The end of euphoria

It has now been a month since Pranab Mukherjee resigned as finance minister in order to become the ruling United Progressive Alliance’s candidate for president. At the time, this newspaper had cautioned against over-reaction: it did not seem likely that Mr Mukherjee’s departure would necessarily cause a sudden breakout of active reform all over North Block. Now that President Mukherjee has moved into Rashtrapati Bhavan, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been in charge of the finance ministry for a month, it might be worthwhile to examine what exactly has been done. And the answer is, as feared: not very much.

Read Full Story>>