Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram has said that the key problem with this government in managing the economic side of governance is that they have not accorded enough importance to economists and economic experts.
Speaking in context of the government’s recent decision to reduce fuel prices by Rs 1.50, Chidambaram, in an interview with The Quint’s Sanjay Pugalia, said that the current government did not have a flexible economic policy for the same.
“They are now foregoing Rs 1.50 and asking the oil companies to bear Re 1. We had a formula by which 1/3 of the subsidy burden will be borne by the oil companies, 1/3 by the government and 1/3 by the consumer. The BJP criticised us for that. If that was wrong, what are you doing today? See, you must have a policy that is adaptable but flexible. You don’t have a policy.”
What is the Key Problem in Managing the Economic Side of Governance?
On being asked about the key problem with the government in managing the economy, Chidambaram reiterated that it was incompetence and the lack of economic experts in the government that had led to such a situation.
“They don’t have enough economists and economic experts in the government. They don’t have a CEA. They got rid of the only economist in the government, Dr Arvind Subramanian. They got rid of Dr Raghuram Rajan when he was willing to stay on. They don’t have any economist of international repute in the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. They don’t have anyone in the Planning Commission who is an economist of international repute.”
He further added that this must be contrasted with the UPA.
At any given time, although Dr Manmohan Singh himself was an internationally renowned economist, we had, in the system, at least half a dozen internationally reputed economists. We had Dr Raghuram Rajan, Dr Rangarajan, Dr Govind Rao Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Bimal Jalan.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)