Publisher's Synopsis
In An Economist's Quest for Reforms, veteran economist and former NITI Aayog vice-chairman Dr Arvind Panagariya keenly examines India's economic policy as it evolved under former prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh. The chapters in this book draw sharply contrasting pictures of the approaches of the two leaders. Dr Panagariya argues that Vajpayee, along with Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, must be credited with laying the foundation of the new India by moving the country rapidly on the road to reforms from 1998 to 2004. On the other hand, Singh, in spite of steering reforms as finance minister under Rao in the 1990s, achieved little success in moving them forward once he became prime minister in 2004. Instead, during his tenure, social spending and redistributive policies came to substitute for reforms. In its first term, since Singh's government neither reversed prior reforms nor introduced policies that would damage India's growth prospects, the economy could grow at an 8 per cent-plus annual rate on the back of the Rao Vajpayee initiatives. Unfortunately, in its second term, the government turned outright anti-reform, leading Dr Panagariya to lament in a 2014 article, UPA hurts India as it exits. An Economist's Quest for Reforms is essential reading for those who wish to understand India's recent past and what the country must do to bring prosperity to its people in the future. ".
