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Saturday,
May 17, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Chalta hai
attitude Lure the
NRIs Madam,
it’s murder |
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Reforming
the Security Council
Beating
the weather blues
The
great thematic melting pot Creating
jobs: a roadmap for Himachal It’s a
govt job or no job
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Chalta hai attitude The fire in the three coaches of the Frontier Mail near Ludhiana on Thursday once again highlights the woeful lack of safety measures in the Indian Railways. Unfortunately, though train accidents have been on the rise in recent times, the authorities have failed to tighten safety. Mr H.C.Gupta, the Railway Board Member (Safety), quoting preliminary investigation sources, has said that the fire was caused by a stove that burst. Even though one has to await a detailed inquiry by the Commissioner of Railway Safety to know the exact cause of the fire, the incident raises a volley of questions. Who is to be blamed if there was a violation of the well-established rule prohibiting the use of stoves in the train and why was it not nipped in the bud? Who is to be blamed if one cannot make use of the emergency exits in the coaches? Who is to be blamed if even reserved sleeper coaches are overcrowded? And who is to be blamed if the exit points in the coaches are blocked with luggage? The Ludhiana incident proves that there was total collapse of authority and responsibility on the part of the officers concerned. A train ticket examiner, for instance, is not just a ticket collector. He is also expected to help passengers in times of distress. The fact that all the TTEs were absent in the affected coaches is indeed surprising. In fact, what is amazing is that all this was happening right under the nose of the Chief Operations Manager of the Northern Railway, Mr L.R. Luthra, who was travelling in the same train! Surely, the fire could have been prevented and the toll checked if only the TTEs were alert and performing their duties faithfully. This, however, does not absolve the divisional, zonal or Railway Board officers of blame. One does not expect them to monitor the movement of each and every train round the clock. But they can at least assess the performance of their staff deployed in all the stations and trains regularly and examine whether there is any laxity on their part in following the safety measures from time to time. Sadly, sloth and insensitivity are ruling the roost in the railway administration even as accountability has taken a back seat. Passengers are, no doubt, responsible for violating rules like smoking or carrying inflammable articles in the train. But these violations occur because of a chalta hai attitude and, more important, lack of checks by the officers. Another glaring inadequacy in the railways is the absence of a crisis management team to handle emergencies. After the Kolkata-New Delhi Rajdhani Express accident last September, such a team was set up. The manner in which the railway officers had handled the Ludhiana incident proves that teams such as this remain only on paper. The relatives of the victims had a harrowing experience when they found it difficult to get information about the fate of their relatives. Why were some of the hotlines not working during those crucial hours? Is it so difficult for the railway officials — either in Delhi, Mumbai, Amritsar or Ludhiana — to provide information to people about the passengers, particularly when they have an excellent all-India reservation system? |
Lure the NRIs There are some 1.8 million people of Indian origin residing in the US of whom at least two lakh are millionaires and their median income is $60,000 compared to the national US average of $38,885. According to a Merrill Lynch survey conducted in 2000 when the technology bubble had not yet burst, the Indians constituted the richest expatriate community in the US. That is an achievement worth feeling proud of. And that leads one to the commonly asked question: if they can make it there, what prevents them from doing it at home? Blame it either on the push factor -- frustrating systemic hurdles forcing promising youth with dreams to flee the country in disgust -- or on the pull factor, that is, the lure of the Western society and its social and economic trappings. Quite widely admired is the Western work culture that rewards merit and helps an individual translate his dream into reality. Credit must also be given to the islands of excellence within the country -- well-run, low-cost schools, colleges, universities and IITs -- thriving largely because of individual efforts. There is a good number of less skilled or less educated Indians among the expatriates making it big by their sheer grit and hard work. To express their sense of gratitude to the country of their birth, many of these Indian millionaires want to pay back in one way or another. But there are not enough reliable channels for encouraging and properly using NRI remittances, as they do in China. So widespread is the red-tape and corruption that during their dealings with officials and politicians their genuine desire to help out their less fortunate countrymen gets replaced by a sense of indignation and outrage at the deteriorating state of affairs. Some of them still take up welfare projects, particularly in their own villages or towns. Despite granting dual citizenship and a few other facilities, the administration, by and large, does not treat this vibrant community with respect. Their harassment and loot start right at the airport. The law-breakers as well as the law abiding are treated equally with contempt by official agencies. One can only cheer the success of the NRIs with a feeling of regret that if only the country could make a better use of their talent, expertise and resources. |
Madam, it’s murder The high-profile Madhumita Shukla murder case of Lucknow is getting curiouser and
