Welcome Address by Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar on the occasion of Mr. Chidambaram's book launch on August 8, 2008

On behalf of all of you let me welcome Mr Chidambaram, Shekhar Gupta and his team to our city of Bangalore.

Today is 08.08.08 – Russians think it’s a lucky day and Chinese do too since they’ve planned a small celebration in Beijing today!! I’m extrapolating and concluding that it’s therefore a good day for the launch of this important book.
Let me start by saying – This is probably one of the best collections of thoughts of a contemporary Indian politician that I’ve read. As someone who is a recent entrant into politics but a veteran of being subjected to politics and politicians, I can recommend this book as good, high quality writing from a man who is quite well known for his precise and clear thoughts on a variety of issues ranging from the economy to Security.

Before I get into the book – let me set up why I think this book is an important read for those of you who care about the direction of our country and its progress.
Most of us have been subjected to this constant rhetoric of India’s inevitable and unstoppable tryst with greatness, prosperity and economic superpower status and unfortunately somewhere along the line I think we have started believing in this rhetoric - and believing that our tryst with this economic destiny is automatic and predestined and that we will get there as long as we continue the same course as we have been on for the last few years.
From my perspective - and I have consistently written and spoken about this – that this eventual destination of superpower India isn’t that automatic or a done deal as we think it is. There’s one force standing between this dream and aspiration of a greater India and today – That is the politics of India, the politicians/leaders of India and the political agenda of the various Governments of India. I said this once a couple of years ago one of these hugely cerebral Delhi TV debates and I was almost mauled by the intellectuals in that group – roundly criticized for being less than confident about our democracy etc.
Recently even the Supreme Court expressed its frustration with our politics saying that even God can’t save India. This may be overstating it a bit, because Supreme as the Court is, I don’t think even they have an inside track on Gods thinking! Because today’s political debate has been reduced to only issues like National Security, Nuclear Deals, Religion, Loan waivers, Petroleum, Fertilizer Subsidies, etc. – as important as these are - the real nuanced issues of our nation and its governance are almost absent from mainstream discussion and debate agendas.
In a bitterly divided polity of personalities and other ideologies, a common Economic vision/agenda which finds place in the political ideology of the mainstream political parties is what we desperately need to ensure our future. The challenge to get some traction on this common economic ideology is not trivial for sure. In my view this is the context in which this book ought to be read and I think this book is necessary reading for those of us who are interested in shaping the political process to go in that direction.

Let me take you through some examples of the topics he touches on. I view them as real building block topics:
The article - Reforms for the reforms sake - causes us to pause and really think – What is reform? What or who are we reforming? Should reforms be ideological? Shouldn’t there be a clear and widely understood/accepted definition of the word reforms? Are reforms only about private capital and private companies - or should the word reform include important issues like of competition in and competitiveness of our economy, Curbing leakage in Government spending, of building institutions that are apolitical and are capable, of functioning of government in terms of policy transparency, efficiency, responsiveness and becoming citizen centric always and not during elections alone, and reform the way private companies work and operate.
The issue of Regulators – a favourite topic of mine in my politics and writing – mainly because I’ve experienced how the idea of independent regulation has been allowed to morph from the bright and shining idea of independence, transparency and expertise to the joke or tragicomedy of today. The book talks about the issue of Regulatory risk in India and its causes – I’ve yet to hear or read any other political leader talk about this vital issue that is so holding back our potential as a nation. He says “Failure to build Legal and regulatory capacity will cost the country dearly” and it has and it continues to have – billions of dollars and crores of rupees being lost on account of poor regulatory conduct with no accountability.
There is a great article called “Business of Power” – which questions why corporates and business make Delhi their center of gravity? And he says “Enormous power of the Government is the Enemy of good governance”. It’s difficult not to thump the table and agree with that.
"Better Deal for farmers" at the beginning of the book has the right idea – which is that our agricultural economy needs revitalizing. I don’t agree with the cure being suggested of paying farmers more – rather I subscribe to his more recent solution to the same problem – which is to address the core issues of farmer competitiveness and viability. In a piece about WTO he uses the language of “livelihood concerns over commercial concerns in context of agriculture negotiations” – the earliest it was used and as we know that’s part of the doha round lexicon now.
One of my favourites and relevant to all of us - is the article about Voting for your Idea of India. It lays out the need for political parties to lay out a credible vision of India. The last line of that article is “When you vote for a Party or candidate, please remember that you are voting for your idea of India”. We must remember that come 2009.

Before ending, I agree with Shekhars foreward– Mr Chidambaram is cut from a different cloth and I will add that if there were more like him in CHARGE of our political agenda – we will have a much better chance of our tryst with destiny . I say this not because it’s his book or that he sits here – I say it because I believe in it. He is one of the few political leaders with a mass base and hence a Lok Sabha MP and still a man who has a pragmatic, intelligent and strategic view of what is right for our country and the direction it should take. His kind are in a minority, I can assure you – because most of our so called Economic Intellectual elite are either unelectable politically or at best members of the Rajya Sabha which I can tell you with my own experience doesn’t give you nearly the same political credibility that you need to drive change in our country.
In a nation where most of our Political leadership, intellectual elite and media are either flying at 80,000 feet about sea level or even higher and disconnected from the real problems or are completely lost in the details of local political issues or headlines like the Aarushi murder case, this book stands out as at least cataloguing the real challenges or reforms or issues that Governments must take on and which taken together constitute the therapy of good Economics.
Of course he has run one risk by writing this book as a view from the outside of government – of having his and his government’s performance and actions measured by this book. On another day and another occasion I would pose the question to him about why many of his views and ideas in the book haven’t found place in the current governments actions? Maybe Indian Express group can arrange another session on that after all of us finish reading the book, and have Mr Chidambaram give us - a view from the inside.

Thank you and I hope you all find this book as interesting as I have. Jai Hind!