Manmohan Singh’s Advice to PM Modi On GDP Dip

Brut India

“I urge the Prime Minister to set aside his deep-rooted suspicion of our society…” As India’s GDP growth hit a new low, Manmohan Singh spoke about the fear and distrust that’s keeping India’s animal spirits caged.

Transcript

00:00A nation's state of the economy is also a reflection of the state of its society.

00:12There is a palpable climate of fear in our society today.

00:19Many industrialists tell me they live in fear of harassment by government authorities.

00:29Investors are reluctant to make new loans for fear of retribution.

00:36Public trust in independent institutions such as the media, judiciary, regulatory authorities

00:45and investigative agencies has been severely eroded.

00:51This toxic combination of deep distressed, pervasive fear and a sense of hopelessness

01:00in our society is stifling economic activity and hence the rate of our economic growth.

01:08The root cause of all this is the government's policy doctrine that seems to suspect every

01:18industrialist, every banker, every policy maker, every regulator, every entrepreneur

01:26and every citizen.

01:29The Modi government seems to view everything and everyone through a tainted prism of suspicion

01:38and distrust through which every policy of previous governments was considered to be

01:46of bad intent, every loan sanction was undeserving, every new industrial project was crony in

01:56nature and so on.

01:59And the government has positioned itself as some saviour, resorting to foolhardy, moral

02:09policing police such as demonetisation that have proved to be disastrous.

02:18For economic growth to revive, it is very important that the government enthuses and

02:27generates trust and confidence.

02:30This is possible only if the government sheds its current doctrine and begins to trust India

02:39as farmers, India as entrepreneurs and India as citizens at large.

02:46India is now a three trillion global economy, economic powerhouse driven largely by private

02:55enterprise.

02:58It is not a tiny command and control economy that can be bullied and directed at will.

03:07Nor can it be managed through colourful headlines and noisy media commentary, shooting down

03:16messengers of bad news or shutting off economic reports and data as juvenile and does not

03:25behove a rising global economic powerhouse of the world economy.

03:32With an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha and low global oil prices, this is a once

03:42in a generation economic opportunity to catapult India to the new next phase of economic development

03:53and create new jobs for hundreds of millions of India's youth.

03:59I urge the Prime Minister to set aside his government's deep-rooted suspicion of our

04:07society and nurse us back to a harmonious, confident and mutually trustworthy society

04:16that can revive the animal spirits and help our economy soar.

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