curiouser. Instead of arresting the main suspect, who happens to be a BSP minister, the entire might of the state seems to have been employed to wipe out the tell-tale evidence against him. Come to think of it, Chief Minister Mayawati never tires of saying that she is opposed to criminals taking part in politics. Her Minister of State for Stamps and Stationery Amar Mani Tripathi reportedly had close contacts with the Hindi poetess from Lakhimpur whose sister Nidhi initially accused the minister’s wife Madhumani of getting her murdered. But after that she has had to clam up. That is not all. One cellphone seized by the police from the house of the victim later ended up with the minister. Several diaries that carried important information and were last seen with the police have also mysteriously vanished. Miss Shukla was pregnant at the time of her murder and yet the policemen who took the initiative for a DNA test on her foetus have been given a dressing down by the powers that be, instead of commendation. What is worse, two constables reportedly broke into Madhumita’s house in Paper Mill Colony on Wednesday night and left with a black bag when challenged by neighbours. It is obvious that no stone is being left unturned to get the controversial minister off the hook. Even the appeal to hand over the enquiry to the CBI has been rebuffed. All this shows how clean an administration the Dalit champion has been providing. Mr Tripathi has had a colourful past. He was dropped from the Council of Ministers by former Chief Minister Rajnath Singh following exposure of his alleged involvement in a case of kidnapping for ransom. That was just one of many similar entries in his long history-sheet. Yet, he found a safe haven in the
BSP. Before the incriminating evidence in the murder case started disappearing, it was given out even by the police that the late Madhumita Shukla had travelled with him to places like Mumbai as his ‘wife’. In the light of such allegations, Ms Mayawati will be protecting her favourite colleague at her own peril. The dirt has hit the fan and by trying to sweep it under the carpet, she will only be discrediting herself. Just as a man is known by the company he keeps, a Chief Minister is known by the ministers he or she keeps. Mr Tripathi has proved to be a liability. Ironically, there are many more. |
Reforming the Security Council India, Japan and Indonesia will be bidding for permanent seats in the Security Council when the United Nations attempts later this month to revive the ailing global peacemaker with an infusion of new blood. Whether the UN’s most elite club will be revived at all in this manner is, however, a moot question. There are not a few analysts who have expressed the view that like its predecessor, the League of Nations, the UN is dying a “natural death” and it is not necessary to revive it, because its irrelevance in post-Cold War international relations is for everyone to see. Anyway, as many as nine more countries could be elevated to the most elite diplomatic forum, alongside the US, Russia, China, Britain and France, if the UN’s fractious body of 191 members can decide which are the most deserving. But they are unlikely to get the opportunity. The Security Council has been so discredited by the split over Iraq and its culture of insularity that there is a strong movement to put the membership issue aside until a more transparent formula can be worked out. However, it must be borne in mind that to work out a unanimous transparent formula at this juncture will not be an easy job. Secretary-General Kofi Annan acknowledged in a recent statement that the long-mooted reform would only move forward when the General Assembly was prepared to look at the broad picture. “I suspect it will take several more years before the UN can find a solution. It is rather complicated and contentious issue,” he said with an evident understatement. But he was absolutely right when he pointed out that reforming the Security Council at this juncture will, for all practical purposes, serve no useful purpose. There have already been 10 years of debate on the Council’s failings, with even the Big Five accepting that the current elitist structure, a legacy of World War II and Cold War geopolitics, must change. Although the UN’s membership has nearly quadrupled since its formation in 1945, the Security Council’s strength has grown by only one permanent seat and four rotational positions. While the permanent composition might have reflected the balance of political and economic power in the post-war reconstruction period, especially after the 1960s inclusion of China, this is no longer the case. Europe has lost its mantle as the world’s economic powerhouse, yet it has three of the permanent seats and three rotational positions. Asia and North America have only one permanent seat each, while Africa and Latin America have none. Three rotational seats are allocated to Africa, two each to Asia, Latin America and Western Europe, and one to Eastern Europe. Each is occupied for a two-year period. Regional power-brokers such as India, Germany and Brazil have a strong influence on strategic conditions, but have limited input on Council resolutions. Japan, the world’s second biggest economy, also sits on the sidelines. “The general impression that the Security Council applies different standards to conflicts in different parts of the world must not be allowed to become a general conviction,” Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Shamshad Ahmad charged during the last reforms debate in 2001. Russia used its veto power to quell the debate on the offensive against Chechnya two years ago, while other Big Five members have been able to keep the lid on such diverse conflicts as the Falkland Islands war, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and Muslim separatism in China. Marginalised Asian and African countries may believe that the Council is selectively implementing resolutions, but they can’t be sure because they are not privy to