IE joins the nation in praying for the speedy recovery of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It is a great relief that the eleven hour long operation led by expert doctors replaced five blocked arteries by skilful grafting and removal of the damaged stints implanted earlier. There is the hope that the rejuvenated Manmohan Singh will be healthier than earlier. The country needs his services today more than ever before.

Singh, drafted from outside professional politics, is naturally free from the foibles, weaknesses and demagogic inclinations of the professional politician. He has decades of rich experience in administration - he had served for long years as the chief economic adviser, as a member of the Planning Commission, Governor - Reserve Bank of India, Secretary General - South-South Commission, Finance Minister and later as the economic policy architect of the Congress party. No other prime minister prior to him had such experience in administration, which is apart from his brilliant academic record for which his alma mater, the University of Cambridge, honoured him with a honorary doctorate in October 2006.

Singh has been clear about the devolution of responsibilities leaving affairs relating to the party to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and focused on administration. Of course the compulsions of the coalition government forced him to work with the nominees of different political parties and even of the Congress party, not all of them were of sterling qualities or merit. More importantly, the tenuous majority needed the support of the leftists for survival; and the leftists demanded and got away with their pound of flesh blocking the several attempts at reforms that liberated the economy from the shackles of the pre-1991 era and enabled India to emerge an economic power. The leftists thwarted the several attempts to further open up the economy; in particular they delayed the conclusion of nuclear deal with the US for over three years and lost their vice-like grip of the government just on that issue.

Singh's grasp over economic issues enabled his government to give high priority to power generation. This single factor ended the dismal record of the three earlier five year Plans and promises spectacular addition to power generation capacity during the current Plan. Until the global melt down, the Indian economy under the Manmohan Singh government, had performed exceedingly well with the average growth rate at around 9 per cent. The record in the social sector of education and public health, guaranteed employment and focus on agriculture has been commendable. Singh also vastly expanded India's sphere of influence by forging closer relations with developed countries like the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Canada and Russia, but also with the developing countries including China, Brazil, South Africa and scores of others in Asia and Africa.

His crowning achievement is of course the nuclear deal with the US that ended decades of isolation and denial of access to hi-technology. Just look at the interest on the part of US, France, UK, Russia… to set up nuclear power plants in India! This clean power will help in a faster expansion of power generation capacity in the country; more important, it will also help reduce environmental damage due to CO2 emissions from thermal power stations.

In 1991 P.V. Narasimha Rao entrusted the finance portfolio to Manmohan Singh. Thirteen years later Sonia Gandhi invited him to lead the country as prime minister. This gentle, humble and modest Sardarji, with an impeccable reputation for honesty, had endeavoured to give his best to his country. It is our good fortune that his heart condition was diagnosed in time and operated upon with such great care. He had abundant faith in the Indian system. He so readily got himself admitted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. We know of his predecessors who preferred to get treated abroad, at considerable expenditure to the exchequer. We also know of his predecessors opting to go for holidays for rest and recuperation. We do not know of Singh asking for one through the last 56 months of his prime ministership.

The architect of the strong Indian economy has a lot of unfinished tasks. IE joins the nation in praying for his return to normalcy and to work with much greater strength and spirit.