Manmohan Singh was a statesman and administrator par excellence: Montek Singh With Manmohan Singh leading the charge, the government started the process of dismantling one of the most rigidly-controlled policies known as ‘Licence Raj’-Montek Singh Ahluwalia

 deepak I hyderabad

Renowned economist and former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia paid rich tributes to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who passed away on Thursday. Speaking to various news agencies, he recollected the contribution of Manmohan Singh to the country.

He recalled the situation in 1990 when India faced a severe balance-of-payments (BoP) crisis caused by unsustainable borrowing and high expenditure. (BoP is the difference in total value between payments into and out of a country over a period.)

“The Chandra Shekhar government, which followed the VP Singh government in November 1990, ran out of foreign exchange reserves and borrowed big from the International Monetary Fund.By the time PV Narasimha Rao took over in June 1991, the economic scene was all the more challenging, with India’s foreign exchange reserves at rock bottom and a default imminent.” recollects Montek Singh.

However, he mentioned that PM Rao could not have made a better choice of finance minister.

As per Montek Singh Ahluwalia “With Manmohan Singh leading the charge, the government started the process of dismantling one of the most rigidly-controlled policies known as ‘Licence Raj’. The Licence Raj demanded that all businesses operate under licences that were hard to procure. 

Singh proceeded to liberalise trade practices by removing import licensing of several intermediate inputs and capital goods. Budget for the Financial Year 1991-92 saw slashing of the maximum rate of customs duties from 300 per cent to 150 per cent.

He also eased the anti-monopoly laws, which had been made severely restrictive with the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act”. Another tough decision Dr Manmohan Singh as a Finance Minister was in simplifying the system of granting licences to importers and exporters on very liberal terms&conditions.”

He overruled the advices of bureaucrats and managed to convince Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao” remembers Montek Singh Ahluwalia praises Manmohan Singh's leadership style, describing him as a person with "great clarity" who allowed his team to work independently.

He recollected an incident when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister where he disagreed with the Planning Commission’s recommendation that inflation could be controlled by nationalizing food trade and putting a cap on the price of food items. “Better way to control inflation is to have a tighter monetary control, reduce expenditure and if needed reduce few government benefit schemes also”. 

Montek Singh said that this was a tough decision but was implemented though with many being skeptical about it. Ultimately, Dr. Singh was only proved right said Montek Singh. His biggest achievement as the Prime Minister however, as per Montek Singh was in getting the Indo US Nuclear deal ratified by the parliament.

“He talked to each party representatives individually, convinced them about all their apprehensions, and “called out the bluff” of those who blindly opposed it,” explained the former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.