the body’s inner workings. Although it is supposed to be the law-making forum, the General Assembly often learns of resolutions only when they are instituted, without the benefit of briefing papers or direct consultation. Some are no longer willing to play along. Compliance with recent Council resolutions on anti-terrorism measures, including tighter checks for the laundering of criminal assets, has been noticeably muted, indicating that some Assembly blocs no longer recognise its authority. Japan, a strong advocate of reform, has hinted that it may not fully comply with the terrorism decrees unless it gets a permanent Council seat. Although Tokyo’s ability to withstand sustained US diplomatic pressure is doubtful, its stance nonetheless illustrates the depth of feeling on the issue. Under Japan’s 2001 General Assembly resolution, the number of permanent seats would be expanded to 10, and another four temporary positions created, taking the total Council strength to 24. Three of the permanent seats would go to developing countries from the Asian, African and Latin American regions while the others would be reserved for industrialised countries. Washington backed this formula in 2001, but has taken a harder line under the conservative administration of President George W. Bush. Like the other permanent members, it believes the Council will be too unwieldy and unable to react swiftly to international crises. One possible solution, floated by Australia, for the addition of a third tier of membership will raise the profile of marginalised regions, especially in the developing world. There will be five permanent seats with veto power, five new permanent seats without veto and five rotating members that will also lack privilege. “The five permanent non-veto members would be, say, Japan, India, Brazil, Germany and Indonesia, an Islamic country,” said Prime Minister John Howard, who is expected to raise the issue during talks with President Bush later this month. Japan’s bid for a seat has solid backing from Washington, France and Britain. India is likely to be sponsored by Britain and Russia, while Indonesia can expect a sympathetic hearing from the Muslim world. But it is unlikely that the powerful General Assembly delegations from Africa and Latin America will agree to three of the five new permanent seats going to Asia, even if they do accept the status quo on veto rights. Australia’s outline also fails to address the central issue of whether the Council can still function under the same rules in the aftermath of the Iraqi standoff, when Washington and London chose to attack Iraq without a Council mandate. Another litmus test will come as the US strives to enlist the Council’s support for a draft resolutions on the reconstruction of Iraq that are certain to attract veto from Russia and probably also China. “It has taken 10 years to get to this point because these are weighty questions. Do we want to throw the baby out with the bath water by ‘democratising’ the P5 arrangement to the point where it can function as envisaged by the post-War generation?” said a diplomat from a European country with a Security Council seat. “Can we maintain the effectiveness of P5 with a regional membership criteria, or are we prepared to sacrifice our responsiveness in the interest of equitability? We have to strike the right balance, but it is anyone’s guess at this point what that will be,” he pointed
out. The writer, an Emeritus Fellow, UGC, specialises on international affairs. |
Beating the weather blues What do I look for first of all in my daily newspaper? Not the latest result of any cricket match. Not which Pakistani cricketer hit whom during the football match. Not what a battery of former famous cricketers write in their columns. The excerpts from Pakistani newspaper editorials demanding dropping of the “old wheezy horses” from the cricket team also don’t attract my watery eyes. I dart my dim eyes to left hand top of the Chandigarh Tribune to scan the weather and Outlook For Today. What appears there sets my mood for the day. If it reads “partly cloudy” my mental horizon gets cloudy too. If it says “possibility of rain” my mood gets drenched in anticipation. I am in high and honourable company. Composer Cherubini, one stormy day, said to a visitor: “You see that black cloud coming up? When it passes over my head, it will make me suffer agonies!” All of us are influenced by weather. The interesting thing is that the same weather conditions affect different people in different ways. They may stimulate and excite the sensitive nature of one person, while relaxing those of another. They may be depressing the spirits of yet others. The man in the house is angry, irritable and dissatisfied with breakfast. Maybe his system is in alarm because the barometer has been falling since early morning. Atmospheric conditions cause a sickness called bad temper. A housewife gets a bout of sneezing, another a running nose, and yet another a severe headache. One irate mother flies into a temper because her son has forgotten to take his tiffin to school. The boy too has been affected by foul weather! One reason your umbrella is resting at home when you are caught in a shower is that you are more forgetful on low-pressure days. You are more absent-minded when the barometer goes down. Traffic accidents soar on falling barometer days. Efficiency decreases when the barometer plunges. Many students wake up despising everything — their classes included. Absenteeism rises when the barometer pressure is low. Some teachers do come to the class but let the students off after roll call. Why? Because the mood is as murky as the weather outside. What can you do if you are sensitive to weather changes and dependent on the rising or falling barometer? The most important is to recognise the influence of the weather on mood and temper, on work habits and health. Human relationship everywhere would be more peaceful and unruffled if people would only realise the effect of weather on their