while the doer still continues to be seen as the most hard working doer.
Opposition for the sake of opposition thy name is shaker Gupta and yellow print journalism.
The greatest mistake has been the replacement of Planning Commission by Niti Aayog. It must be noted that honesty and transparency do not suit a capitalist system mostly.. On the other hand these traits could have promoted Public Undertakings to new heights. If we wish to succeed, we will have to copy China. Sidelining of engineering graduates has caused great damage. The M.B.A culture has killed innovation.
We cannot always be in stone age. If bureaucrats of 1991 faced issues , so do of today. Author has actually offered an excuse for why Govt is not able implement. Simple put it on bureaucrats. A very mundane analysis offering no remedy but an excuse.