I am neither pro BJP nor pro congress but I am pro India and am supporter of any party which works on brining about reforms in India. I had always heard in the past and continue to do so that all the reforms the credit of which is enjoyed by congress were sown by Mr. Vajpayee and his team. This book by Mr Sinha, rather ‘reformist’, who has won accolades for being the only non – congress finance minister to prepare budget for five years is testimony to this statement which is always made by BJP and its supporters.

We have grown from a foreign reserve of $ 1 billion in 1991 to robust $270 billion dollars which is fourth largest in the world. It was he who signed the papers to pledge our gold reserve in 1991 when we ran into crisis and had just one week’s foreign reserve in our kitty. He tells us that he swore to himself that he would not let that happen again. After the crisis had been averted, Janta Dal lost the election and Mr. Manmohan Singh went on to prepare the budget which Mr. Sinha was supposed to. Due to some differences among the party members, Mr. Sinha later on joined BJP and held the most powerful portfolio of finance minister from 1998 to 2002 in the cabinet.

He has talked about all the minute details during his tenure as Finance Minister including the controversies and issues raised against him. It goes without saying that the image of our nation underwent a change during BJP regime and the most powerful nation including United States started taking us seriously. This was precisely due to nuclear tests conducted by us and the opening up of Indian economy for the world. He refined our image in International arena and also chaired many committees at the world forum representing India for the first time creating a new stage for our nation. He strongly opposed the policy of developed nation regarding subsidy and tariff in which later on other developing and under developed countries joined us and finally developed countries like United States started paying heed to these minorities. Mr. Sinha candidly states in the book regarding privatization reforms which were strongly opposed by oppositions and members of the party. He had a tough time making people understand, the need of opening our economy and privatizing sectors in which government was making huge losses. As we were used to live in license Raj, subsidy and exploitation of government resources, people came up strongly against BJP government in the next election and the fruits of “India Shining” could not be enjoyed by them. But, Our ‘Mr. Reformist’ is happy that, their efforts are showing good results now and at the same time he is worried too about the momentum of reforms. The momentum of reform should be increased if we want to see double digit growth. Reforms added with a growth rate of 9% will take India to the new heights but if we live by our current policies, the effort made by earlier government which helped us earn such repute may go in vain.

If you want to get a feel of finance ministry and the life of a finance minister, this autobiography is a must read. Mr. Jaswant Singh and Mr. Chidambaram who are his successors also came out with their share of experiences in , ‘A Call to Honour’ and ‘Why good Economics works for everyone’ respectively which deal with role of a finance minister in bringing out reforms in the country. I am looking forward to read these books too. I think this is the best time to be in India as we are the one’s who are blessed to see our country grow.

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