dispositions and make proper allowance for flare-ups. Before you feel about your restlessness or fume over your boss’s foul tongue, you should realise that the weather may be playing its invisible tricks upon them as well. Has a cold spell come? Is the air smoky, or is there a depression which you cannot help feeling on gloomy days? Understanding of these factors will take much of the tension out of life on low days. It will bring you relief, and prevent black crows cawing on emotional and mental horizon. Avoid brandy and honey. It will not cure black mood though you may start enjoying your dark depression! A strong cup of coffee may give some relief from the unpleasant feeling of anxiety on blue days. You find out yourself what is good for you. A South African newspaper half-humorously suggested to the host team “go and drown in beer”, which it claimed, is the best thing to dispel depression. My remedy is simple and costs nothing: go out and sit in the mild sun, flowers around you, for an hour. All in all, fine fettle like fine weather, is best for the spring in your step and lark in the heart. |
The great thematic melting pot While the news channels, new and old, are engaged in a fierce competition, the everpresent serial war rages on, as ever and on its own. As in the Indian cinema, certain themes have remained constant on TV, and the present war is about up-dating themes to keep up with contemporary reality beyond the saas-bahu ad nauseum rat race. As in the Indian cinema, religion has been one of the mainstays, going well beyond just popularity (even professors watched them) of the Mahabharat and
Ramayan. In fact, some time ago it was revealed that both epics had a steady viewership in Pakistan, where the epics were accepted as the age-old and universal fight between good and evil and not necessarily Hindu epics. Both serials have also aroused interest in South Asia and even beyond in Japan. Now these epics are bolstered by single episodes from religious sagas. And to reinforce the religious element in TV we also have 24-hour religious channels in their own right. And some channels such as Zee, become almost unrecognisable in the small hours as a variety of religious evangelists, including African-Americans with frightening and thunderous oratory, tell sinners
exactly why and how they are headed for hell and what exactly will happen to them when they get there. And of course we have our own maharishis and regular preachers reminding us of our religious duties, surrounded by devotees who listen, chat and sing with unquestioning faith and fill the small screen with reverence and awe. The next most popular themes have been from the beginning with two great sagas on DD, of Partition and its aftermath, followed by Govind Nihalani and other cinema directors tackling that highly important theme with intelligence and understanding. War has been another concomitant, and what Chetan Anand and others have done in the cinema is now being followed up on the small screen right down to
Kargil, with Pakistan and militancy being brought in politically slanted serials which are a combination of news commentary and patriotic propaganda. Then we come to the domestic themes, some as fanciful as the worst of commercial cinema but with an avid suburban female audience who will find time in the middle of their domestic chores as well as kitty parties to lap up soaps from afternoon to midnight. The KKK saas-bahu serials hardly need either critical analysis or plain recap of plots so completely did they take over overwhelmed audiences, who can overlook women at home coming straight out of beauty parlours and in glamorous saris no matter what the time of day or the situation. These serials obviously had their inspiration from the earliest days of Star TV and what one enthusiastic housewife rather aptly Indianized as Shanti Barbara. I think Shanti Barbara revolutionised the serial genre in India and lives on gloriously whether it is a Shobha De product or a less internationally famous writer. Kittie Party, Lipstick etc, march on and allow thousands of suburban housewives to lead a surrogate spicy existence by proxy. However, there are emancipated producer-director-actresses like Nina Gupta who have made brave attempts to show modern domestic situations, at least in urban settings, with a semblance of realism. I have in all these years (and I admit I am not a typical viewer but a discriminating one) found two serials worth watching in the sense that I felt frustrated if I missed an episode due to circumstances beyond one’s control. One was Saans which is deservedly revived off and on and the other is Astitva ek Prem
Kahani. Saans although it was unnecessarily dragged towards the end and allegedly against Nina Gupta’s instincts, was a credible plot about an emancipated wife and her erring husband and how it affects the family, particularly the children. Then in tackling the more unusual (for the Indian screen, that is) theme of an older woman doctor marrying a young photographer and the viewpoints which emerge from both the parents in varying degrees of traditionalism and the younger and more understanding generation of younger family members and professionals gives a touch of realism which lends credibility to the plots. The highly professional acting in both serials gave them a better status than the sob-stuff elsewhere. Another producer deserving kudos in this modern woman genre is Kavita
Choudhury, whether she depicts a woman police officer or a woman wrongly arrested for murder. While such serials punctuate the very soapy Indian TV scene, there is hope yet for viewers who wish to retain some basic respect for serials. TAILPIECE: I shall end with a pat on the back for two TV performers. One to Swati Maheshwari from Chandigarh and environs who always does a splendid job of reporting — a potential award winner. And Darain Shahidi of ESPN who has lifted sports anchoring in Hindi to great heights both his language and linking being of the highest quality.
