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PM sets up eight panels to tone up the economy

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today constituted eight new special groups under the Council on Trade and Industry consisting of captains of industry to give renewed thrust to these areas.

Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the first meeting of the council after the general elections, secretary in Prime Minister's Office, N K Singh, told newsmen that the groups were expected to submit their reports in the next four months.

He was accompanied by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry G P Goenka and CII president Rahul Bajaj.

N R Narayana Murthy and K K Birla will head the group on fostering good governance in private sector.

Mukesh Ambani and A C Muttaiah will lead the group on policy framework on private investment in education and health.

The group led by Rahul Bajaj and N Sreenivasan will head the group on strategy for a reconvened World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting. G P Goenka and Rajiv Chandrashekhar will be part of the group to advise on disinvestment.

Group for the substituting regulation and procedures and into the areas of revival of traditional industries would have Ratan Tata and Nusli Wadia while the group on avoiding pitfalls of globalisation would consist of Rahul Bajaj and Sanjiv Goenka.

The power sector group would be headed by G P Goenka. Mukesh Ambani would lead the group on harnessing wealth and talent.

Vajpayee also decided to reconstitute the Implementation Review Committee consisting of Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Industry and Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran and deputy chairman of planning commission K C Pant.

The committee will advise the government on the implementation of earlier specialised groups. These reports were regarding food and agro industries management policy, infrastructure, capital markets, knowledge-based industries, service industries and administrative and legal simplifications.

Bajaj said it was necessary to build up core sector industries such as steel and cement which had not been doing well due to structural problems. While technology was developing fast in the world, Indian industry had not been able to keep pace. The group on tradition and industries would go into all such industries as growth in information technology and other knowledge-based industries was not sufficient to earn sufficient foreign exchange.

It is important to rejuvenate certain sunset industries in the national interest because actual production was required even to conduct Internet trade and e-commerce.

To a question on role the group will play with regard to private investment in health, drinking water and education, Goenka said much larger investments were needed in addition to government investment in these sectors. The private sector had to step in to supplement large investment, he added.

Vajpayee said every credible report suggests a strong recovery in the economy. The data for growth in a large number of manufacturing and services sectors tend to confirm this.

He said President K R Narayanan's address to both houses of Parliament represents the broad agenda of economic and social reforms of the government. What is necessary is to ensure implementation. ''I would certainly like to give careful consideration to the issues of implementation and accountability. This must become the hallmark for assessing the success of our reforms strategy,'' he said.

UNI

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