The Lost Icons
“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”
— Christopher Reeve
Do we know enough about the economic philosophy and vision of the Bharatiya Janata Party? Ask a BJP spokesperson, and pat comes the reply — “the BJP believes in Deendayal Upadhayay’s Integral Humanism and Antyodaya”.
It’s true that the BJP has mixed welfare economics with its market commitments. The nationwide Ujjwala scheme, the Jan Dhan Yojna or the Mudra scheme are examples that it gives to drive home the point that “the BJP is committed to the last man standing in the queue”.
The BJP flirted with Gandhian socialism for a while in the 80s. During the Vajpayee years, the party (and the government) was known as an unabashed reformist — with even a disinvestment ministry to its credit. The Narendra Modi government, in contrast, is known as an incremental reformer.
The debate over the BJP’s economic philosophy has been reignited by a recent piece in The Hindu by Parakala Prabhakar, who also happens to be Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s husband. Prabhakar writes that the BJP should embrace PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh and their economic philosophy, which is crucial, considering how the slowdown appears to be so deep-rooted. Yes, the slowdown has been disconcerting. The government has been taking a number of measures to contain the damage but that has done little to restore the investor and consumer confidence. The coming festive season, however, could give a reason to cheer — for businesses and the economy. We do quick math and see how the businesses and India Inc are looking forward to the festive season. We put that on our cover in this Diwali special.
We also bring to you a special feature on the industries that are immune to the slowdown. You will find this an interesting read. It has been well-documented how the auto sector has been the worst-hit by the slowdown. We bring to you an insight into the auto leasing industry which has not seen de-growth and which promises to be a trend for the future.
In these depressing times, there have been demands for another rate cut from the RBI. We do a fact check and quick appraisal of the monetary policy during the tenure of incumbent RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.
In the Last Word, BJP’s Vijay Chauthaiwale talks about the foreign policy challenges India faces today. In this season of not-so-positive news, comes the announcement that JNUeducated Abhijit Banerjee is among those awarded the 2019 Nobel for Economics. This surely calls for celebrating his ideas.
This issue of BW Businessworld comes with all other regular features.
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