Comparing economies

Finance Minister P Chidambaram was replying to a heated debate on the state of the economy in Parliament the other day and impressed upon the Opposition, the challenges in steering an economy in a democracy. Urging his critics to refrain from comparing the Indian economy to its Chinese counterpart, Chidambaram explained, "In China, I don't have to sit and plead with everybody saying, Please pass the Insurance Bill." I only have to plead with two people, the General Secretary of the Communist Party and the Prime Minister of the country." As this gave rise to much laughter from treasury and Opposition benches alike, Chidambaram added, "Here, I do plead with two people - the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively," but that he explained does not guarantee a consensus. Not just the Bharatiya Janata Party, other parties also need to agree. As the Insurance bill has had to be deferred for want of consensus, the FM's angst is understandable.