 "Should PM, FM meet industrialists individually, wonders Pranab")
In his memoirs released on Friday, President Pranab Mukherjee has wondered if the Prime Minister or the finance minister should have one-one-one meetings with industrialists.
Mukherjee writes that his meetings with industrialists, both one-on-one and in group, were very important. The President says he has followed this principle during his tenure as finance minister and commerce minister, unlike V P Singh who was ‘adamant’ about not having any one-on-one meetings with industrialists.
Mukherjee was the finance minister of India from 2009 to 2012 in the United Progressive Alliance government. He had also done stints as minister of state for finance in 1974-75 and Cabinet minister for finance in 1982-84 and was the commerce minister in 1993-95. V P Singh was the finance minister in 1985-86 in the Rajiv Gandhi government. V P Singh later fell out with Rajiv Gandhi.
Mukherjee has also tried to dispel the impression that he had differences with Manmohan Singh. Mukherjee said he had no role in Singh's exit as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He said the differences between him and central bank head were nothing more than legitimate exchanges of opinion over professional matters. “I never saw my differences with Dr Singh, on the rare occasions they occurred, as anything other than legitimate exchanges of opinion over professional matters… Let me add that, contrary to conjecture in some quarters, I had absolutely no role in Dr Manmohan Singh's departure from the RBI.”
Mukherjee said the relationship between the finance minister and the RBI governor is complex and it is impossible that they be of one mind on all issues. Singh was RBI governor between September 16, 1982 and January 14, 1985. Mukherjee was finance minister from January 1982 to December 1984.
About his stint as the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission from June 1991 to May 1996, the entire period of P V Narasimha Rao-led government, the President says: “It was a period when several radical measures were being put in place to liberalise the economy. However, P V (Narasimha Rao) and I were both clear that the Planning Commission had to continue playing a pivotal role in policymaking and the allocation of resources between the Centre and the states.”
According to Mukherjee, Rao’s biggest achievement was to spearhead the economic reforms of 1991. “These reforms put our country on a high growth trajectory and helped towards achieving our true economic potential. The economic reforms programme unlocked India's entrepreneurial potential across various sectors of the economy,” he adds.
In the financial sector, measures were implemented to bring capital adequacy and prudent norms for asset classification in banks, the licensing of new private banks, the gradual decontrol of foreign exchange, currency convertibility, privatisation and disinvestment. Foreign investment norms and external trade were liberalised.
The President has written that Rao had a unique style of functioning. "The occupation of Hazratbal shrine in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists was put to an end in 1993 without any damage to the holy structure.”
The President also refers to how he devised the ‘Gadgil-Mukherjee formula’ for non-special category states during his stint at the Planning Commission in the early-1990s. “The uniqueness of the Gadgil-Mukherjee formula was the inclusion, for the first time, of a performance criterion for the allocation of central resources in plans. This formula prevailed from 1991 till the establishment of the Niti Aayog — with Arvind Panagariya as Vice Chairman — which replaced the Planning Commission,” Mukherjee writes.
Dhananjaya Ramchandra Gadgil was at the helm of the Planning Commission from 1967-71 and had devised what is known as the 'Gadgil formula' to fix Central assistance to state plans.
Mukherjee writes that his meetings with industrialists, both one-on-one and in group, were very important. The President says he has followed this principle during his tenure as finance minister and commerce minister, unlike V P Singh who was ‘adamant’ about not having any one-on-one meetings with industrialists.
Mukherjee was the finance minister of India from 2009 to 2012 in the United Progressive Alliance government. He had also done stints as minister of state for finance in 1974-75 and Cabinet minister for finance in 1982-84 and was the commerce minister in 1993-95. V P Singh was the finance minister in 1985-86 in the Rajiv Gandhi government. V P Singh later fell out with Rajiv Gandhi.
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“My view, which I followed during my tenures as the finance and commerce minister — was that meetings with industrialists, individually or collectively, were very important to get an overall understanding of specific contexts… In other words, how can a Finance Minister or Prime Minister not meet industrialists?” the President writes in the memoir The Turbulent Years: 1980-1996.
Mukherjee has also tried to dispel the impression that he had differences with Manmohan Singh. Mukherjee said he had no role in Singh's exit as the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He said the differences between him and central bank head were nothing more than legitimate exchanges of opinion over professional matters. “I never saw my differences with Dr Singh, on the rare occasions they occurred, as anything other than legitimate exchanges of opinion over professional matters… Let me add that, contrary to conjecture in some quarters, I had absolutely no role in Dr Manmohan Singh's departure from the RBI.”
Mukherjee said the relationship between the finance minister and the RBI governor is complex and it is impossible that they be of one mind on all issues. Singh was RBI governor between September 16, 1982 and January 14, 1985. Mukherjee was finance minister from January 1982 to December 1984.
About his stint as the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission from June 1991 to May 1996, the entire period of P V Narasimha Rao-led government, the President says: “It was a period when several radical measures were being put in place to liberalise the economy. However, P V (Narasimha Rao) and I were both clear that the Planning Commission had to continue playing a pivotal role in policymaking and the allocation of resources between the Centre and the states.”
According to Mukherjee, Rao’s biggest achievement was to spearhead the economic reforms of 1991. “These reforms put our country on a high growth trajectory and helped towards achieving our true economic potential. The economic reforms programme unlocked India's entrepreneurial potential across various sectors of the economy,” he adds.
In the financial sector, measures were implemented to bring capital adequacy and prudent norms for asset classification in banks, the licensing of new private banks, the gradual decontrol of foreign exchange, currency convertibility, privatisation and disinvestment. Foreign investment norms and external trade were liberalised.
The President has written that Rao had a unique style of functioning. "The occupation of Hazratbal shrine in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists was put to an end in 1993 without any damage to the holy structure.”
The President also refers to how he devised the ‘Gadgil-Mukherjee formula’ for non-special category states during his stint at the Planning Commission in the early-1990s. “The uniqueness of the Gadgil-Mukherjee formula was the inclusion, for the first time, of a performance criterion for the allocation of central resources in plans. This formula prevailed from 1991 till the establishment of the Niti Aayog — with Arvind Panagariya as Vice Chairman — which replaced the Planning Commission,” Mukherjee writes.
Dhananjaya Ramchandra Gadgil was at the helm of the Planning Commission from 1967-71 and had devised what is known as the 'Gadgil formula' to fix Central assistance to state plans.