Reforms reach a dead end

The manifestoes of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress' are dispiriting if you are foolishly hoping that privatization would be included even just for discussion

Manmohan Singh's handsome reelection win in 2009 was seen as a chance to recreate the reforms momentum of the 1990s when he had been finance minister. More banner headlines greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as India's Margaret Thatcher or Shinzo Abe when Modi received an absolute majority in 2014, but neither made progress substantially revising labour laws, for instance. Ikea and Coke announced billion-dollar bets on India in the summer of 2012. But some time in 2012, Rahul Gandhi told NDTV a week ago, Congress' leadership, including Singh, decided liberalization had run its course. Now, Gandhi feels India needs to