 |
 |
|
After
Basu, Work
Reviving
a listless economy and keeping the die-hard reds at bay—the new Chief
Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya will require extraordinary grit to junk
the legacy of Basu raj.
|
|
|
| |
Home |
|
|
| |
From The Editor In Chief
For
weeks now, alarm bells have been ringing about the Government's professed
economic growth rate of 7 per cent for the year ending March 2001. The
RBI last month sounded a warning about an economic slowdown. International
credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded its outlook
on Indian exposure; NCAER's business confidence index is the lowest in
a year. Rising international oil prices will add a massive US$10 billion
(Rs 46,000 crore) to India's oil import bill, jolting its balance of payments
position. And yet, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and his team till recently
stonewalled through all this.
 Economic
reality has a bad habit of catching up. The finance minister was forced
to admit what the country and much of the world knew all along, that the
economy will not grow as expected. In our major feature this week, we
tell you the real story behind the numbers as India's economy slows to
a 5.8 per cent a year rate of growth. If India were a developed country
this would be an excellent growth rate but for a developing economy like
ours with its rising population, mounting deficits and failing infrastructure,
such a slowdown is cause for worry.
After more
than two years in power, the Government displays a distinct lack of zeal
to carry on with the reform process. Although it is making all the right
noises about the unfinished agenda like controlling the deficit and government
expenditure, and privatisation, it is mired in politics or its own inertia.
The man on the spot, Sinha, has been on the job for more than two years
and has evolved from a relative novice to a more knowledgeable and confident
minister. Says Associate Editor Rohit Saran, who encountered an aggressive
Sinha in the course of researching the article: "He has changed from
a person who dithered to a person who stands by his policies." Now
all Sinha has to do is implement them.
(Aroon
Purie)
Top
|
|
|
 Web
Exclusives |
|
 |
COLUMNS |
|
|
|
|
 With
all the noise about the cabinet resolution on dilution of the government’s
stakes in public sector banks, is anyone buying shares of these banks,
asks V. Shankar Aiyar in Au
ContrAiyar.
|
|
|
TALKING
POINT |
|
|
|
|
"The emphasis will be to create a truly world class faculty with diverse
approaches, beliefs, research and pedagogical styles," Prof. Sumantra
Ghoshal, founding dean of the Indian Business School, tells INDIA TODAY
Associate Editor V. Shankar Aiyar in an
exclusive
interview.
|
|
|
DESPATCHES |
|
|
|
|
Long-forgotten
customs are invoked to preserve Meghalaya's endangered sacred groves,
and the legends surrounding them. INDIA TODAY's Teresa Rehman reports
on the unique conservation effort
in Despatches.
|
|
|
