The Hindu : Front Page : India’s image will not be sullied if deal falls apart: Swraj Paul

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Monday, Sep 17, 2007
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India’s image will not be sullied if deal falls apart: Swraj Paul

“Except for those who are going to supply nuclear reactors, no one will care”

Lord Swraj Paul

London: India’s image as an investment destination will not be sullied if the civil nuclear deal with the United States falls apart, United Kingdom-based Caparo group chief Lord Swraj Paul has said.

He felt that except for the people who were going to supply nuclear reactors to India, no one else would be bothered about the fate of the deal.

“I don’t think so,” he replied to a question on whether India’s image as an investment destination would be affected by the controversy over the deal in Karan Thapar’s Devil’s Advocate programme for CNN-IBN.

Asked how the western investors and governments will look at India if the agreement falls through, he said: “I don’t think they are going to be bothered about that,” according to the excerpts of the interview released by the channel.

“In the India-United States nuclear deal, except for the people who are going to supply nuclear reactors, no one would care,” Lord Paul said.

He went on to add that “as long as India keeps reforming and reducing bureaucratic work and corruption, it is far more healthy from an investment point of view.”

On the stand-off between the United Progressive Alliance government and the Left over the deal, the industrialist felt both sides had not been able to “clarify their positions” and wondered whether it was not possible to do that “without raising emotions.”

“As far as the nuclear deal is concerned, I don’t think people have really understood what India wants out of this and what the United States wants. If the idea is nuclear power, how much power is it going to generate as compared to the needs of the country? Lord Paul asked.

“I think the people don’t really understand the deal and what is it that the Prime Minister [means when he] says he has no restrictions. The Opposition says you are signing away India to the United States. Isn’t it possible to clarify the issues without raising emotions,” Lord Paul asked.

He said “there is no way you can get everything you want in an agreement like this which can be so different for one country and not for the other.”

Pointing out that the real challenge India is facing now is of reforms that target the poor, Lord Paul also spoke about the need to have better education, health and welfare.

‘A time bomb’

“To me, without that, in a democratic society, you are going to create a time bomb, which is going to explode sooner or later. You cannot have a democracy with a population of a billion where there is so much poverty,” he added.

Education sector

He pointed out that around 30 per cent of children in the country do not even receive primary education while there was a huge shortage of higher education.

“It is marvellous for four-five million graduates come out every year but as a percentage of those who get higher education is much smaller than a lot of what developing countries have,” Lord Paul said. — PTI

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