2012 has started, 2011 was one of the
years that everyone would like to forget and move on. The year was
full of problems and pessimism persisted everywhere. Internationally,
countries were going through their worst ever phase and India too was
not any exception. We were somehow able to dodge the depression of
2008, however the economic actions taken then evolved as the source
of problem now. Adding to the problem was virtual stoppage of
government decisions widely regarded as 'Policy Paralysis'. Slowing
GDP, high fiscal deficit, sky high interest rate and all time high
inflation, there wasn't any support from anywhere that could bolster
the economic and political environment going forward.
However, these very things that caused
doom in 2011 could be the reason for boom in 2012, if government
could use it to there advantage. All the wrongs of 2011 provide an
opportunity for UPA led government to rectify them and show the
industry, investors and people of India that their notion regarding
this government is wrong.
To start with, UPA have to turn the
tide against opposition. Each bill that UPA brought in parliament in
2011 was blindly opposed by the opposition. UPA's inability to pass
any significant bill in parliament has also led to fall in its
popularity in educated middle class, one of its main support base.
UPA think-tanks have to reverse all this and have to market
aggressively their policies especially regarding 'FDI in Retail' and
'Lokpal Bill'. If the opposition is marketing the 'FDI in Retail' as
the monster for small shopkeepers, government should sell the policy
as 'Saviour for farmers'. With many instances of farmers protesting
in favour of FDI in retail that would not be very much tough for UPA.
The decision could be a political weapon for UPA for elections and
also an economic tool for India's economic development.
In case of 'Lokpal Bill', government
will have to take some bold decisions in a way that it scores a
political point in addition to satisfying the civil society. Corruption has made the biggest dent on UPA's image and it has to wipe it out as soon as possible and come clean on each and every issue.
However, these decisions and their
implementation has to be closely scrutinized, monitored and
implemented by UPA managers because even a small error in these
political sensitive topics could make or break the political future
of UPA. This becomes much more important given the fact that 'Rahul
Gandhi' could be the prime ministerial candidate in next Lok-Sabha
elections.
