Manmohan Singh: The silent Prime Minister or a humane economist?

EXPECTATIONS of Dr Manmohan Singh, the trailblazer of India's new economic policy, is no more.

- LEKHA CHAKRABORTY Professor NIPFP and Governing Board Member, International Institute of Public Finance, Munich

Economists around the world remember him for his brilliance and humility, and predominantly for his role in opening up the state-controlled Indian economy, when he was appointed Finance Minister of India in 1991.

The NIPFP (the think tank of finance ministry where I work) had immense opportunities to work with him. It is interesting to recall that in 2004, when Singh was named as Indian Prime Minister, India was embarking into a Common Minimum Programme with dual objectives of economic growth and equity. I remember it was a tough call, given the constrained fiscal space for expenditure design for the poor under the new fiscal rules to contain the mounting fiscal deficits.

Making efforts to phase out revenue deficit, while designing innovative revenue spending for MNREGA to ensure job guarantee schemes, was a tough call during his regime.