One sector, the management of which will make or mar India’s economic future is electricity. For over a decade we have been incessantly talking of power sector reform, and yet the results, so far at least, have been disheartening. We focused on the one area which has been our strong point – generation, and ignored distribution which is our weakest link. As a result, hardly any private investment – domestic or foreign – materialized. Only about 6700 MW private generation capacity came up – a third of the expected investment.

Starting this fortnight, the nation began to celebrate with great fanfare and nostalgia the birth centenary year of Loknayak JP. For a whole generation of youngsters, in whose lives the emergency period was a defining epoch, JP remains an authentic hero. Only those who lived through that period will understand the ecstacy and hope with which the fall of congress and the victory of the fledgeling Janata Party on March 21, 1977 were welcomed. Those were days of great expectation and genuine belief that a peaceful revolution had indeed begun.

The call of the prime minister to depoliticise, debureaucratise, democratise and professionalise the cooperatives has come not a day too soon. From Gorwale committee (1950’s) to Khusro committee (80’s) and now the Task Force on cooperatives led by Jagdish Capoor, there is no dearth of expert bodies and reports on the role and health of cooperatives. As usual, what is lacking is resolute action. The state of cooperatives is a classic illustration of bad governance affecting economic institutions.

Exactly a decade ago the Narasimharao-Manmohan Singh duo initiated the economic reform process under severe fiscal compulsions. The process has been incomplete and there have been many problems. But even the worst critics of economic liberalization would admit that there are many successes. Moderately high growth rates have been sustained for a decade. Inflation has been under control. Consumers have far greater choice now, with quality of goods improving, and prices declining.

Some of you might have seen the recent media hype about the Goldman Sachs report, which projected India to become one of the 6 largest economies in the World along with Brazil, Russia and China by the year 2050. The report projects that among the current members of the G-6 only Japan and the US will remain in the top six by that time.