Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran on Thursday referenced late journalist Mark Tully to underscore that the people of India would do the impossible “every single day in the next 25 years” on their way to a Viksit Bharat.
The remark comes days after the renowned journalist, author and Indophile breathed his last at a hospital in New Delhi at the age of 90.
“The late Sir Mark Tully said.... I am an optimist because I have seen the Indian people do the impossible, every single day,” Nageswaran said at a press conference in New Delhi after the Union government tabled the Economic Survey in Parliament ahead of the Budget 2026.
“We concur with him and, as a mark of respect to him, the Indian people will do the impossible every single day in the next 25 years on their way to Viksit Bharat,” the CEA added.
Nageswaran said the economy was doing better post-Covid, but the world was more “unpredictable and dangerous”.
“We have promises to keep and miles to go before we can sleep,” he said, referring to the celebrated poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.
“We have to reimagine the way we are organised as a state and reimagine the way we function,” he added.
Businesses and households have to internalise their responsibilities, the CEA said. "As a society, we have to embrace delayed gratification. Then, we will become strategically indispensable.”
The Economic Survey projected the GDP growth in the range of 6.8 to 7.2% in 2026-27, a tad lower than 7.4% estimated in the current fiscal. "The outlook, therefore, is one of steady growth amid global uncertainty, requiring caution, but not pessimism," said the pre-Budget document tabled in the Lok Sabha.
The growth projection has taken into consideration the cumulative impact of policy reforms over recent years that appear to have lifted the economy's medium-term growth potential closer to 7%. "With domestic drivers playing a dominant role and macroeconomic stability well anchored, the balance of risks around growth remains broadly even," it said.
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