But the early March number throws up some serious concerns. It signifies that the Indian economy has entered a phase of deflation for a temporary period. Demand in the economy is extremely subdued and fresh efforts are needed to restore confidence.

Farm crop output is likely to be robust and this may help in moderating prices but the problems with regards to supply bottlenecks have hardly been addressed. Ports, roads and reforms in agriculture must therefore be the focus of the new government which assumes power after the April-May elections.  Past experience has shown that a tardy monsoon can upset calculations overnight.

There is very little time to lose and massive reforms across all sectors are needed to get the economy moving again. Much will depend on the government which is voted in after the elections.

Such low level of wholesale price inflation, the most widely watched inflation measure in India, throws up another worry. Real interest rates are still high and authorities must nudge banks to lower them to push demand and restore confidence in the economy.

The central bank and the government have taken timely action but now it is up to the commercial banks and firms to take the benefits of the stimulus packages to the consumers.

There is still room for more stimulus measures and the new government will have to immediately hit the ground running to sustain a 6-7 percent growth and protect jobs in a country which hardly has any social security.

The early March inflation data is a wake-up call for policymakers and the political class to embrace reforms much more than before.

The civil-nuclear deal with the United States will go through, and some reforms may be pushed by the government with the help of
its new allies. But politics will never be the same again, tainted by allegations of bribery and a vulgur display of money power.

Shortly after his government won a convincing victory in parliament, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the victory sent a message to the world that "India's head and heart was sound and India is prepared to take its rightful place in the comity of nations."

India has attracted global attention due to its strong economic growth and aspires to be a global power. But now more than ever, it needs to fix its politics and governance so that these two key elements do not derail its ambitions.

All political parties will need to seriously think about the events of the past few days and work out mechanisms to prevent it from happening again.

Global best practices need to be imbibed to help politics and governance catch up with the demands of a globalising economy. If it does not happen soon, then ordinary Indians' cynicism and disillusionment with their politicians will become irrecoverable.

Too much is at stake.

But high oil prices and rising inflation threaten to bring the India growth story to its knees. Finance Minister PalaniappanChidambaram's speech at a meeting of oil producing and consuming nations in Jeddah on Sunday showed the cracks in India's confidence levels.

No doubt oil prices have spiralled, threatening the economic gains made by developing countries, as Chidambaram said in his speech.

But in the case of India was it misplaced optimism about growth or lethargy in getting the right policies on the ground that made things worse?

It pained me to read Chidambaram speech, in which he expresses "a heavy heart and foreboding" and says meeting India's Millennium Development Goals had been imperilled by soaring crude oil prices.

But it is both a frank admission of the dangers facing developing countries, including India, and a fervent call for cracking down on speculators who, according to the minister, are playing havoc with the fortunes of nations. For the complete speech please click on
www.pib.nic.in.

The Congress party-led government contains three key reformers -- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia -- and it had four years to get things moving. But they appear to have succumbed to their communist allies on policies
and reforms that investors see as vital for India's growth.

The oil surge and rising prices pose huge challenges for Indian policymakers. Strong measures will be needed. But will India's leaders bite the bullet?

The government has been talking about easing rules for the issue of passports, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has time and again called for better governance.

Both were in short supply in Ghaziabad, a chaotic urban mess in Uttar Pradesh state, one of India's least developed, where to get anything done, it seems, you have to call in a favour.

The city's passport office is stuck in a time warp, hours spent there a harrowing experience with applicants navigating a string of unhelpful and grumpy officials who communicate only in grunts.

Having to go overseas for work, I was willing to pay more to have my passport issued under a scheme for urgent cases but soon found that guaranteed nothing.

Hours crawled by and nothing happened. No one would accept my application. Faint with hunger and dehydrated, in desperation I sought help from officials in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi but was told they could help in any passport office in India -- apart from Ghaziabad.

Finally, in utter desperation, I called a friend, a senior official in the ministry, and asked for his help. His intervention immediately changed things, and within minutes I heard my name being called.

I sailed through the sea of red tape and my application was lodged within 15 minutes.

As I left the building I pitied those waiting in the queue. They had nobody to help. I saw people from rural areas sweating it out; young women, intimidated by the sheer suffocating weight of the bureaucracy.

India is a trillion dollar economy and aspires for a seat at the global high table. But when your systems of governance belong to the Stone Age and alienate ordinary people, it has a slim chance of entering the big league.

I am yet to receive my passport and I am keeping my fingers crossed.