Category Insights

Insights, a blog published by IMPRI.

Could Stronger Leadership by Manmohan Singh Have Prevented the Rise of the Right?

Glowing tributes are being paid to Manmohan Singh. Not only it is an Indian tradition to praise the departed, but much has changed since he demitted the prime ministership following the rout of the Congress in 2014. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-II headed by him was characterised by policy paralysis and non-performance and that was exploited by the BJP and Narendra Modi. But today, Singh comes across as a democrat and the contrast with the present times is stark.

Advancing Free Trade Through AITIGA Reforms

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) was signed and entered into force on January 1, 2010. The AITIGA (also known as ASEAN-India FTA) was a culmination of a series of efforts by both ASEAN member-States and India to ameliorate their ties. After completing a decade of the AITIGA in 2019, ASEAN and India mutually decided to review the agreement through consultations. While attending the 20th ASEAN-India Summit in 2022 at Jakarta, the Indian Prime Minister emphasised the need to complete the AITIGA in a time-bound manner.

Manmohan Singh: Pioneering India’s Global Growth and Digital Transformation

It is conventional wisdom to hail Manmohan Singh as the author of India’s economic reforms. This is misconceived. That credit goes to PV Narasimha Rao. Only a prime minister can strategise and execute a paradigm shift in the nation’s economic policy. He would need a number of technocrats to carry out that job intelligently, and Manmohan Singh, as Rao’s finance minister led a team of able technocrats, among whom we should note the likes of Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Shankar Acharya and C Rangarjan at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s central bank. To call Manmohan Singh the author of economic reforms is like saying that contract manufacturers Foxconn and Pegatron make the iPhone, and not Apple.

200 Years of Passenger Rail Travel: A Call for India to Upgrade Its Tracks

The year 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of passenger travel by rail. While horses used to drag heavy loads along parallel rails, initially of wood and later of steel, at the beginning of the industrial revolution, the arrival of steam locomotives changed transportation forever. On September 27, 1825, a locomotive built by George Stephenson pulled 11 wagons of people and 20 wagons of coal a distance of some 26 miles from Darlington to Stockton along steel tracks (these places are about two hours by car from Manchester). That inaugurated travel by rail.

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