Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer: My Years as Finance Minister
Yashwant Sinha
Penguin, Rs 450
This seems to be the season for Indian finance ministers to produce books. Jaswant Singh, P. Chidambaram, and now, Yashwant Sinha YS. Media never tires of ranking FMs since 1991. As the original reformer, Manmohan Singh usually tops the list, followed often by Chidambaram. Judged through the prism of reformist credentials, the world has been unkind to YS. After all, had two policemen from Haryana not intervened, the Chandra Shekhar government might have continued and YS might have turned out to be the original reformer. The shift of budget presentation from 5 p.m. to 11 a.m. apart, cleaning up indirect taxes excise and transition to VAT, kisan credit cards, real interest rate reductions, action taken reports ATRs on budget pronouncements and even the National Highway Development Programme NHDP owe a fair bit to YS.
Fourth, there was the taint of scams and scandals8212;UTI Mark I and UTI Mark II, treaty with Mauritius, Ketan Parekh, Tehelka sting operations, Mohan Guruswamy and Flex Industries, not to forget Chairman CBEC8217;s arrest by CBI. Fifth, there was the 8220;rollback8221; tag, not only urea prices and tax proposals, but also insurance sector and labour market reforms. What happened to recommendations of the Expenditure Reforms Commission and the Second National Commission on Labour? Sixth, reforms are not implemented only by FMs. They are implemented by a team of civil servants and those in North Block, joint secretary upwards, are critical. Such a team came into place around 1992 and by 1997, was exiting. I suspect that no FM, after Manmohan Singh, has appreciated the need for building a team, although YS writes, 8220;Some of the problems I faced in the finance ministry could have been avoided if we had had more competent and experienced officers. Given my own civil service background, it was fairly easy for me to get along with the officers, even if they were not chosen by me.8221;
The point transcends the implementation question. It is also one of selling reforms and marketing North Block and FM to the world at large. If N.K. Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Shankar Acharya came as part of the package deal, FM was probably sold, regardless of what he did. To continue with the same line of argument, PMO sold itself under NDA and has failed to do so under UPA. North Block sold itself under Manmohan Singh, but failed to do so under the two NDA FMs. On the YS book, plagiarising from Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay, it becomes difficult to distinguish between a what happened; b what YS believed happened; c what YS would like to believe happened; d what YS wanted others to believe happened; and e what YS wanted others to believe he believed happened. One suspects this book is more of b, c and d and you won8217;t find sex, lies and videotapes in it. More accurately, you won8217;t find sex in it. There are traces of the other two. Thankfully, it isn8217;t a 8220;preaching to the world8221; book. It is a 8220;confessions8221; book. Unfortunately, it is a book that has been 8220;spoken8221; by YS to Vimala Veluchamy and this makes more uneven and patchy reading.
There are parts where there are anecdotes and juicy tit-bits. These parts ring true and make for smooth and interesting reading, even if confessions are less than candid. And there are parts that are almost lifted from budget speeches and handouts. These are boring bits and I don8217;t understand why a potentially good book should have been thus ruined, probably because of uneven collaboration and bad planning about style and content. I could find only one outright bloomer. I know of no public finance specialist named B.C. Purohit p.130. This must be Mahesh Purohit, or M.C. Purohit if you prefer.
But do read the book. It has three parts and 30 short chapters. The first and third parts have the juice. The second part is generally the bore.
