PR Ramesh story in Economic times, 'Govt has no business to be in Business', may not be digested to many in political circles but ask any industrialist and he would agree with what Mr. Narendra Gujarat Modi has said. These industrialists have either run away from few chosen states or have become sick of waiting for permissions from the Govt. No one wants to go West Bengal, Karnataka, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh for that matter at any cost.
Ask TATA who had to take is auto like car from West Bengal to Gujarat. Or for that matter Reliance who had to sell vegetables any where but Uttar Pradesh. Look at Maruti who left Haryana for Gujarat again.
Worse, ask companies like POSCO who is still struggling to understand what went wrong. On the other hand Vedanta's venture in lanjigarh stopped before it was to take off. Both have already spent together about 100,000 crore.
Like Gujarat, Bihar has become quite a significant destination for industries. And why not, the boundaries of the State remained the same only the leadership changed or I should say retained.
Mr. Modi, the kind of open policies you have given in Gujarat is worth commendation. Where newspapers are talking and taking bites of people about the GDP, inflation, agriculture and corruption; you are quietly working towards growth story of Gujarat. Mr. Nitish too is busy in his state and least bothered about what the country is upto.
Gentlemen, please give some sense to CMs who should know what industries mean to a State. No objective of any Plan can be achieved, whether 5 year of 20 year, if you annoy industries.
Bheja Fry is referring to a story today by Kaushik Datta on predictable GDP - 7%, again in Economic Times. Do we ever get the GDP figures State wise published in national dailies also highlighting the reasons why a particular state is doing good or bad ? Why is it that few states remain always in limelight for wrong reasons ?
Mr. Naveen Patnaik must be tired of listening to Activists, NGOs, Industries, MOEF, Coal Ministry, Mine Ministry, Power Ministry, you name it and he will say yes. My office has become worse than assembly. Similars are the states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal or Karnataka, where no industry wants to give it a try.
When suddenly you see a government company like NALCO moving to set-up bauxite plant in Gujarat it gives you a surprise. NALCO which already has a plant in Orissa is moving from Orissa and setting up another plant in Gujarat ? Why ? I believe Orissa has abundance of bauxite and that also good quality and it would have been advisable for the company to put-up another plant in Orissa itself. Coal, power and water is also not the issue in Orissa, but then why NALCO decided to venture in Gujarat?
The answer remains in leadership. On one hand where Orissa has become a heaven for NGOs and activists, the states like Gujarat or Bihar have become `friendly states' where no NGO or Activists would dare to venture.
Who lost ? Only the industries lost, development lost, people lost and more so the country lost the opportunity to provide resources to people.
Who gained ? No one actually, but if Bheja Fry is forced to say, then this brought a lot of content writing for media, so media gained, their TRP and circulation added and further some people became famous for all the wrong reasons.
Bheja Fry feels something should be done to bring sense to ailing states who are not only blocking the GDP of India but also killing opportunities for employment, development and India's growth story.