After the furore over his remarks to the Carnegie Endowment here, chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu says he feels India will see “some important” reforms in six months, including on subsidies, a possible partial decontrol of diesel, and FDI in retail.
But he feels the “biggest reform” — GST (Goods and Services Tax) — may be tougher as “it is good” and “not everybody wants it” to happen under this government.
He told PTI in an interview: “Among the reforms that will happen, I hope, is subsidy reform. We’ll try use the UID system to cut down leakage in subsidy. In India the leakage is so big that if we can cut this down, it will help cut down our fiscal deficit... So it’s a very important reform, which I think will happen.”
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‘Non-political’ President will be best: Pawar
Age Correspondent
New Delhi, April 22
NCP supremo Sharad Pawar said Sunday he feels it would be “ideal” if a “non-political” person becomes the next President, after Pratibha Patil’s term ends in July.
Mr Sharad Pawar, speaking to reporters in Navi Mumbai, said all that parties should try for a consensus candidate who does not have a political background.
These remarks, which follow a meeting between Samajwadi leader Kiranmoy Nanda and Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee on the subject, come on the eve of the Parliament session resuming Tuesday.
“Both the UPA and NDA don’t have the required numbers to ensure a candidate of their choice gets elected... Thus a non-political person might be an ideal choice,” he said.