INDIA SUMMARIZED

After having dumped him into the junkyard of history, on September21 the Congress party was again indirectly reminded of the Prime Minister under whom India first initiated real reforms: PV Narasimha Rao. In his address to the nation, Manmohan Singh talked not about Rao, but about how he rescued the economy in 1991 by determined action. He did not talk about 2009 – which is what his own mandate was about. He may have drawn the parallels with 1991 for two reasons: one is to invoke the heady spirit of reforms, and the other is to tell the world that even a government that is currently in a minority—albeit with a few parties supporting it from the outside—can deliver on its promises despite opposition. As if to emphasise this, on September 20, the government notified FDI in retail, aviation, broadcast and power exchanges despite the shutdown called by the opposition. On Sept 21, a few hours after the Trinamool Congress withdrew support from his government, reducing it to...