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Creating
jobs: a roadmap for Himachal In their recently published book “India: Development and Participation”, Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen have showered fulsome praise on Himachal Pradesh for its achievements in areas like “schooling revolution”, “rapid demographic transition from high to low mortality and fertility rates”, a “fairly prosperous rural economy”, the government’s high priority to development of “social infrastructure in rural area”, and so on. Their detailed analysis clearly brings out this state’s “remarkable progress” in terms of basic social indicators vis-a-vis most other states. While Himachal’s “schooling revolution” emerges as its crowning glory, Dreze and Sen, however, note that “the other side of the coin of mass schooling in Himachal Pradesh is a high level of educated unemployment”. This state’s performance in the matter of creation of a creditable educational infrastructure marks an ironic contrast with failure to activate commensurate processes of economic growth and employment generation. The government policy-makers should have thought through the processes which would help in the absorption of the products of this expanding educational infrastructure. This unfortunate phenomenon of rising and high level of unemployment among Himachal’s youth clearly emerges. For instance, the employment exchange data show that the number of persons on the live register of these exchanges has nearly doubled during the 1990s. This number was a huge 9. 11 lakh at the beginning of the year 2002. For a total population of about 61 lakh and a roughly estimated labour force of around 35 lakh (i.e. those who fall in the age group of 15-59 years), those on the live register of the employment exchanges form a significant proportion. There is an additional dimension to the employment problem generally observed in the state these days. In the absence of suitable jobs, educated young people pick up any work that will provide them means of sustenance, pending appropriate work coming their way. This phenomenon of underemployment adds to the severity of the unemployment situation in the state. Lack of work for the youth leads to frustration among them and is a clear case of human waste. At the same time, this latent resource presents a huge opportunity of converting it into a healthy rate of economic growth. The political party, which has been catapulted to power in recent elections by the people, most of them being these expectant youth, should goad the new government to do something really substantial for employment generation; that too speedily. Failing that, the dwindling political support and alienation of voters would be the price it will have to pay very soon. What should the government do in this regard? In order to identify the avenues of employment that are latent in the sprawling non-government sector, the government should bring together the NGOs, academics, bankers and public policy-makers to prepare an operational plan of employment generation. The plan should aim at creating an appropriate economic and administrative mechanism for setting up a large number of micro-enterprises by the unemployed youth with potential for self-employment and wage employment. One might suggest that a three-tiered exercise of employment creation would be useful. In the first place, areas of gainful work should be identified for the skilled and technically qualified persons. The potential areas needing a look into in this respect are the sub-sectors like information technology, biotechnology, high value horticulture, commercial dairy farming, farming of herbs, mini manufacturing enterprises, realtory business, etc. The second category of employment generation should be for those youth who possess non-technical qualifications like arts graduates and postgraduates. Employment opportunities for them may be explored in areas like tourism, catering, transportation, trade and commerce, organised marketing, teaching and coaching, printing, publishing, journalism and so on. Finally, there are the illiterate, semi-literate and semi-skilled category of workers seeking employment. Work for them can be generated through acceleration of general economic activity, and more particularly through the promotion of micro-enterprises by the former two categories of persons. These enterprises would create low skill jobs for them as helpers and assistants. Further, the government should adopt an enabling policy programme for actual effectuation of employment generation. This programme would have to inter alia consist of construction of village link roads, development of marketing networks, and forging of hassle-free linkages between bank credit and the micro-enterprises already set up or ready to be set up. Above all, the government, as a facilitator of these new self-employment activities will need to, by and large, get out of the way of these fledgling entrepreneurs, since government regulations, sanctions and permissions have traditionally played a negative and inhibiting role in setting up businesses in the private sector through harassment, unnecessary delays and demands of illegal gratifications. These regulations need to be restructured so as to make them least irksome and thoroughly people-friendly. Employment generation on a large scale would benefit the political party in power through the creation of vote banks among youth and their families. More importantly, the macro-economy of the state would have succeeded in evolving a system of broad-based and participatory economic growth. But all this will require vision and commitment on the part of the ruling elite to first formulate the right mix of policies and then to implement them with expedition and strong resolve. Will the state government rise to the occasion? That is the crucial question. The writer is a former Head of the Economics Department of HP University, Shimla. |
