The passing of the technocrat age

The 1990s and 2000s were a golden age for technocrats globally. Government - and not just in India - was, depending upon your point of view, either depoliticised or too highly politicised

Manmohan Singh, who retired from the Rajya Sabha this week, may be the most successful technocrat in history. Few have been granted, on the basis of their expertise, positions of leadership that are in any way comparable in status and influence to the ones that Dr Singh occupied over his long career. His retirement serves thus as a reminder that the age of technocrats and theorists is over. It has been replaced by the age of populists and project managers.

The 1990s and 2000s were a golden age for technocrats globally. Government — and not just in India — was, depending