The Hindu Business Line : B-Day at last!

THE long awaited B-Day is once again upon us. All — think-tanks, market players, industrialists, agriculturists, capitalists, Leftists, Rightists, centrists, purists, jurists, experts, persons in the street — have had their say and the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, had benignly lent his ears, charging no interest in the bargain, and made his notes.

All now await with bated breath how he is going to put together the billion-piece jig-saw puzzle that Budget-making has become for a complex, diverse, fractious, rambunctious, populous, Continent-size democracy.

Everyone is supremely confident, however, of Mr Chidambaram having the gumption, if not gusto, to pull it off, as dexterously as a magician pulls a rabbit out of his hat holding its long ears. Actually, he has several things goin

g for him, predisposing even his critics to treat him with kid gloves. Not only his mastery of economics and public finance, but his skills as a parliamentarian and en eloquent exponent of the facts behind figures have always stood him in good stead, as they undoubtedly will this time too.

Next, of course, the trust and confidence he commands as a credible and competent professional among unsparingly scrutinising foreign watchers. They are comfortable with him because they know that he is a votary of globalisation and economic reforms, but with a human face.

Also, he is no push-over and will not swerve from what he considers right and proper for the sake of pleasing, or pandering to, any vested or extraneous interest.

There are, of course, the macro-economic fundamentals which certainly make India shine in the estimation of the cognoscenti. On the tangible plane, foreign exchange reserves, food stocks, manufacturing, FMCG, exports and the surge ahead along a wide phalanx, and on the intangible plane, robust can-do business spirit and consumer confidence — all these have never been this good.

Finally, it is not lonely at the top any more. Usually, Finance Ministers have to slug it out solo. But this time, Mr Chidambaram's task is considerably lightened by being benefited from the wisdom, vision and experience of Drs Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Ahluwalia. It is a formidable combination which bodes nothing but good for the country.

So, Mr Chidambaram, get going and Godspeed!

B. S. Raghavan

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