The chairman of the Expenditure Reforms Commission Bimal Jalan has said the first signals emerging from the Narendra Modi led government at the Centre “were highly encouraging”. Speaking at the release of essays ‘Politics Trump Economics’ on Thursday, jointly edited by him and Pulapre Balakrishnan, professor at Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, Jalan said the new government is demonstrating a sense of accountability, which is in marked contrast with the coalition politics that was on view till before the elections. The former RBI Governor, however, cautioned that substantial changes in governance would need the ministries to forego more powers in favour of regulatory bodies. “The scope of discretionary powers has to come down from what is still a colonial hangover in favour of agencies that have specialised skills,” he argued. He said the book was conceived in the context of the coalition politics that had become the hallmark of governments in Delhi to drive home the point that economic governance has fallen prey to political expediencies. Earlier, speaking on the sidelines Jalan said he would expect to complete the task of the expenditure panel mandated by the Budget 2014-15 within this fiscal year.
