India's Prime Minister Keeps Pushing for Economic Reform

Refuses to back down in face of strikes and protests

Manmohan Singh's coalition has splintered and his government is fighting for survival. But the Indian prime minister, who has been criticized for presiding meekly over a corrupt government, is suddenly being hailed as a bold, powerful leader.

Since pushing through a battery of unexpected economic reforms last week, and refusing to back down in the face of protests and political threats, Singh appeared to have rejuvenated a government thought hopelessly paralyzed.

"We have been faulted in the last few months of not being adequately a doing government. Now the time has come that we are doing something, and we hope that everybody who cares for this country and the new generation will join in," Law Minister Salman Khurshid said.