Comments on: Manmohan Singh: Finally Flexing His Muscles?

By: The Indian Economy Blog » Blog Archive » These Are Some Of My Favorite Things…

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 02:08:24 +0000

[...] hips (PPPs) as much as possible. Q) An impressive to-do list, for sure. So, is Mr Singh finally flexing his muscles and are we likely to see some action? [...]

By: smith

smith — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 00:42:05 +0000

could you mail to me the entire text of ms speech in oxford

By: Amitabh Iyer

Amitabh Iyer — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 06:16:58 +0000

On the topic of Manmohan Singh, I am not sure I agree with the comments he made during his US trip, which was primarily to deride Mani aiyar’s efforts to build the pipe line to Iran. I think MS chickened and chose US over Iran, and I think that is a big blow to Aiyar’s oil diplomacy, which I think has its heart in the right place.
MS mentioned in a press release, that he would find difficult to get investors for the gas piple line, if US does not support it.

All this when China goes out, smacks US in its face, and does a multi-billion dollar deal for gas with Iran.

I think India needs to grow up, take a stand, choose friends, decry bullies….and MS is not doing it.

By: Vijay Dandapani

Vijay Dandapani — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 12:53:35 +0000

Obviously, he is right about the nuclear deal but wrong almost about everything else from reforms to colonization. Manmohan has been handcuffed –assuming he was inclined to move in the first place – on a host of issues such as airport privatization, labor laws, bank privatization, electricity distribution and deregulation. On colonization, the British were inarguably the “better” colonizers at least in India – just based on the empirical evidence even though that was not evident ex-ante. However, absolutely nothing is to be gained from acknowledging that other than inflating a few egos in Whitehall. While a nation that does not take the lessons of its past stands to lose in repeating follies stemming from human foibles, the leaders ill serve its people by revisiting it for nostalgia – Manmohan and others of his generation are frequently guilty of that. Any talk of graciousness due to his acknowledgement of positives in British rule in his speech is absurd – particularly since none of his Oxonian peers and mentors had that as the focus of his honor – should that have been the case, it may well have been churlish to say otherwise. The key issue though is a need to move on – there is nothing to be gained for either India or the UK when political leaders go down a memory lane – that is for historians to record.

Bhalla is also selective in his memory when he dismisses the Soviet agreement that underpinned India’s defense strategy. Were it not for that, the 1971 war would never have been fought by India. To argue that India and the US are equals strategically now misses the point that, equally then, both India and the former Soviet Union needed each other.

By: kuffir

kuffir — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 06:28:15 +0000

i agree with you on your disagreement with mr.bhalla’s views. his illfounded optimism is not supported by substantive evidence- if anything the left seems to have cut even deeper into the pm’s agenda.the bhel disinvestment cave-in for instance. his pontifications on patriotism and the raj are the signs of a frustrated man venting his opinion on non-issues.