As of now, India incorporated is characterised by a Missing Link, an euphemism for a want of urgency among forces, precisely those that should spearhead the drive to give the Indian economy the spirit of a true corporate. There are no doubt titans in politics, administration, industry and business. But, there are pygmies galore everywhere. Some major policy decisions have been taken but these are swept aside by measures of populism driven by the political urge to survive whatever the cost to the economy. With impending elections to certain critical legislative assemblies, the leadership duly recognizes the wisdom of soft options anywhere and everywhere. Sugarcane growers in Uttar Pradesh have to be appeased at the cost of sugar mills-this has been the strategy all these years, but now the cane price has been fixed at a level that is tantamount to killing the hen that was laying the egg. The mills never could yield a golden egg but the egg was an economic reality-farmers could grow cane season after season thanks to the sugar industry, the large arrears of cane payments notwithstanding. The infliction of a preposterous cane price on the mills will make a mockery of industrial pricing and in the wider context push the economy farther-not nearer-from the Goal of India Incorporated. There has to be a strong and sustained process of desubsidisation, whether it is of the final product or the input/raw material. State patronage must cease to be an aspect of national policy and vote banks wherever they are must be wooed on the basis of exemplary performance primarily in the form of governance, and not through incentives give-aways, or largesse. Politics must play its part essentially in promoting social justice and economic efficiency. To the extent that these are conflicting ends governance really has to be exceptional.
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