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Govt, industry must work in tandem, says BJP manifesto

The Bharatiya Janata Party today held the 'Congress and quasi-Congress' regimes responsible for the two-fold increase in the number of people living below the poverty line in the last 50 years.

In its election manifesto, the party said the five decades of Congress and quasi-Congress rule have virtually been a wasted opportunity. The Indian economy grew at a mere 3.5 per cent while most of Asia raced ahead towards prosperity.

Devoting 12 pages out of 55 to making India a global economic power, the manifesto criticised the Congress for the ills facing the economy. When the party woke up to the reality of bankruptcy, it actually surrendered to the IMF conditions in the guise of correcting past wrongs.

Referring to the World Trade Organisation, the manifesto wanted the government and the industry to evolve a consensus on the time span required to enable industries to adjust to the exacting demands of international competition.

On the basis of this consensus, the government and the industry should work out a strategy to create an atmosphere of international acceptability and manage external relations, particularly with the WTO.

It cautioned that India should carefully and gradually move towards integration with global economy. The country must also act in a manner that suited national interest, the manifesto felt.

The manifesto said this strategy recognised that Indian industry needed a period of transition before it could compete with other global players. All policies of tariff reduction and lifting of quantitative restrictions would be formulated taking these facts into account. The objective would be to protect the national economy and national interests, like all countries do, and not to indulge in economic isolation.

It advocated that while formulating economic reforms, the experience of Asian nations presently under pressure would have to be taken into account. As India approaches the 21st century, the country needs to institute studies and review the reforms process and the reforms proposed, besides redefining the broad contours of national strategy for the next 10 years, the manifesto said.

Based on this appraisal, the BJP government would clearly define the contours and schedule of liberalisation and reforms. The procedural reforms like rectification of corporate law, tax law and other commercial laws would be separated from policy formulation like policy on insurance and pension funds.

As a medium-term agenda, the party aims to achieve an eight to nine per cent growth rate of the gross domestic product which would mean an annual growth rate of five per cent in agriculture, and 12 per cent in industry. The agricultural sector needed to be energised in a big way to sustain a higher growth rate.

The manifesto said a separate agenda for the non-corporate sector, accounting for 40 per cent of the GDP should be pursed to achieve sustained high growth. Recognising the neglect of proper strategy in the past, the BJP, if voted to power, would concentrate on judicious combination of infrastructure and agriculture to achieve high trajectory of growth.

The manifesto said that during the next five years, India must become a credible partner in Asia's development process and forge a relationship on equal terms with major economic powers of the world -- the United States, European Union and Japan.

For the next three years, the BJP government would strive to achieve strong macro-economic fundamentals. The administration would also resist an unrealistic fall in rupee value, moderate inflation and credit availability to industry.

The party has laid down important and priority items for the national agenda. They include formulation of a system of voluntary compliance with all direct and indirect tax obligations with test-check assessments of select cases and the need to expedite conviction of defaulters.

The party would ensure a day-to-day working relationship with Indian industry through a structured forum like MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry) in Japan.

Regretting that the private sector had not made any major contribution to the development of infrastructure, the manifesto said it would access the long-term debt market in insurance and pension funds, set up national level regulatory bodies for different areas of infrastructure, cut nonproductive expenditure, disinvest in non-strategic public sector units, reduce the size of the government, and simplify the tax laws and widen the tax base.

The BJP government would institute an effective anti-dumping machinery to prevent dumping from abroad and to prevent unfair anti-dumping action against the country. It would ensure that a climate of competition was created in the insurance sector involving Indian private sector if needed.

The government would rationalise banking sector by creating specialisation in unit banking, retail banking and commercial banking by consolidation and mergers to create global-sized banks. The party would review regulation of non-banking financial corporation and bring about an orderly growth. It does not plan 'destruction' of this important segment, the manifesto said.

To accelerate industrial policy reforms, the party assured simplification of industrial approvals, removal of restrictive controls by replacing the Industrial Development and Regulation Act by an Industrial Development Act.

The party will consider the recommendations of the Abid Hussain Committee on small-scale industrial units in the light of difficulties and apprehensions of SSI.

The manifesto promises to review the investment limit of Rs 30 million if any misuse of higher limit was found. The tiny sector would be relieved of labour laws and other legislations as they were subjected to harassment. It would also ensure a healthy capital market with the twin objectives of increasing capital investments in the corporate sector and provide protection to the investing public.

On the labour front, the manifesto says it would rationalise and simplify labour laws, recognise trade unions on the basis of secret ballots, and introduce worker participation from the shop floor to boardroom.

The party promised to evolve a national policy for tourism to provide needed infrastructure such as hotels, transport and removal of bureaucratic impediments. It would encourage pilgrimage component of tourism by ensuring cleanliness, basic facilities at centres belonging to all sects.

The party promised to develop a blueprint for water transport and allow private parties to get into inland water transport. It also promised improved roads and bridges, ports and coastal shipping and better telecommunication.

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