JEDDAH, 15 August 2004 - The recent change of government at the federal level has proved that its politics and political equations may change, but its push for fiscal and economic reform remains.
The budget presented by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, which replaced the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance after its nearly five-year term, reflects the increasing consensus among political parties in the country that while India can be proud of its tradition as the world’s largest democracy, what ultimately matters in today’s world is economic strength.
“Growth is not an end in itself. It’s a means to generate employment, banish poverty, hunger and homelessness and improve the standard of living of the masses,” Prime minister Manmohan Singh, who has been one of the architects of economic reform, said in his maiden address.
The government’s first budget makes a good start at bridging the divisions in India - between the urban and the rural, the poor and the rich, the literate and the illiterate and the farmer and industry - that have so far prevented India’s latent potential from flowering, says Anil Ambani, an independent member of Parliament and leading industrialist.
The challenge will be to work and sustain a fine balance between economic imperatives and social realities, according to Congress party President Sonia Gandhi.
In many ways the last century was an Indian century. The freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi showed an entirely new path and established a completely different paradigm. In spite of various stresses and strains, we have showed how a land of the most incredible diversity can live harmoniously, how multiple identities can flourish in a modern nation.