CMP, a rerun

The President8217;s Address to the joint session of Parliament sounded familiar. Too familiar. Those who were left unconvinced by the brand new government8217;s Common Minimum Programme CMP have been offered nearly all the same cues to air their scepticism only days later. Like the CMP, the President8217;s Address was more in the nature of a mission statement than an agenda for action. Like the CMP, its please-all patchwork is immediate provocation for more dry-eyed readings between the lines. It can be said about all promises that they must finally be tested against their implementation. But when the promises are as expansive as these, they invite a yet more unsparing spotlight on the task of fulfilling them. And the capacities, political as well as administrative, that are needed to accomplish it.

On the economy, the United Progressive Alliance government has reiterated a growth target at 7-8 per cent, comprehensive tax reforms, massive public investments in agriculture and industry, infrastructure, everything. It promises, unexceptionably again, to encourage investment by rejuvenating the capital markets and to boost trade by simplifying procedures, harmonising tarriffs, reducing transaction costs. But attention is likely to focus on the UPA8217;s commitment, or lack of it, in bringing in the much-delayed value added tax VAT, for instance. It will also hover on the translation of terms such as these in policy and on the ground: 8216;8216;a strong and effective public sector whose social objectives are met by its commercial functioning8217;8217;, or the now-famous 8216;8216;privatisation on a case by case basis8217;8217;. The challenge, this government has happily acknowledged, is to establish a direct link between privatisation and social needs, such as the use of revenues thus generated for social sector schemes. But the question is: does the UPA have the political imagination and the skill to establish that linkage? Will Manmohan Singh8217;s government have the room for manoeuvre? Or will it succumb to the populist pressure, the immediate subsidy?

An unwieldy list of new laws and commissions, reservations and reversals, is pledged. A national commission on education to allocate resources and monitor programmes. Another national commission to make recommendations on how to enhance the welfare of socially and economically backward sections among linguistic and religious minorities. The law to reserve one-third seats in legislatures for women. And to deal with communal violence. The communalisation of education to be removed8230; A word of caution is in order here. The UPA will be judged by the difference it can make in empowering the vast majority of people to fulfill their potential. It will be judged also on policies that nurture and celebrate the nation in all its pluralities. For that, less, not more bureaucracy, is needed. And fewer, but more sincerely implemented laws.