The Hindu Business Line : ‘Kalam’s Pura model will not work’

Singapore, Oct 10 Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Minister Mentor, Singapore, on Friday said the PURA model advocated by the former Indian President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, will not work in bringing about India’s transformation into a developed country.

Answering a question at a session of ‘PBD Singapore’, he said, “He is a great scientist and a very powerful man. I don’t want to cross swords with him.

But if you study very carefully how other countries have industrialised and become knowledge economies – Korea, Japan, China and Eastern Europe – you will realise you cannot bring urban amenities to rural areas.

How can you do it? Where is the manpower? How will you get the best doctors to stay in the rural areas?”

Getting into the area of some “hard headed analysis”, he said one needed to look at the fact that while companies such as Pepsi and Citicorp were headed by Indians, “they are outside India.”

The way to do it, Mr Lee Kuan Yew said, was by rapid urbanisation as Singapore had done it (“we don’t have a single village left in Singapore”), or by planned urbanisation, as China was doing it by moving 10 million villagers to urban areas every year. “Look at Brazil: They are building huge centres, factories for making cars, aeroplanes and all kinds of things.”

Villagers are moving to these centres, he noted.

“If you look at ancient Greece – Socrates and Virgil, were they in the countryside?

They were in the cities where all services were concentrated.”

Indo-US nuclear deal

To another question, he said the Americans had done a “wise thing.The world is heading towards an energy crisis.” Otherwise, India would be so largely dependent on coal, oil and gas that the whole global situation would worsen.

Also, he added, India had been “very responsible” with its nuclear technology.

“It has not been selling bits and pieces of it as Pakistan has done.”

Also, the US was strategically using this deal to balance the power position in the region, to ensure that there is no “lopsided development.”

Financial meltdown

To a question on whether the global financial meltdown could result in India playing a larger role in the world, Mr Lee Kuan Yew said, “not immediately.

It does not have the resources to put money on the table.”

The Chinese have the resources, he added, but he doubted it would stick its neck out at this point.

“But over the next ten to fifteen years, India would be playing a bigger role,” he said.

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