At the right place at the right time…

Very often, I hear people talking about successful individuals owing his or her success to the fact that they were at the right place at the right time. Sometimes one feels like the people who are attributing the success solely to the timing of the events and the persons place in the sequence; obviously hides the role played by the person’s capability and effort to be there in the first place. I have spoken about this with many people and I get different views. There are people who believe that it’s all about luck; some argue that you make your own luck and some fence sitters make a case for the combination of skill, effort and luck. Like always when I listen to such debates, I enjoy the shades of grey….

The Business Standard on Monday, 20 June 2011 carried a editorial by Sanjaya Baru titled “Greece in India” (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sanjaya-baru-greece-in-india/439670/). The article is a very interesting read and it talks about India being perilously close to default in 1991. I suggest that if you have the time, please read it. If you don’t really have the time, please make some…

Well, my take on this is completely different from what Mr. Baru is making because he is looking at the economics aspect of it and I am exploring the concept of being at the right place at the right time. So let’s see the story that unfolded...

In November 1990 the V P Singh government falls and Chandra Shekar takes over as the Prime Minister. He then appoints Dr. Manmohan Singh as Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office. The then Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha who had advisors like C Rangarajan ( Then Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India) and Deepak Nayyar ( The Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India) had prepared a plan for liberalization by December 1990 and days before the budget could be presented by him, the Chandra Shekar government fell. P V Narasimha Rao becomes the new PM and he made Dr. Singh his Finance Minister. The new liberalization policy is rolled out via the Budget Speech by Dr. Singh on 24 July 1991 and the growth story of the new India begins. Today, the same Dr. Singh is the Prime Minister of this country and he has not really contested in any election to be in this position.

Now, one has to wonder what would have happened what if Yashwanth Sinha had taken the proposal to parliament… Was Dr. Singh at the right place at the right time? The conclusions that you  draw is up to you… I just like the fact that it neither black nor white… it remains grey.