I'D LIKE TO TEACH THE THIRD WORLD TO SINGH:

Manmohan Singh confounds doubters (Soutik Biswas, 5/21/05, BBC News)

When Manmohan Singh became India's prime minister one year ago, many predicted that the affable and shy technocrat-turned-politician would not be able to handle the unusual pressures of his job. [...]

At the end of an eventful year at the helm, Mr Singh has not fared so badly, given the odds, analysts say.

There is considerable virtue in separating policy from pure politics - it allows both Mr Singh and Mrs Gandhi to concentrate on what they can do best
Political scientist Ashutosh Varshney

This despite a widespread perception that his Communist allies are blocking crucial economic policy and a raging controversy over a clutch of "tainted" ministers.

At home, the economy is purring along at a steady clip, inflation is under control despite escalating oil prices, and the moribund domestic aviation sector is being revamped with dramatic results.

"This government shows a sophistication in the management of the economy which is rare in the Third World," says economist Kaushik Basu.

"There is a popular view that the Communists have stymied the government's policies, but if one looks beyond the rhetoric to the actual action, it is clear that on most important matters, the left has eventually gone along with the market-oriented policies."

There has been a systematic, if slightly bureaucratic, engagement with issues of poverty, markedly absent during the previous administration.

Mr Singh had pledged a reform of the country's moth-ridden and corrupt public institutions, and is now trying to make civil servants more accountable. [...]

A year on, a lot remains to be done - labour reforms on the economic front, for example.

"The change that is needed and on which nothing has happened is the reform of labour laws. The economics of this is complicated. What looks like anti-labour is often pro-labour," Mr Basu says.

"This has to be debated much more in public so that a climate of change gets created and then one will need a huge amount of expertise to create the right laws. This cannot be left to politicians alone, left or right."

More importantly, Mr Singh's big-ticket spending to reduce poverty has to start showing results soon as there is a perception that most of it will remain stuck in red tape and will be badly delivered.