To Lead By Example!

India, on the verge of a double digit GDP growth needs to capitalize on the Obama factor if it has to meet its needs in almost all sectors. A rather overly regulated economy preventing FDI in the infra sector was communicated by the U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, calling for further policy shifts. But the U.S no longer seems to be the driving force in the South Asian economies and now, more than ever, they seem reliant on these economies towards providing jobs / opportunities for the Americans themselves. There is probably no better opportunity than this for India to capitalize upon. But, like all bureaucratic initiatives, time seems a defining factor which brings us back to the need of direction. This direction stems from the need of strong leadership.

On whether Manmohan Singh paints a picture of sound leadership, is a very debatable topic in itself, however, the lack of leadership in the state of Maharashtra is something unheard of. In a people-rich country, presence of leaders, or better said as, presence of politicians with a majority behind them, seems lacking. How can a multi-crore project function sans leadership? Well, at least there will be fewer ‘Adarsh’ like scams that can add to the public budget. Forget the concept of good and pro-active leaders, going against all vigilant odds to satisfy private-partnership, here, we have no leadership, nobody!

But however the issue of political instability does not seem to be nascent in India alone, the U.S is seeing turmoil as well and as a result, economic policies will get more attention and probably get diluted before their actual implementation with India. Under the backdrop of a successful $10 billion deal we seem to forget the lack of direction in the political set-up of the U.S which may cause otherwise.

The required sense of direction is more than just plain leadership; it is to follow by example. Consider the recent bilateral agreement between Russia and Norway on settling their border disputes over the North Sea, it was carried out very smoothly, in a very novel and diplomatic manner which now becomes a model that the world can replicate (especially when it comes to such volatile issues). However, in our case of establishing PPP’s as a norm, we are in need of a similar example in all states. We have a framework in place, but a successful PPP with NO limitations needs to be set as an exemplar.

Bottom-line, as Vikram Kapur had mentioned, we need funds from wherever we can garner them, for which we need FDI, for which we need the US, for which we need to woo Obama! But as the NPM goes, most of this FDI should fulfill the operational directives of the services rather than controlling the strategic administration of resources, for which Manmohan needs to think beyond his bleak chance of a second term in office!