New Delhi, Apr 20: The government's chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu today sought to clarify his statement on economic reforms, saying that his opinions were not necessarily those of the government and the finance ministry. He added that he had been misquoted.
According to the clarificatory note over his lecture at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, Basu said his comments on Europe in 2014 were juxtaposed with the Indian election of 2014.
Basu had been reported as saying that major economic reforms in India would hit the roadblock and are unlikely to happen before the next Lok Sabha elections in 2014.
Basu said that while he had cited coalitional democracy as a reason for slowdown in economic reforms and decision-making, the gist of his lecture was that 2014 would be an important year with reference to the European crisis.
Basu's reported statement on " policy paralysis" in India and its impact of the reform agenda of the government, sent the UPA top brass to go into denial mode.
Telecom minister Kapil Sibal, Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni and minister of state in the PMO Narayanswamy contradicted Basu's views.
Basu, who is accompanying finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to Washington, spoke at Carnigie Institute at Washington on Thursday.
The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was in Assam today, is learnt to have expressed his confidence that difficulties would be overcome in time.
"We have difficulties. But with determination we will overcome," PM had said recently about the current crisis that has caught the government in a bind.
