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PAGE INTRO: In 1991, when Manmohan Singh rose to present the Budget, India was on the edge of a financial precipice with forex reserves barely enough to pay for two weeks of imports. Today, 20 years on, it sits comfortably on $300 billion, and is one of the two fastest growing big economies. With liberalization has come sweeping change — from a controlled, largely monochromatic existence (think Doordarshan) to a heady lifestyle fuelled by money, marketing and media. But underneath the gloss lies another India — of about 330 million people below the poverty line and the largest number of malnourished children in the world. The culture of crony capitalism that the reforms of 1991 were supposed to end, has, on the contrary, grown to depressing proportions. To the extent that it has cast a shadow over the shining India story. Where 2G was once short-hand for second-generation reforms, it now symbolises brazen corruption. Can India’s ruling class truly reform itself?