The President?s address is the more basic manifesto of the UPA government.? Only time will tell the seriousness of intent and a faithful implementation of its manifold promises. This is the last sentence in NK Singh?s new book. However, this last sentence is better described as the last sentence of the last column because this volume is a compilation of the author?s newspaper columns, published in both English and Hindi. The columns were written between April 2007 and June 2009 and, in many ways, this book is a continuation of his earlier book (Politics of Change?A Ringside View), published in 2007. Indeed, the sub-title of the present volume reflects this and in the introduction, NK refers to Volume 1 several times.
Reviewers of this book will not lament postponement of NK?s memoirs. As Shekhar Gupta writes in the foreword, ?Our wait for NK?s memoirs, guaranteed to be a riveting read, will have to be extended.? Those memoirs will undoubtedly be juicy, since NK?s involvement in policy-making has been more than a ringside view. The bureaucrat moved to the Planning Commission and Bihar State Planning Board and then became a MP.
Lamentation for missing memoirs doesn?t detract from utility of this book. The essays are written well and lead to reader-friendly copy, despite the odd Greek etymology (strategy) and author (Aeschylus) thrown in. Many columnists tend to be less than prolific. When they publish compilations of columns, there is a problem, because columns lose topicality fast. NK has an advantage here, because the earliest column dates to April 2007 and the latest to as recent as June 2009.
A few of the 69 assembled columns have been co-authored with Jessica Wallack. The number 69 also indicates that columns are short, as most newspaper columns are wont to be, though several compilers of columns tend to intersperse columns with full-fledged academic papers. This book is an exception. In one respect, this volume is more valuable than Volume 1. Volume 1 compiled columns from The Indian Express and readers of the newspaper had invariably read ?From the Ringside? in column form. Since then, NK has written in diverse papers (including Hindi) and it is impossible to keep track. So much of this volume provides for fresh reading. There is a slight difference in flavour too. In NK?s words, ?Some essays in this book contain the flavour and perspectives of an insider in a somewhat different sense, namely, as a parliamentarian participating more directly in the debates and discussions on policies and law-making.? This sensitises one to the fact that economic rationale alone is not good enough, there are emotional issues and sensitivities that require consensual politics.
The background is in the introduction. ?Major liberalisation happened more than a decade ago and while there have been important advances since then, the pace has slowed. The ?reform days? are slipping into the past. At the same time, the need for change has intensified.? Or in a column written in August 2008, ?The Prime Minister in his Independence Day address struck a realistic chord by saying that he had no new promises to make but only promises to keep.?
In the days of UPA-I, those promises were in NCMP and in the days of UPA-II, those promises are in the President?s address. Let us get on with the reforms. However, there are reforms and reforms. Some are politically feasible and tractable, others difficult. Here is NK (May 2008) on expenditure reform. ?In the past, expen- diture reforms and the several commissions and committees appointed to make recommendations have invariably centred on rationalising subsidies, restructuring public sector undertakings and downsizing the government. None of these have made much headway… Here are some ideas on what can reasonably be done by way of preparatory work.? This is illustration of what the book is about, picking not necessarily on big-bang ideas, but small items that can eventually have big-bang effects. That?s yet another reason why this volume is more valuable than several others floating around.
The 69 essays are divided into nine heads?globalising India, sustainable development, inclusion, inclusionary fiscal policy, infrastructure, education, institutions, political dynamics and elections 2009. (Yes, health is missing.) Of these, I found inclusionary fiscal policy, education, institutions and political dynamics the most interesting, but that possibly reflects my biases.Across the essays, an agenda for reform emerges and aptly the last two columns are titled ?Many Promises to Keep?I? and ?Many Promises to Keep?II?. But perhaps one should now begin to quote other lines from Robert Frost?s poem, not just the last two lines. With its rural and inclusive agenda, the Congress will be happy with, ?His house is in the village, though.? But those who desire reforms will be unhappy and think of, ?The darkest evening of the year,? since NK himself says the Congress isn?t a reform-minded party.
The revieweris a noted economist