Looking ahead, the future appears bleak for reforms and governance in India. And the first casualty is likely to the Budget. With UPA’s fate now in the hands of the smaller parties, there is little hope for any big bang policies. What should have been done 2.5 years ago when the UPA come to power with a thumping majority is unlikely to happen now. One can only assume that reforms were never really on the UPA agenda. So, this is the new normal now for India.
Governance too is going to suffer because we have now a weak Prime Minister, a weak Congress and a weak government. In this situation, we are probably going to limp along from crisis to crisis. For example, petrol prices should have been raised months ago, but were not because of the elections. What happens now is not clear.
So, India once again loses its opportunity to grow fast and get people out of poverty. Until a new leader and a new government takes over. Whether that happens in 2012 or in 2014, only time will tell.
