Dr Manmohan Singh was an economist of brilliance and man of great humility. His passing away is a great loss to the country. Dr Singh was a man with a vision. He was an exceptional human being, exceptional economist and full of simplicity. He was logical, thorough and understood the analytics so well. You don’t find people of that nature.

I had the honour of working for him (Dr Singh) for about 10 years (2004-2012 January) in UPA-1 and 2. He had specifically directed us (PMEAC) on certain important issues for enquiry. It was always a pleasure interacting with him and working with him.

At the PMEAC

In the PM Economic Advisory Council, which was led by Dr C Rangarajan, we used to bring out two documents every year. One is review of Indian economy (September-October) and the other is outlook of economy (February). In that I used to write a chapter on government finances which was very critical and we didn’t mince words. He (Dr Singh) was very patient and he had called one meeting after the 2009 elections.

I was present at the meeting and I had made a statement that deficit number included in the Budget were an underestimation. The Budget did not include the full impact of loan waiver, implementation of Pay Commission recommendation and expansion of rural employment guarantee from 200 districts to the whole country.

Deficit numbers

The fiscal deficit number did not actually include them. When I mentioned this at the meeting, I was described (by Montek Singh Ahluwalia) as a “fiscal fundamentalist”. However I said that I will take it as a compliment. The point is I was not saying that fiscal deficit should be more or less, I was only saying the number presented in Budget seems to be underestimate.

Then Dr Manmohan Singh asked me what according to me would be an appropriate number. I told him it could be double of what was presented in Budget, but it actually turned out to be even more… that’s a different thing. The point I’am making now is that Dr Manmohan Singh had the patience to listen to criticisms and this is a special quality for a person.

Tax reforms

On tax reforms, Dr Singh would every time he met me ask about the Value Added Tax. Infact he was the champion of Goods and Services Tax (GST). Of course because of political reasons States like Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh opposed GST introduction. Otherwise GST would have come in a better structured manner than it has now.

On one occasion in 2010 or 2011, when I was Member at PMEAC and I wanted to take up a job in Singapore, I wanted to leave. Rangarajan wanted me to go and talk to the Prime Minister Singh. I went to meet Dr Singh and told him about my interest in taking up the Singapore job. Dr Singh folded his hands and told me not to go as he needed my services here.

. “On matters relating to tax policy I don’t have anybody to talk to and so you must not go”, Dr Singh had said, prompting me to stay back in India.

This incident shows to me that Dr Manmohan Singh had great quality of making people feel they are wanted. It was a pleasure working for him and he was always stickler of time for all his appointments whether during his term in office as Prime Minister or even otherwise.

As told to KR Srivats of businessline