Running on empty

At last week’s meeting on inflation chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, government economists, senior ministers, officials and advisors discussed rampaging food inflation at length, but no one seemed to have meaningful solutions. Exasperated by the lack of ideas around the table, the prime minister abruptly exited saying “it looks like you are all saying we can do nothing”. Bureaucrats were left with the problem of framing the minutes of the meeting. Putting out a meaningful press release took two days with various drafts exchanged between the cabinet secretariat, prime minister’s office, the finance ministry and the Planning Commission.