• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

Implementation is the key

Ashok Dasgupta

THE BJP's 13-point action plan, proposed on the inaugural of the party's two-day national council meeting at Nagpur, to bolster the country's economy is not on unexpected lines. On the one hand, the party's economic resolution harps on a host of issues that need to be looked into, while pinpointing the various ills that require immediate rectification.

On the other, the ills that afflict the economy are by now such common knowledge that they require no repetition or reiteration. For the simple reason that over the last decade, the major ills that have been holding back an economic resurgence of sorts h ave been discussed and debated at periodic intervals. So much so, that even a layman should by now be able to list them down by heart.

What is required, as an urgent measure, is not their reiteration and tabulation yet again, but implementation of the corrective steps in a phased manner. Sadly, that is where the ruling party regimes at the Centre have been lacking grit and determination and the main reason for their fighting shy is the likely political repercussion.

The BJP economic agenda, for instance, has made a strong pitch for protection of the small sector. Almost ever since Independence, the small-sector has been a holy cow for all the regimes at the Centre. Over the years, the sector also, it must be said, h as played a pioneering role in the country's manufacturing sector by way of production, employment and exports.

With the launch of liberalisation, the scenario has changed. Currently, there are some 836-odd items that still remain reserved for exclusive production by the small sector. Interestingly, this is irrespective of the fact that nearly 200 items in the res erved list are actually not being produced by the sector at all.

Besides, with investment limits on plant and machinery, most of the small units are unable to manufacture technologically advanced products. And at a time when the quantitative restrictions (QRs) on nearly 1,500 items are scheduled to be removed from Apr il 2001, a large number of small units are destined to be wiped out. Does it then mean that to protect the small units, as also employment, the Centre will hike the bound rates of duty on the imported products. This may not be feasible. For the small uni ts to prosper in this scenario, they need to modernise and start functioning as ancillary units to the large industries, as in Japan.

On disinvestment, the BJP agenda says that the approach should be transparent and the interests of the workers in public enterprises safeguarded. There is no denying the fact the process of disinvestment should be transparent and that workers' interests should be taken care of. By this, if it is to be meant that the workers should be adequately compensated, that makes a lot of sense.

But if the case of protection for workers is extended, it may be taken to mean that even the sick public enterprises should not be privatised or closed down. Already, a number of years have been wasted -- and money spent -- on nurturing the chronical ly sick units. If this continues, the whole process of disinvestment is destined to collapse.

About some of the other resolutions in the economic agenda, the less said the better. For, it calls for speeding up efforts to increase the Government revenue while drastically curbing unproductive expenditure. No one is going to find fault with the Gove rnment's efforts to raise revenue by widening the tax net over a wider base. This is already being done, with a large amount of success. But the issue of curbing the Government expenditure and downsizing of its Ministries and departments will remain mere talk, as experience has shown.