IF I WERE THE PRIME MINISTER?

Bikash Choudhury



While sipping a hot and authentic cappuccino in a crowded Coffee Café day outlet at a prominent place in the city among very good looking faces; mind travels back to those student days; where our teachers made us to write essay on “If I were the Prime Minister?” in our juvenile wisdom we write how India should be a military power, venture into space and beyond; having an Indian on the moon and many other such Ideas that caught our attention. Now, after so many years when our mind delves on that question; our adult perspective is drawn to the example of China which multiplied its gross domestic product ten times in less than three decade (1998-2006). If I were to become the Prime Minister of India for the balance tenure of fifteenth Loksabha; I would certainly aim to drive the growth matching that of China in this decade and beyond. China in spite of being a communist country dared to experiment with free market economy and able to lift millions of people out of poverty while India dithers in each step. There is a saying “if you wish to catch fish then you have to give a bait of earth worm” though, the example not identically still has relevance to the context: “if you wish to draw the attention of politicians then you need to show hard currency and trappings of power”. Politicians of all hue would like to be rulers of a rich and prosperous country whose members of parliament feted in the capitals of foreign countries.
First of all Indian polity need to give a break to competitive politics for at least a decade and encourage collaborative politics to facilitate political unity that could shape our policies in socio-economic-political domain that defied consensus and credible solutions in over six decades. Secondly, we can neither ignore young people nor their new ideas; therefore, it is essential to give our private sector enterprise a free hand to grow at break neck speed while conquering markets, developing new competencies and creating jobs while generating wealth for the nation to invest in the social sector with buoyant tax revenue while attempting fiscal prudence. At the same time making the public sector to perform or perish in a competitive global environment to save public money from gross misuse while improving performance, productivity and high standards of work ethics & culture. Thirdly, it is imperative to give a new drive to class collaboration to release the creative energy of the nation for faster development in each walk of life while making cleanliness as one of the most important policy and practices that would reflect the way our cities and towns are presented and work at the peak of efficiency and thereby attract resources, both human capital and investment. Fourth, it would be now suicidal not to effect changes in our judicial and policing system and taxation policy(a progressive taxation system that tax the rich according to their ability to pay; while leaving surplus with middle class and sparing the poor) that would have substantial potential to add value and contribute to the socio-economic progress of the country. Fifth, we have neglected our Agriculture sector & rural economy for too long; without a robust agriculture production in terms of value; industrial & manufacturing growth would remain insignificant. Therefore, a bold move for structural changes in Agriculture can’t be pushed further; but, that would require a national consensus to be effective. With that we need to preserve and protect our water resources including marine; while conserving maximum possible rain water with military precision. Sixth, our delivery mechanism needs to be overhauled from the bottom to top on an urgent basis to be an effective change agent for whom we need to revisit the organizational design and review the human resources management practices in govt. to add imagination, new ideas and entrepreneurship in public policy with stringent enforcement of responsibility and accountability with oversight mechanism to encourage govt. employees to perform at the peak of their ability. This will also require bringing together of all organs of Govt. at central and states at political level as well as technology. Seventh, it is over due to look at our foreign policy in a comprehensive manner. We need to follow the example of USA to use foreign policy as an economic tool for faster growth and political muscle in South Asia and Global affairs; for which we need to double the outlay for the external affairs ministry in union Govt.
By now half of my Cappuccino had gone cold; with only, consolation of completing the essay “If I were the Prime Minister?” once again, after 27 years.