The Hindu : National : Development not at cost of habitats: Manmohan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 19, 2006

National

National

Development not at cost of habitats: Manmohan

Special Correspondent

Committed to addressing Narmada dam issue

CLARION CALL: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flanked by R. Seshasayee (left), vice-president, CII, and Y.C. Deveshwar, president CII, at the confederation's national conference and annual session in New Delhi on Tuesday. — Photo: V.V. Krishnan

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday reiterated the Government's commitment to address the controversial Narmada dam and all such development issues through a credible mechanism so that development is "cost effective, environment-friendly and least disruptive."

"We need to quickly evolve a credible mechanism whereby these issues do not generate into confrontations between sections of our society... development is not pursued as threat to people's lives and habitats," Dr. Singh said. His observations came at the Confederation of Indian Industry's annual session here in the wake of the Supreme Court order in the Narmada dam case on Monday.

"I think [the] time has come to squarely address the issue of development, displacement and environment" in a manner whereby all stakeholders benefit to some degree from development, he said. He called upon the industry to pay closer attention to environmental consequences of development.adverse industrial implications."

On the other ticklish issue of reservation of jobs in the private sector, Dr. Singh advised the industry to pay more attention to questions of social and economic discrimination and deprivation. "We all need to ensure that no group feels excluded from enjoying the fruits of rapid economic growth," he said, and asked the industry to enhance educational and employment opportunities for people.

Promising a policy framework that can lead to a 12 per cent growth in the manufacturing sector as the country had moved to a position to realistically target a 10 per cent growth, he said only manufacturing could throw up the number of jobs required.

Dr. Singh said: "I urge you to assess at a firm level the diversity in your employees' profile and commit yourself voluntarily making it more broadbased and representative. Such affirmative action on your part can be a crucial component of inclusive society we hope to build."

Even as he promised forward movement in introducing labour reforms, Dr. Singh asked the industry to not just depend on tax relief and infrastructural support provided by the Centre.

He advocated a "cluster approach" to ensure economies of scale and boom in Special Economic Zones that could put the country on the path to becoming a global manufacturing hub. Redistribution of land and tenancy reforms could improve the income and asset base of the rural poor and generate demand for rural housing.

Task force

On telecom and IT, he said there was need to help facilitate the growth of hardware for the industry and added that the Government had constituted a task force to look into this.

Earlier, CII president Y.C. Deveshwar said the CII's focus on sustainable competitiveness had become the basis of a variety of private-public partnerships in the country

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