Sometime in 1996-97 BBC ran full day discussions and analysis program comparing how India and China will fare in the forthcoming millennium. The panelists were more or less skewed towards the idea that India with more libertarian fiscal approach is slated to do well. This was a time when the India under the leadership of prime minister P V Narashimha Rao and its finance minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had initiated economic reforms freeing up government control over trade and industry and welcoming globalization of Indian trade and commerce. This was followed by its successors from Janata Dal under the leadership of Finance Minister P Chidambaram tough not as full-fledged since Janta Dal government was surviving on the support from Communists.
However after more than a decade later the ground realities are in stark contrast. Though we have been consistently been achieving decent GDP growth over the years there is a lot to be desired on the development front. Meanwhile China progressed by leaps and bounds. China invested huge sums to build its infrastructure which. It created large Special Economic Zones to promote industry. China also privatized many core sectors including railways to raise money from the public so that it could pump in even more money towards the growth path.
Ironically in India it is the communists who dragged successive governments since the beginning of globalization asking them to desist from privatization. Even the Chinese premier once advised the Indian communalists to grow up with the times and accept privatization as the de-facto way to go forward.
