The Hindu Business Line : Infrastructure, agriculture will unleash `Global India': Shourie

INFRASTRUCTURE and agriculture are the two key areas that will unleash a `Global India'. For this to happen, it is essential to ensure "equity in opportunity where everyone can collaborate," said Mr Arun Shourie, former Union Disinvestment Minister.

He was participating in an interactive session on `Unleashing global India: Pursuing development and growth with equity', organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here on Friday.

Mr Shourie said growth was not inherently inequitable, as made out. "What the country really needs at this juncture is execution, particularly the pace of execution, of our infrastructure projects."

He said, while China has spent $25 billion on development of world-class roadways in the last 10 years, in India just one-tenth of this was spent on this sector. Both the pace of execution and outlays are important, said Mr Shourie.

Stating that Rs 45,000 crore was being spent annually on subsidies (excluding the hidden subsidies), Mr Shourie sought a closer examination of the schemes, to bring about equity. Pointing out that there are ways of doing this, he cautioned that equity in outcomes (CMP type of equity) can injure growth and become a lever for an authoritarian regime.

Reminding the gathering of industry professionals of the need to create 83 million jobs in the next four years, he called for large investments in infrastructure projects, and new projects on the agricultural front, such as organic farming and use of bio-fuels.

"We need to face the world with more confidence, and not swing between euphoria and depression."

Mr Shouri said skills are available in every part of the country, and "our huge advantages by way of a large scientific pool cannot be matched by other societies."

Pointing out that standards in higher education in the country have fallen drastically, he said, "We lose some one lakh top professionals annually to a single country like the US."

We need to create a world-class work environment within the country to retain our talent, and also need to re-orient our educational standards, if a global India has to be unleashed, he added.

Mr Shourie also called for setting up a National Innovation Fund to acquire world-class patents for our industry. Better education and a sustained policy framework are needed, he added.

He said resources, especially for building infrastructure, were no longer a constraint, and one only needs to know how these can be tapped.

Mr Umang Kanoria, President of Indian Chamber of Commerce, in his welcome address, said, "We have to build a growth engine that will ensure that prosperity is more widespread."

He said a bad monsoon scares us because the country is dependent on limited pockets of rural prosperity, which can make or mar industrial growth.

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