Dr C Rangarajan to be the next Finance Minister?

[arp2041]

As India inches closer to what seems like a sequel to the 1991 economic crisis, it is also moving towards a similar political arrangement to manage the economy. It may be recalled that in June 1991, PV Narasimha Rao chose Dr Manmohan Singh — a non-politician then — as the finance minister to ring fence the management of the economy. There is a growing buzz on Raisina Hill that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would like Dr C Rangarajan, currently the chairman of the Prime Ministers' Economic Advisory Council to take charge of the economy as the finance minister.

The prime minister has increasingly turned to Dr Rangarajan to work on solutions to complex issues, which were earlier referred to the Planning Commission and to Montek Singh Ahluwalia. In just the past two weeks the former RBI Governor has been asked to head three new committees — a panel to work on a new poverty line, a way to manage fuel pricing and subsidies and contracts with oil companies for exploration and production.

While these are still early days, the idea obviously is to look at a scenario post the elections for the President. A clearer picture will emerge once the Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi firms up her choice for President. The proponents of the 1991 formulation believe that if and when Pranab Mukherjee is nominated, the government would need a person who knows the system and whose presence will send a positive signal to investors and the economy. Dr Rangarajan has, like Manmohan Singh, worked across the spectrum of economic positions in government. Among the factors favouring the move is his erudition as an economic guru, his proximity to the PM, and most critically, his clean non-controversial image.

Given the disastrous condition of the economy there is a growing perception within the Congress Party that a specialist be brought in to fix the economy before they go in for the next general elections.

Dr C Rangarajan to be the next Finance Minister? - India News - IBNLive

 

[Jade]

Today, the economy is not even remotely resembles what our economy was in 1991, but second wave of reforms are needed if we have to keep the momentum going. Appointing Pranab Mukerjee for FM was a wrong move.

 

[Nakki Nair]

In my opinion, we should reduce the risk by placing a permanent civil servant in the financial ministry. The position should be permanent irrespective of the parties that come to power and the decisions should only be implemented after they are vetted by these people. Otherwise, policial fanatics like pranab mukherjee will only think about their darn party and drag the nation into a frickin hellhole.

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

IS this guy a socialist ? If he is then NO .

 

[Sashan]

Pranab Mukerjee is a survivor. When tough reforms are needed, he backed out of the reforms in retail industry by compromising with idiotic short-sighted state politicians like Mamata.

We need next set of reforms and a specialist like C.Rangarajan. Looks like he is all for reforms as per his interview with Karan Thapar.

Does the finance minister need to boost investor and entrepreneurial sentiment by pushing ahead with reforms?
We need to push reforms. I would only say that the reform environment has not deteriorated since 2005-06.

But it hasn't advanced either?
Yes, so we need to push it further. But, certainly, if we had grown at nine per cent during earlier, we should be able to grow even now. Reform is a continuous process and, therefore, we need to take action in various fields, such as banking, insurance and pension, and get the consent of the people for these reforms.

One of the things that is worrying investors is what is called the combination of the Vodafone amendment, the Supreme Court judgment in the 2G case and the government's proposed GAAR amendments and proposals...

Well, the pressure we have seen on the rupee in recent times has been because of the inadequate capital flows to cover the current account deficit. There, we must encourage capital flows, and if the sentiment for that has to be created, we must do that. And, we should critically examine factors that might come in the way of the perception of investors and remove them. Some of the things that we are doing have been done by other countries too. But, perhaps they are not being viewed in the same way. So, there is some misconception there. But, certainly, we need to act to remove the impediments and encourage capital forces.

We have reached the bottom: C Rangarajan

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

CPM ,Mamata and pranab hmm... Bengalis are great with art , culture , music , movies , poetry etc. but with economy