Warriors and thinkers

One thing is certain. Atal Behari Vajpayee is going to have a very stimulating time indeed with the warriors and thinkers appointed to hi...

One thing is certain. Atal Behari Vajpayee is going to have a very stimulating time indeed with the warriors and thinkers appointed to his new business advisory and economic advisory councils. With the Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis and other heavyweights in one and I. G. Patel, M. S. Ahluwalia, Amaresh Bagchi et al in the other, there is a formidable array of talent and experience available to the Prime Minister. All prime ministers should get themselves brains trusts outside the party-political machine and outside the bureaucratic establishment. Vajpayee has chosen very eclectic groups. The economic viewpoints cover a wide swathe from left-of-centre to right-of-centre. Business cultures are diverse. The omissions at this stage are less significant than the variety represented in the councils. Opinion and advice will be coming to Vajpayee from all points of the compass. Perhaps the whole purpose of the two councils is to have new ideas emerge from the collision of old ones. Perhaps it signals the end of ideology andthe birth of pragmatism.

Perhaps again, it is simply that the Prime Minister is looking around for some sound advice. It would not be surprising if Vajpayee is tired of the confusing prescriptions of the swadeshi lobby and dismayed by the Finance Ministry8217;s attempts to marry the feasible with the politically correct, both of which have added to the country8217;s economic troubles. He may have decided, therefore, to let other cross-currents blow through his office. This is sensible. The economy is in unchartered waters. The old certainties have gone, new challenges have arisen. Upheavals abroad, one after the other, complicate the effort to pull the economy out of its present recession. No previous government has had to keep such a close eye on what is happening to the Chinese yuan or in Yeltsin8217;s Russia. Or on the US sanctions front for that matter. No readymade theories out of RSS shakhas will do. This is an entirely new and uncertain environment. Business and industry are out there and many of the giants among them havebeen feeling the heat. They must welcome this chance to interact and, perhaps, influence thinking and policy-making directly at the very highest level. As Vajyapee must undoubtedly welcome the chance to get reports directly from the war front, so to speak.

It may well be that over time there will be too many contradictory pulls on Vajpayee from his own councils and from various economic ministries each with its own bureaucratic imperatives. The Finance Ministry which is inundated with advice from associations of business and industry in any case will want its voice heard. But as long as turf battles are avoided, a dialogue of the wise and powerful ought to be useful. Ideally, the Prime Minister could hope to have strategy sessions with his two councils on some of the key economic issues confronting the country. It will, at the least, be reassuring for the country to see Vajpayee trying to develop a workable government-business partnership at the top and to find him open to a broad range of economic perspectives.