Perestroika in India: V.P. Singh's Prime Ministership

The assumption of India s prime ministership by Vishwanath Pratap Singh has been marked by what can be called an unprecedently questioning attitude by the thinking public, instead of the euphoria which normally accompanies such a sweeping political change. Reinforcing it are a healthy skepticism about the ability of the new government to live up to its electoral commitment and a gnawing apprehension about the longevity of the new dispensation. As the soviet experience with Perestroika has shown, reform and restructuring bring in their wake more problems than the establishment set out to solve. The leadership has to hack its way through the thicket with understanding and determination. So it has been with V.P. Singh s prime ministership. The changing political scenario, the daunting economic situation with massive poverty and selective plenty coexisting in an unviable coalition, the erosion of institutions coupled with dilution of values in public life-not to mention thorny problems like Kashmir and Punjab-confront the leadership which has to live and thrive by its record in office and not by glib talk. The contributions compiled in this book examine in depth the problems as well as the way they are being tackled by the V.P. Singh government. It is much more than a progress report because it focuses on the problems and their varying nature against a background of desirable ways of dealing with them. The appraisal is hardnosed and critical, even it friendly in outlook because only a friendly in outlook because only a friend warns, the enemy strikes.