The President, Ms Pratibha Patil’s address to the joint session of the two Houses of Parliament on Thursday held a few surprises. With the UPA back in the saddle, the thinking that would animate the Manmohan Singh government’s policies in its second term obviously remains unchanged.

Essentially, this means trying to innovate to boost private business with a view to ensuring growth while taking on board the pressing needs of India’s sprawling below-the-poverty-line sector, typically comprising dalits, tribals, the extreme backward castes, and the bulk of the minorities — spread in rural and urban slum settlements.

With the Left off the government’s back this time around, UPA-2 would be better placed to privatise/disinvest, and cut subsidies like oil — or even fertilisers — to find the money for the maze of social sector spending to which it has committed itself. Financial sector reforms, in effect permitting private players including foreigners in entities like pension funds, are also likely to be on the cards.

These entered the President’s address, which traditionally sets forth an incoming government’s five-year policy plan, through the rubric of “economic management” to counter the effects of the global economic slowdown.

The real surprise is that Dr Singh, in his second innings, has chosen to stick with policies that expand rural employment and boost housing, health and education for the poor in rural and urban areas, and also for forest dwellers.

This may dismay the Left, which continues to believe that policies with such an orientation were on the table on account of its insistence.

Since the global slowdown has to be fought today, measures to balance the budget are needed now, especially since a range of social sector outlays have been indicated. We shall know more about this, including taxation details and the broad fiscal direction of the economy, when the Union Budget is presented next month.

However, the President’s address could have been more forthcoming on the means it proposes to devise to cut the bloated bureaucracy, increase its productivity, and make procedures more contemporary, less cumbersome and more leak-proof.

So far thinking on this has been a pie in the sky. First brought to the table by UPA-1, this critical area has been uptil now no more than a lazy slogan. Pouring in vast sums to alleviate the lot of the needy is likely to be a misdirected effort if the machinery of the government is sloppy, unproductive and leaks like a sieve.

The ideas presented by the President in her address point to the zeal for building a nation that is more modern, more equitable, more democratic, more productive, better nourished, better educated, and healthier, in order to be competitive in an age when the “knowledge society” is the buzzword.

But the means of delivery for much of this remains the government employee sector — known only too well for its inefficiency, greed and lack of transparency.

Unless the government can change their ways and cut their numbers, it is hard to see how the proposed laudable aims can materialise. After the terrorist attacks of the past few years culminating in the horror of Mumbai last November, it was only expected that internal security will get top billing in the President’s address.

However, clearer and more focused references to policy in respect of Pakistan, which is at the centre of any meaningful discussion on terrorism in India and the world, could have lent greater weight to the President’s pronouncements.

Some nuancing of our approach towards the United States is critical while addressing issues relating to Pakistan. The President may have done well to give a hint of this.