Many panic buttons to press

Abstract

Mihir Sharma is well-known to readers of Business Standard. His articles are incisive, sharp, hard-hitting and have a good measure of sarcasm. In his book Restart, we see one more aspect: impatience. Mr Sharma is in a hurry to cut the fluff and get to the point; to give a list of policy measures gone wrong from time immemorial and initiatives to fix them. He understands that the answers are not simple, that there are multiple pressures on policymaking and vested interests about which he writes extensively in the book. But he still believes that the way to go is to take the route of rapid and drastic reform. Reform that does not exploit the farmers and the poor; that does not stop manufacturing and industrial growth; that does not compensate farmers for parting with their land at the current rates laid out by the recent land acquisition Bill but compensates them "fairly". While he criticises successive governments for taking the middle path and not taking tough decisions, the solutions he provides are certainly not far from the middle path. No, sir, they follow the golden average. Read more at: https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/many-panic-buttons-to-press-115022501374_1.html