As he heads this week to New York for the annual jamboree at the United Nations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has a problem — the diminishing credibility of his government at home and abroad. “Reputation”, of a nation in general and its leadership in particular, is an intangible but important element in the conduct of international relations. Until very recently, Dr Singh derived much mileage as the man who launched India on the path of economic rise in the early 1990s.