New Delhi: The Economist in its latest issue has carried a special report on India’s economic situation for which it has blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies for the slowdown, claiming, “India is stumbling because its Prime Minister has not pursued his reformist instinct.”
The article — “The Two Modis” — authored by Max Rodenbeck, the Economist South Asia bureau chief, stated that Modi government “has failed to acknowledge looming dangers to India’s economy”, which is at the present is struggling to cope with an “alarmingly sharp slowdown.”
Citing slipping growth figures, the author added that the present economic downturn desperately needs deeper reforms. “Now with alarming speed, India has gone from being the world’s fastest-growing large economy to something like a rumbling Indian Railway train” and even “sales of cheap biscuits and soaps have contracted.”
In a hard-hitting article, the author went on to say that in spite of the “Modi effect” seen in the general elections, the mood of the Indian population at present is “anxious and unsettled.” The article further argued, “Unless Indians resist Modi’s push towards heavy Hindu majoritarianism and instead embrace their diversity, what will soon be the world’s most populous country may remain a largely unhappy one.”
The article also said that though Mr Modi was seen as a “can-do, a pro-business pragmatist who would wipe clean and shape up a government widely seen as venal and rotten”, his first five years proved in many ways “a wasted opportunity” which can hardly be called transformative and this is mainly because the Modi government has not delivered on the reforms related to reshaping old administrative structures and restrictive land and labour laws.
The article was also critical of Mr Modi’s “shock demonetisation” topped with “fancy new taxes,” and “heavier enforcement” that overall saw a collapse of small businesses and other mistakes that also saw government forcing healthy state-owned companies to take over sick ones.
Talking about rich getter richer and poor getting poorer, the article says that India’s new wealth has accumulated disproportionably “at the very top”. It added that though fewer top-level scams have emerged under the present dispensation, low-level, “rent-seeking graft is still pervasive.”
The article also criticised the Prime Minister of “appointing relatively weak ministers,” to keep more powers within his office. “He has skillfully and ruthlessly used state institutions to influence the media, punish perceived enemies and undermine the Opposition.”
Quoting bureaucrats, the article went on to say how in his office, Mr Modi’s preference for “hard work over fancy degrees has often meant “rewarding loyalty over competence.”
As for foreign policy, the article maintained, “except for hardening of rhetoric towards Pakistan, there were no big shifts in foreign policy”. Terming Mr Modi’s foreign policy as “cautious” and “unimaginative,” the article says that though India has no real enemies but for Pakistan, it also has few friends. On the “relatively muted” global response to Kashmir issue raised by Pakistan, it claimed it was more due to “compassion fatigue and dislike of Pakistan more than Delhi’s diplomatic skill.”
Talking about India’s US policy, Mr Rodenbeck said that despite all the “razzmatazz” of PM’s “Howdy Modi” event in Houston, in which he shared stage with US President Donald Trump to show closeness in India-US ties, “there has been little progress on difficult issues” like trade talks.
