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P. Devarajan

Common man carving a niche for himself, and the nation.

WHEN in a long, lone dialogue with his Maker Sachin Tendulkar scored 241 runs at Sydney in 2004, a billion Indians regained their faith in the only Indian who can proudly wear the tag of international class. The beat of a billion hearts can undo any blood pressure gauge when Sachin walks in and out of a cricket ground, as India has not seen anything as world-class as this 30 year old, who will always remain a kid for his admirers. Sachin, a product of the 11-year-old reforms era, is common currency to be seen and felt in villages, like Sasan-Gir in Gujarat and the Sunderbans in West Bengal, and typecasts the natural, sometimes zany desire of a billion people to own and run a quality economy.

In 1991, when New Delhi decided, in unnatural haste, to rid the soul of a file-bound economy, there were not many takers and plenty of critics. Let it be said now that today, there are very few who question the basic premise of reforms. Even the most carping critic admits the government cannot run an economy better than the people who own it in the first place.

With pride, corporate chiefs are seeking to play by international norms. When this writer started a career in business journalism in 1970, economic stories revolved around companies beating capacity norms and laws set by officials in New Delhi, as the very idea of setting up international capacities was a cardinal sin as big as making profits. This writer that time shared the official concern.

When banks, textile companies and insurance companies were nationalised, one welcomed it, as one thought the poor would get funds to build themselves. But the illusion faded fast like the morning mist when one saw politicians, officials and workers in public sector establishments, meant to capture the commanding heights of the economy, run them down to meet petty ends. We remained at the take-off stage forever.

The Tatas have built a car (with some help from foreign designers), Baba Kalyani is running the second-largest forgings unit in the world and Sundram Fasteners has set up a unit in China followed by an acquisition of a UK business. Along with free capacity building have gone the premiums and the black market, with everything becoming an OTC product. Gandhi led the Dandi March to political freedom and today, Indian industrialists and bankers are leading the walk to economic excellence.

Of course, the farmer toiling in his patch of field is still not in the reckoning but he is sure to push his way in. He still does not have the basic freedom to sell his produce in markets offering the best price. A pack of diabolical laws, poor quality science and disinterested bankers have to take the blame, as no farmer per se wants neither dole nor humiliation. Technology has made the farmer aware of the happenings in the city and the world around and he legitimately desires a good life. A pointer is the mind-set of the many women's self-help groups across India Interior, which only want to be assured of markets for their produce. That's not yet coming, despite Nabard and 40 per cent priority sector norms.

A few days ago, the Vajpayee Government allowed corporates to freely invest in overseas agriculture. Why should they not be allowed to place funds in Indian agriculture and why the reluctance to get off the farmer's back. The Green Revolution was essentially a matter of placing funds and tech in the hands of the farmers — and they delivered.

One recalls a private talk with a top RBI official in 1991 when India was in the dumps. "The world has scant respect for us having played too badly, too often. At international meets of the IMF and World Bank, they shove empty purses at us," the official admitted. It hurt to hear the confession, but today the same RBI official should be a proud man.

Some economists contend GDP and other numbers do not capture even a part of the action or the desire in India Interior. There is an intense ambition to perform sans government helping. Mohit Sen in his autobiography A Traveller and the Road: The Journey of an Indian Communist, talks glowingly of the Brahmo Samaj movement in Bengal that produced some of the best and passionate human beings. He adds: "This Anglicisation was an extreme and unnecessary form of the westernisation that characterised the most forward-looking sections of the Bengali intelligentsia from the late 18th century. ... This westernisation had its limitation, above all a certain alienation from the common people."

The Brahmo movement died but that need not happen to reforms as it has started impacting the common people. When Indians stop rushing to America or prefer idli to pizza, or like Sachin prefers wada pav at Dadar to some foreign menu, reforms would have wholly touched a billion people. The 2004 General Elections will be all about voting for a political class that will make India international class.

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