Most prime minis-ters in India spend their first 100 days struggling just to keep theirjobs. But Manmohan Singh's surprisingly-decisive victory last month has pundits calling for-and offering up-a slew of ambitious agendas. Still, perhaps the most audacious program has come from Singh himself. While it includes many long-delayed, business-friendly reforms like selling stakes in state-owned com-panies and improving the electric grid, the real surprise is that Singh, an unassuming economist, now has his eye on another prize: revolutionizing governance in India's rural hinterland. Singh aims to do this by channeling money and decision-making power through village-level elected officials, which he believes will act as a New Deal-type stimulus program, putting money in the hands of the people most likely to spend it. Just as audacious is a right-to-information act and a few new laws that he will use to throw a spotlight on India's often corrupt bureaucrats, politicians and judges. Of course, India's obstructionist state employees have outlasted many prior attempts at reform. Yet Singh-comfortable with economic arcana and fully backed by the powerful and popular Gandhi clan-seems in a uniquely strong position to make his first 100 days really count.
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