The Hindu : Economic issues: political parties asked to spell out position

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 31, 2004

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Economic issues: political parties asked to spell out position

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 30. In a well-timed initiative, the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) today asked the political parties to spell out their positions on vital economic issues including employment, agriculture and infrastructure investment.

Asserting that the initiative was aimed at making the political parties accountable in relation to promises made during electioneering, the PHDCCI chief, Ravi Wig, said there was a perceived notion that the political parties do not attach much importance to their election manifestos once they come to power and further that there was no institutionalised framework to audit the performance of the Government based on the promises made in the manifestos.

The chamber's eight-point development agenda seeks creation of employment in the both organised and unorganised sectors.

It has noted that the recent employment boom was limited to sectors such as IT, biotech and hospitality. Only the urban educated middle class could take advantage of this boom.

Pointing out that the recent recovery of the manufacturing sector was without any commensurate growth in employment, the chamber has asked for focused attention being given to agri-business, which has the potential to create a large number of gainful employment opportunities in the rural sector. It has lamented that scant attention is being given to this sector now.

While urging the political parties to come out with their strategy to contain the mounting fiscal deficit, which is threatening to assume menacing proportion, the chamber's agenda also refers to the need to initiate second tier of reforms ranging from labour, judicial, administrative to education and agricultural laws.

The labour reforms should be such that they facilitate creation of employment and continuous skill development to enhance workers employability.

Similarly, the chamber urged the political parties to take their positions on fiscal reforms to make India region, VAT, reduction in the peak rate of income tax, rationalisation of import duties. The political parties must also spell out their long-term fiscal policy.

The recovery of labour intensive industries in the manufacturing sectors should be facilitated for creation of large-scale employment. These industries were not getting adequate from financial institutions and banks, it said, voicing concern over high rate of interest, which would hike cost of production.

The chamber also said that political parties must also come out with a roadmap for capital account convertibility besides stating how they would mobilise resources for infrastructure sector including Railways, shipping, ports and aviation sector which require huge investments.

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