Kerala - Kozhikode   

Emulate Chinese model: Karim

Kozhikode: Industries Minister Elamaram Karim has said that the Chinese model of economic development is suited to Kerala's development needs.

He was speaking after releasing the travelogue ‘China – Kannanjikkunna Kuthippu' (China's magnificent leap) authored by Mayor M. Bhaskaran based on his visit to that country in 2007.

The Minister said: “We have many lessons to learn from China.” Sanitation, work culture and discipline of the workforce were among the features of Chinese social life that “we should emulate.”

When VIPs visited a factory in China, the workers would continue with their work without getting distracted; they did not stop their work to go to factory gates to welcome union leaders raising slogans as in Kerala, Mr. Karim said.

Accepting the contention that for economic development a nation had to accept ideas and technology from the outside world as China did, he said it was also important, as done by China, to protect national interests and traditional industries and restrict foreign investments to selected sectors.

Import of technology should not be at the expense of local industries. This development strategy had helped China achieve impressive and rapid economic growth, remain unaffected by global economic slowdown and survive the negative impact of globalisation.

What Mr. Karim would recommend for Kerala was the Chinese model of generating wealth. Wealth generation was not anathema to political parties though communists like him would not like ownership of institutions that generated wealth to be concentrated in the hands of a few private agencies or individuals. Private enterprises would have to be allowed for wealth generation, he said.

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