The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking showed a massive jump for India from being ranked #130 in the world to #100 in the world. Now, liberal friends sometimes have difficulty reading the writing on the wall and so I made this simple chart to help them:
Ranked #142 in the year 2014. It’s almost like Dr. Singh’s shiny degrees were of no worth to the nation because all he did was work his way up through the ranks of the corrupt system under the thumb of the Dynasty. From Adviser to Foreign Trade Ministry (1971-72) to Adviser to Finance Ministry (1972-76) to Director of Reserve Bank (1976-80) to RBI Governor (1982-85) to Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission (1985-87).
It was not until 1991, when the Government of India had money left for less than three weeks, that Dr. Manmohan Singh finally decided to take a stand against Nehruvian socialism of the previous four decades. At that time, Dr. Singh was a couple of months away from reaching the age of 60 years. Always a good time for a young man to finally start speaking his mind.
The news of the massive improvement in Ease of Business rankings came accompanied with the data of core sector growth reaching a six month high of 5.2% in September. This, after a really strong August number of 4.4% that led to an IIP number well above expectations.
Meanwhile, SBI research also put out a report saying that the GDP growth for the year may well be above 7%.
And let’s not forget that GDP growth for the Fiscal 2015-16 was at a five year high of 7.6%.
So, let’s back up here and take a look. First Modi government put India on a path of quick recovery that led us to a five year high in GDP growth in Fiscal 2015-16.
Then, massive reforms were unleashed in Fiscal 2016-17 to convert India into a rule based, formalized economy. This led to a slight dip in growth in FY 2016-17, but still at 7.1% … a dream for most countries around the globe (as the President of the European Commission pointed out).
And now, after the massive structural reforms, India is scheduled to beat 7% again this year. This is roughly the same as the reasoning of the IMF, as NDTV reporter Namrata Brar, who was clearly fishing for an anti-Modi headline, found out to her bitter disappointment.
So, what’s the explanation for this, short of accusing the IMF, the World Bank and the President of the European Commission being Gau-rakshaks?
It’s almost like massive structural reforms carry with them short term risks and then lead to long term benefits. If structural reforms were easy to implement in the short term, everybody would do them.
Dear liberals, this is your country too. Instead of reaching for Burnol and Eno, you are most welcome to celebrate with us. If you can open your eyes and see the light …
The Opposition would do well to go back to basics and restart its campaign of church attacks, intolerance and Award Wapsi. Everyone loves a good joke. Rahul Gandhi must do what he is best suited for.
Of course, we cannot forget here the pathetic fact that India is celebrating a ranking of #100 among the nations of the world. We want our country to be a superpower, to be No.1, not #100.
Ten years from now, I hope we look back with a mixture of pity and amusement at this moment when we had to celebrate coming in at 100th position in the world. But this can only happen if we remember who benefited the most from keeping India poor for 70 years.
