The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Role of professionals in ending poverty stressed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 14, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Role of professionals in ending poverty stressed

Special Correspondent

Fruits of growth must reach the needy: Chandrababu Naidu

CHENNAI: Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday appealed to professionals including chartered accountants to use their "intellectual output" to alleviate the problems of the farmers, weavers and village artisans against the backdrop of globalisation.

Speaking on "Professionalism as a tool for economic growth" at the international conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) here, Mr. Naidu said though the country had several success stories in telecom, information technology, highways and airways during the last ten years thanks to liberalisation, the country had to face challenges in tackling poverty and hunger in the globalised scenario.

Over 70 per cent of the population, who depended on agriculture and allied sectors, enjoyed the benefits of only 30 per cent of the GDP, the remaining 30 per cent belonging to the services and industry sectors enjoyed 70 per cent of the GDP, he said. This had resulted in people in remote areas, more particularly the hill tribes, suffering from problems such as malnutrition. With 260 million people left below the poverty line, the country had witnessed suicides among farmers and weavers, he said.

Gestation period

As the "trickle down effect" from the country's economic growth would take another 30 or 40 years to end poverty and the related problems, the chartered accountants who were associated with big companies and corporate houses should strive for reducing the gestation period for eradicating poverty, he said.

Recalling the initiatives of the previous TDP Governments in Andhra Pradesh in introducing innovative and technology promotion projects, Mr. Naidu said there had been a remarkable change in the mindset of the professionals in the country as a whole now, as they wanted to carry out their tasks as teams.

He urged the Central and State Governments to utilise the services of chartered accountants in all the departments. The chartered accountants had an important role to play in upholding the professional and ethical values, as a large number of projects with huge investments were implemented now, he said.

Stressing the need for adopting innovative methods and professionalism, Mr. Naidu said lack of professionalism in accounting had brought down some larger companies such as Enron.

T.N. Manoharan and Ashok Haldia, president and secretary of the ICAI, spoke.

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