PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh did well to reinforce the message that with both domestic and foreign investors a worried lot, it was incumbent upon parliament to send a message that India meant business. ...

The PM is right in askingtor MPs across party lines to cooperate, but it is telling that the bills on which the government feels the needto garner this cooperation are all populist ones like the Food Security Bill and the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill.

While the food bill will raise food subsidies by 50-60pc, the land bill makes it impossible for any land to be acquired without a lengthy social impact assessment....

A solution was required given how states often use their coercive powers to acquire land cheap for industry, but a better solutioncould have involved, through zoning, changing the usage for agriculture land so that farmers realise the value of the land before it changes hands. ...

But what are investors to make of the PM`s speech in terms of the way forward orhis turning a blind eye to India Inc`s solvency problem and suggesting RBI keep hiking rates which are, in realterms, upwards of 9pc a sure recipe for a slowdown.

How do you reconcile the talk of the need to rein in subsidies with the justpassed food bill? And surely the PM is aware the rupee`s fall has brought all fuel reforms since January to nought, or that tax issues continue to bedevil industry? ... India needs political consensus to get its growth back, but that consensus is most needed within the Congress party. (Aug 31) •