Column : Breaking the spiral of despair

Like it or not, India is on the world stage. Its achievements are being celebrated, but its shortcomings are also being dissected as never before. India has shown enough promise as a successful example of democracy and development that the chance of failure looms larger than it did a decade ago. The Economist magazine recently had an editorial lamenting India's lack of leadership and the immense human costs of slower growth. Soon after, the magazine's Asia column, "Banyan", featured reflections from an unnamed senior government official, which seemed to boil down to the need to boost growth with a surge of infrastructure spending.

Banyan also reported on a speech by Kaushik Basu, the Indian government's chief economic advisor, which boldly stood up for economic reform, openness to the world economy, and economic growth as a path to raised living standards. Dr Basu acknowledged that India's current problems are of its own making, and that a "spiral of despair" must be broken for India to "come out on top" in a few years.

How can that happen?

A few years ago, I suggested that India's Prime Minister displayed "Level 5 leadership", a paradoxical blend of personal humility and intense professional will. One saw this in the nuclear deal. One sees it in the dealings with Pakistan. Domestically, one can only guess as to the constraints that prevent such leadership being exercised for economic policymaking. Perhaps India's new president will display the same traits once elected. On the whole, though, this kind of leadership has been sorely lacking in India, despite the amount of talent near the top. Professional will is often present, but distorted by an over certainty of views, leading to a failure to incorporate all ideas and information that may be useful or relevant. In other cases, both will and humility are absent, in politicians who are mainly concerned with personal gain. India needs level 5 leadership, right away.

... contd.

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