Good Politics v/s Good Economics

CEO of NDTV Network Vikram Chandra

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Rahul Katakey | 08 Apr, 2008
Held as a part of the CII Northern Region's Annual Regional Meeting, the session on "Convergence of Political Leadership and Economic Think Tank Critical to Leverage Northern Region's Developmental Potential" included a very profound and lively discussion on the subject, "Good Polity & Sound Economic Agenda- Are we Leveraging Strength in both?" by a panel that comprised top leaders like Subodh Bhargava, Former President, CII and Chairman VSNL, Dr Parth J Shah, President, Centre for Civil Society, Mohan Guruswamy, Chairman and founder,Centre for Policy Alternatives, Suhel Seth, CEO, Equis Advertising Co. Ltd, Vikram Chandra, CEO, NDTV Network, Mythili Bhusnurmath, Consulting Editor, The Economic Times, Lt Gen (Retd) S S Mehta, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry.

The Session assumed great importance with India on the crossroads of making an enlightened choice between what is economically correct and what is politically correct. While those favouring a high growth rate say that inequities will be ironed out with economic growth, others apprehend that any political consensus on reforwould be jeopardized if growth does not go hand in hand with equity.

Each panelist was of the opinion that politically correct and economically correct are not contradictory but complimentary.

Asserting that to make good economics, we need to enact a sound public policy, Dr. Parth J Shah- President, Centre for Civil Society suggested,"The industry should break the monopoly of the government sector in education as no monopoly delivers good services."

Mohan Guruswamy, Chairman and Founder, Centre for Policy Alternatives was of the view that today's politics was too pre-occupied with votes and advocated for the need to tackle the issue of governance to bring about equity and justice in the system.

In a very engaging deliberation, Suhel Seth, CEO, Equus Advertising Co Ltd said that no policy could deliver the desired results unless we have the basic values right. Seth said that these days policies are made for convenience and for fixing short term problems. Expressing his concern, he summed up, "I worry about the models of governance we are making for the future of India".

Vikram Chandra, CEO, NDTV Network favoured all the policies that benefit the larger sections of the society. He said that the implementation part of a project is generally lackadaisical since proper implementation hurts some vested interests. Hence the need is not to re-frame the policies but to address the issues that come in the way of implementation of these policies.

Mythili Bhusnurmath, Counseling Editor, The Economic Times talked about the need to create a set of concerned and informed citizens in order to enable good economics translate into good politics.

Lt Gen (Retd) S S Mehta, Director General CII was of the view that until and unless we have a national interest driven perspective, we can not attain inclusive and sustainable growth.

. Subodh Bhargava, Former President, CII & Chairman, VSNL, summed up on a very positive note saying that there is consensus that good politics and good economics go hand in hand. The symbiotic relationship that exists between these two areas should be further developed and with the help of the political leadership and the economic think tank, the good politics-good economics dichotomy can well and truly be set to rest.