Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Dec 10, 2008
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Dec 10, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio | Blogs |
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People Government - Politics The new Finance Minister: economist or politician? Our Bureau New Delhi, Dec. 9 The Capital was rife with speculation on Tuesday about who would be the next Finance Minister. At one point it was even thought that the swearing-in ceremony would be held today. The rumours picked up pace when the Prime Minister went to make the routine pre-parliament session call on the President. But a phone call to the Rashtrapati Bhavan met with the answer, “There can be no swearing-in on a public holiday as it is Eid.” The rumours started on Monday when a senior minister of state said the appointment was imminent. Soon several names were doing the rounds, including that of a former chief minister. More names got added to that list. The choice is between appointing politicians or economists. The dominant school of thought has always been that politicians make better finance ministers. This is because the job is not merely a technical one but also consists in a large measure of having to balance conflicting political and economic considerations. But Dr Manmohan Singh disproved that theory. However, he would also maintain that he had become a politician and was no longer only an economist. It is also important that the new appointee should have the approval of the Congress party. The outgoing Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, was asked who he would like his successor to be. He said he would prefer someone from the Congress party. Since Independence only one professional economist has been appointed to the job. That was Dr Singh. Chidambaram made Home Minister as Patil steps down Govt cuts excise duty, offers sops for key export sectors Multi-sectoral stimulus package on the anvil More Stories on : People | Politics | Economy
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