a day after the lokpal disruption in the rajya sabha finance minister pranab mukherjee spoke to pradeep thakur about how the emergence of strong regional satraps is contributing to confusion and hampering the decisionmaking process on a warmer note he hinted at a more accommodative monetary policy ahead and the upas determination to roll out gen2 reforms including fdi in retail excerpts q has dealing with a resurgent civil society become more bothersome for the government than dealing with the opposition in parliament a it is a good development potentially it strengthens our democratic foundations and widens the process of participation in public affairs it gives voice to the people and is empowering it contributes to the checks and balances and oversight capacity required in a progressive society it is welcome so long as it is not disruptive of public life and works in the national interest q what about emergence of strong regional satraps and pulls and pressures for federal governance are they impeding reforms a local aspirations and inadequate resolution of local development issues has helped in the emergence of regional satraps in the medium to long term it is good for the development of our democracy and for the maturing of our political systems including the political parties in the course of transition there will be occasional difficulties with the decision making process becoming a casualty however we will overcome this in a diverse society like ours with multicultural multilinguistic and multireligious communities living together it is important that there are enough opportunities for everyone to express their voice and contribute to public life q but is it affecting growth how do you see the economy performing in 2012 a iexpect domestic factors to contribute to a better growth performance in 2012 both investment demand and consumption demand should improve as monetary policy becomes accommodative with inflation declining to more acceptable levels if external factors also contribute favourably we should rapidly recover the loss in growth momentum seen in the current year we must recognise that in a globalised world we cannot remain insulated from external developments we have to be alert to developments around us and take corrective actions in right earnest wherever required it is likely that weaknesses in the eurozone and slow recovery in the us will persist for some time under the circumstances we need to strengthen our domestic growth drivers the macroeconomic variables for the economy will hopefully be better in the second half of the year 201112 than in the first half q what steps have been taken to boost investors sentiments a we have tried to liberalise fdi in retail and would like to build the required consensus to implement it we would pursue vigorously the legislative initiatives in the financial sector to bring about second generation of economic reforms we have already announced the new manufacturing policy which would give the required thrust to this sector we will bridge the policy and