"Manmohan Singh as PM pulled 138 million people out of 'below poverty line'": Montek Singh Ahluwalia

New Delhi [India], January 3 : Economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia praised former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his efforts to bring 138 million people out of the 'below poverty line (BPL)'. Ahluwalia, former Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India, said that India grew faster in terms of economic growth during Singh's tenure than it had ever done.
"People forget that when you are Prime Minister you are not running an individual department. You have to be judged by how the country performs. So if you put that criterion, during his tenure, India grew faster than it had ever done before and it grew faster than it has grown since. In his period, 138 million people were pulled above the poverty line for the first time. Before that, the percentage of people below the poverty line was falling, but the population was expanding and so did the number of people below the poverty line," Montek told ANI in an exclusive interview.
Montek further said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's tenure must be judged in its entirety. The Indo-US nuclear deal that freed India from nuclear restrictions was the most important achievement during his second term, he added.
"If you judge him as the Prime Minister and look at the total effect, it was good. Another important achievement at that time was the Indo-US nuclear deal that freed India from nuclear restrictions," the renowned economist said.
When asked whether Manmohan Singh was a better FM or PM, Montek explained that the two jobs are different since his achievements as the Finance Minister remain "historic" and during his tenure as the Prime Minister the country had achieved the highest growth.
"The two jobs are very different. What he achieved as Finance Minister was historic because he turned around policies we have been following for the last 30 years. As Prime Minister, he was heading an economy that had already undergone some reforms. You couldn't expect him to do the same thing (as the PM). The challenges before a Prime Minister are very different. In the middle of a crisis, when you are the FM, with the backing of the PM you could get things done. When the economy is not in crisis, it is working well, you need to build a consensus. He did many things during his second term," Montek said.
Meanwhile, Montek argued that there was an urgent need for the government to make a clear roadmap for reducing the fiscal deficit of both central and state governments to enable the economy to achieve its growth ambitions. He said that India's high fiscal deficit was much more than other developing countries and was hampering private investments.