He said the government should become irrelevant and asked what the government was doing with forex reserves the country had accumulated: “Why can’t we use $20 billion to solve our water problem that will become a major issue in future?” Chidambaram replied that forex reserves had to be used outside India and he wondered how the water problem could be solved via this route.

Ambani highlighted the short-term nature of people’s expectations. He said, extending a survey his company had done to politics, the way ahead is by “empowering people, who want instant gratification, instant solutions to their problems and promises that will bear fruit five years ahead.”

Kamath’s response to the one big reform was market connectivity and transfer of purchasing power to rural India: “The rural market needs to be connected. By doing just that you will add 2-3 per cent to India’s growth.”

To a question by Lord Meghnad Desai — why can’t we transfer money, say a dollar a day, directly to the poor? — Chidambaram said, “Cash transfer directly in the hands of poor is the single most popular program to poverty alleviation until we provide them jobs. But we need to have the money for it. We will need to dismantle the existing schemes and the system. I will do my sums tonight to see if we have the money.”

All panelists agreed to that barring N K Singh, who felt that would not be “an efficacious way to empower India”.

Earlier, introducing Singh’s book, Chidambaram said: “The debate in India is not about the left or the right. It’s about doing the right thing and the wrong thing.”

... contd.