The Hindu Business Line : ‘A lot can be done on reform front in the remaining period’

New Delhi, July 25 The Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, is confident that a lot could be done in a period of eight to nine months in carrying forward the unfinished reform agenda, though he concedes the short time constraints before the UPA term ends as ‘important’.

Talking to Business Line here, Mr Ahluwalia said “we have to distinguish between three different things”. One is where a bill is already in Parliament and the Standing Committee of Parliament has made a recommendation. In those cases, the bill could be passed in the next session.

Another example is where the policy has been announced, as with the national mineral policy, but legislation is needed which has yet to be introduced. This could be attempted but passing the legislation would take time, he said. “Of course, introduction of a bill would be a signal that the Government wants to move ahead but completion depends on Parliament”.

On the question of implementation of policy where the policy was established, he said, “this is where we could really fast-track implementation. Implementation hassles in various types of infrastructure projects are an instance as many projects have got stuck for one reason or another. Many of these problems can be overcome through concerted efforts”.

He also cited the case of the rights of tribals where the law has been passed and the rules are being notified but implementation is yet to begin. “This is an area where we can start the process”, he noted.

Asked about whether Left parties parting ways with the UPA after the four-year cohabitation had actually stalled reforms, Mr Ahluwalia said “we should be fair about this. In certain areas, the Left parties have had reservations and that affected the pace that we could move. It is clear that in certain areas like insurance and banking bill, the Left reservations did hold back action.”

There are other areas on which the Left has not disagreed. These are areas where our system is not very conducive to rapid implementation and “we need to address this whether the Left is with us or not”, he added.

To a specific query on financial sector reforms and the 100 small steps the Raghuram Rajan Committee on financial sector reforms suggested in its interim report for implementation, Mr Ahluwalia said “our decision to appoint the Rajan Committee was not designed to define an agenda for immediate action but get a report that presents an agenda for the next five to six years. The final report would be available in September”.

Mr Ahluwalia said many of the issues addressed by the Rajan Committee have been looked at by other reports on bond market or the Mistry report on making Mumbai the international financial hub. What the Rajan Committee does is to look at existing material to give us a comprehensive architecture for reforms in the financial sector as a whole, he said.

An interesting feature of the Committee is that it is composed entirely of non-government experts so that they are not constrained by government thinking, Mr Ahulwalia said.

He further said that “I don’t think we expected that this would become the basis for action before the end of this Government term. Rather it will give us an agenda that can be discussed so that when the new Government comes to power next year, and of course I hope it is the present Government that will come back, it will be in a stronger position to define a road map for action”.

On the 11th Plan which he piloted, Mr Ahulwalia said “the Plan document reflects a new approach to planning and provides a very good architecture for inclusiveness. It is the first Plan that was formulated on the strength of a very robust performance. We have never had an average growth rate of 8.8 per cent over four years as we have now and this gives us a new confidence on what is possible in future”.