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New Delhi, Apr 23 (PTI) Economist Lord Meghnad Desai has praised the late Manmohan Singh as India's "most revolutionary prime minister", crediting him for "unleashing a revolution" in 1991 when his liberalisation policies changed the country's economic landscape. Speaking on Tuesday at the launch of the book "Telecom Wars: The Race to Capture a Billion Voices" by journalist and author Deepali Gupta, Desai highlighted that Singh -- who had held key positions such as chief economic advisor, governor of RBI, and head of the planning commission -- was a rare figure from within the establishment who initiated a revolutionary change to transform the very system he was part of during his stint as the finance minister in 1991. Also Read | Sex on Bus Row: Unidentified Young Boy, Girl Booked by Navi Mumbai Police After Video of Couple Indulging in Sexual Acts Inside NMMT Bus Went Viral.
"Manmohan Singh is an interesting person because, if you know him, you know he is a very moderate and straightforward person. When he was not in charge (as the finance minister), he followed the old textbook, but as soon as he became in charge, he basically unleashed a revolution. He is the most revolutionary PM you've had," said the former Labour politician.
Singh played a pivotal role in opening up the economy during the 1990s. As the finance minister, he was the architect of transformative reforms that shifted India from a closed, centrally planned system to a more market-driven economy. Also Read | Pahalgam Terror Attack: Mallikarjun Kharge Urges Government To Use Full Strength To Hunt Down Terrorists, Seeks All-Party Meet (Watch Video).
And, according to Desai, the steps taken by Singh and the then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao set India on a trajectory of "continuing economic growth." He pointed out that since 1991, the country has consistently experienced growth rates of five per cent or more -- similar to the neighbouring country China. "In the UK it is all gloom because we don't have any growth.
You come to India there is optimism -- people are talking about how soon India can take over the whole world in terms of GDP. India has taken advantage of its large population and the size of its economy," he added. Talking about the impact of the telecom revolution, Gupta, the London-based author of the book, said India has come a long way -- from just 65 million people and six million telephone lines, with less than one per cent penetration, to now having 1.
2 billion phone lines for a population of 1.5 billion. "The idea of putting this all together in a book is to say there were really small increments that made a revolution happen that none of us realised.
This book is as much about the headline names as it is about the four million people that were working at the heart of it. It's about the little stories of getting things up and running at a time when technology was new to us ," she explained. The book, priced at Rs 945 and published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI), will be available for purchase from April 30.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body).
