‘Fault lies within us, history will be harsh if we don’t deliver’

While agreeing there has been a change in mindsets and attitudes over the last two decades, Singh felt we would have only ourselves to blame if we do not seize the opportunities available and move towards ‘‘a new resurgent India’’ that should achieve a 10 per cent growth rate if some hard and essential decisions are taken.

Citing Infosys, Wipro, Telco as global brands, Singh said, ‘‘It must give us confidence to pursue change in areas where we have shied away from change. Be it in urban governance, be it in rural marketing, and labour laws.’’ In fact, the PM even promised to address the sensitive area of labour reforms and make them ‘‘more flexible’’ after evolving a ‘‘consensus on the matter’’ and building in ‘‘credible social safety nets’’.

Going beyond the growth rate of 7.5 per cent that various think-tanks predict for the next four years, Singh said that India should be targeting ‘‘a 10 per cent growth rate in 2-3 years’ time’’ which, according to him is ‘‘highly feasible’’ only ‘‘if (we) can make concrete efforts to move forward’’ on the ‘‘the problem areas’’.