It is always a delight to dip into the pellucid thinking and incisive writing of the country's Ministry of Finance Chief Economic Advisor as his intellectual credentials are too immense to be ignored. Yet working within the system of government, it would be audacious on his part to claim that institutional incapacity continues to be a binding and besetting constraint on the further development of the country. If after six score of years of Independence, the country's politicians and bureaucrats had failed the people by their pathetic focus on short-term populism or garnering votes or aggrandising themselves with little compunction instead of pushing development, what else could be achieved now when the same set of politicans and bureacurats with whom Prof. Rajan has the misfortune to work now! Unless structural constraints and supply side bottlenecks are removed lock, stock and barrel coupled with a firm commitment to marshal more outlays for social and physcial infrastructure through purposive policy interventions, India's tryst with destiny woud at best be a work in progress in perpetuity with no tangible development in reality. One should remember in complete reverence to the perspicacity of the former Prime Minister of India Narashima Rao under whom the present prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh worked as his finance minister from 1991 to 1996 that the double-digit growth the Indian economy witnessed in the early part of the last decade became possible, despite with warts and all! It is another tragedy that the same Dr Singh at the helms could not deliver higher growth now because he was heading a viscesrally fractious coalition government with no personal authority to ensure that his writ runs and runs absolutely for the benefit of the people. Looking back with a minority government Narashima Rao brought about far-reaching economic liberalization measures that the subsequent governments including the one presently headed by Dr Singh could not even think of repeating such a feat. It is time political parties evolved a consensus in pushing for ensuring basic amenities to millions and a decent standard of living before attempting to putting the economy on a high growth trajectory. But the way politicians conduct themselves with the bureaucrats not being able to call the shots in the prevailing milieu of scams and scandals , the future is fraught unless good sense prevails for a better and decisivse governance and a salutary leadership that will not let the sink of ship of State! G.Srinivasan, Journalist, New Delhi, India