A wider consensus on economic reforms seems to be emerging across the political spectrum.

The main Left formation, CPM seems to have accepted the position that 'reforms are here to stay'. Congress, which is at the core of ruling coalition, and BJP, the main opposition seem to be on same tangent on economic reforms.

Only hanging issue seems to be the focus in the next phase of economic reforms. Even on this issue, the consensus seems to be emerging on enhanced spending on social and physical infrastructure, job creation and enhanced involvement of corporates to make growth more inclusive.

Members of the panel at the HT Leadership summit, CPM's Sitaram Yechury, Congress leader Kamal Nath and BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley were broadly in agreement with this line of action on economic reforms in the mid term.

All the three leaders emphasized the need for continued dialogue between the government, alliance partners and the opposition on next phase of reforms.

Participating in the debate on "Reforms for Sustained Growth", Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, said that the reforms process was irreversible and the focus, in the coming years, should progressively shift towards employment generation.

"While the first phase of reforms during the first 15 years focused on creating strong foreign exchange reserves and strengthening institutions such as the stock exchanges, the next phase should clearly focus on employment generation. This would be clearly dictated by the demographic structure of the country", the minister said.

Nath said that the challenge of reforms lay in ensuring that the "benefits of economic reforms reach those sections of society that do not even know about it".

Yechury, echoed similar views and stated that reforms are an "inevitable necessity" but called for enhancing public investment, particularly in social sectors such as health and education.

"There is a need to reform our understanding that our population is an asset and not a liability. The government has to invest enough in the youth of the country to provide them with the requisite skill, education and health. While I have nothing against corporate profits, it also needs to be kept in mind that the reforms process cannot be solely preoccupied with increasing corporate profits", said Yechury.

The former commerce minister Arun Jaitley, said that the 15 years of economic reforms process has unleashed energies, which in turn will generate greater resources for investment in health and social infrastructure.

Jaitley identified physical infrastructure and social sector funding as the two most critical areas for the next phase of reforms process. "A lot of political priority need to be given to these two areas", he said.

Yechury said that greater public investment in social and physical infrastructure would act as a catalyst for attracting higher investment but added that there was a need for "course correction" in the reforms process with sharper focus on creating social infrastructure.

On coalition politics, the CPI (M) leader said that "social plurality will get reflected in political pluralism and we cannot bemoan this reality". He urged the government to consult the Left parties and other allies before implementing any policy that goes beyond the contours of common minimum programme.

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