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The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, would be convening a meeting of at least six ministers next month to resolve differences over the draft manufacturing policy that has suggested flexibility in labour laws and changes in environment norms in big industrial enclaves.
The meeting is likely to take place on May 4, an official told PTI.
It has been more than a year that the draft manufacturing policy has been in public domain but the same has been stuck due to resistance from the environment and labour ministries.
“The Prime Minister is likely to give a direction to the concerned ministers to resolve the differences,” the official said.
Besides the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Anand Sharma, the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, the Labour and Employment Minister, Mr Mallikarjuna Kharge, the Environment Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, the Corporate Affairs Minister, Mr Murli Deora, the HRD and Telecom Minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, and the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, would be attending the meeting.
The draft policy suggests that industries in National Manufacturing Investment Zones (NMIZs) — big enclaves which could even subsume special economic zones — should be given the flexibility to downsize labour. Likewise, it recommends changes in the environment norms, which come in the way of investment.
Last week, the Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Mr R.P. Singh, had expressed disappointment over the opposition to the policy draft from the two ministries.
“Lot of opposition is coming. Each department is saying no, no our work is sovereign. Labour and environment departments...they all say our authority is sovereign and sovereign functions can not be delegated to a third party,” he said.
The DIPP, an industry ministry arm, had floated a concept paper for setting up NMIZs, which are being planned as mega industrial zones, industrial parks and warehousing units.
The policy aims to attract overseas investments, besides increasing the share of manufacturing in the economy.
India aims to increase the share of the manufacturing sector that contributes over 80 per cent to the country’s overall industrial production from 16-17 per cent to 25-26 per cent of the gross domestic product by 2020.
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