Half - Lion: How P.V. Narasimha Rao Transformed India

by Vinay Sitapati

‘A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.’

‘Sarvanashe samutpanne ardham tyajati panditah.’60 (‘Faced with total ruin, the wise settle for half.’)

In a single day, Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh had done more than anyone to dismantle the three pillars of the licence raj: monopolies for the public sector, limits on private business, and isolation from the world markets.

‘Those who wear the shoe and know where it pinches should have full say in deciding how to mend it.’50