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It’s a govt job or no job Unemployment is the bane of the hills. The difficult topography restricts the potential for economic growth, which is the key to the creation of employment opportunities. There is limited scope for industrialisation and small land-holdings make agriculture an uneconomical proposition. In Himachal Pradesh unemployment has been increasing at an alarming rate and the issue has been prominently figuring in the election agenda of all political parties for the past one decade. The number of the unemployed on the live registers have doubled from 4.84 lakh in 1993 to 9.60 lakh in 2003. Thus, the unemployed persons constitute almost 16 per cent of the state’s total population of 61 lakh. This is despite the fact that the level of government employment in the tiny hill state is the highest in the country. Over 6 per cent of the population is in government employment. In case of other states the level of government employment is hardly 1 to 2 per cent. In fact, the 2.40 lakh employees are far too many for a small state like Himachal. This is because there are no other avenues of employment. With the successive regimes using government employment as the sole instrument for satisfying the aspirations of the people, the fund-starved state today has the highest ratio of government employees to the population. As the employees are the highest paid in the country, the unwieldy government machinery is proving to be a big drain on the exchequer of the fund-starved state, leaving hardly any resources for investing in employment generation programmes. In fact, the government has been resorting to market borrowing to pay the salaries. The annual income of the state is only about Rs 1,000 crore, whereas its committed liabilities on account of the wage bill, interest on loans and pensions total about Rs 4,000 crore. The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that against a monthly outflow of over Rs 450 crore the receipts, including central assistance, amount to about 200 crore. The government has been raising loans to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore every year to make both ends meet. With the level of government employment already past the saturation point, limited scope for industrialisation, an underdeveloped service sector and the declining yield from the apple, providing jobs to the ten lakh unemployed persons is the greatest challenge before the government. The problem is compounded due to the fact that the educated youth are after the white -collared job. Most of the industrial units and companies engaged in the execution of power projects are forced to bring workers from outside the state. There are over 10,000 workers in Solan and Shimla districts from Chhattisgarh alone. In such a situation even industrialisation or taking up more hydel power projects may not help much in solving the problem of unemployment. Mr Sat Mahajan, Minister for Labour and Employment, is aware of the magnitude of the problem and maintains that the number of the unemployed is more than what is indicated by the live registers. It was for this reason that the Congress had made employment generation one of its main planks in the recent assembly elections. The endeavour of the government would be to create about 12 lakh jobs during 2003-08 to wipe out unemployment from the state. A three-pronged strategy has been evolved under which employment opportunities will be created in the government and self-employment sectors. Government employment will be largely confined to social infrastructure services like education and health. Promoting private investment to accelerate growth in core sectors like hydel power, industry, transport and tourism will be the key to intensive employment generation, he explains. The government has set up two committees to interact with the captains of industries and the companies engaged in the execution of hydel power projects to ensure that maximum jobs are given to the local people, he added. Further, it has been noticed that investment in the industry does not lead to employment generation in the same ratio as earlier, primarily because of the fact that a majority of new production techniques are capital intensive. The government will endeavour to promote production techniques and processes, which are labour intensive. Since the state primarily has an agrarian economy, the focus will be on schemes for integrated watershed management, strengthening of irrigation facilities, road network and other rural infrastructure. Then there are other areas like information technology and biotechnology, which offer scope for employment. Already, a separate department of biotechnology has been set up and it is working to promote commercial cultivation of medicinal plants, which grow wild in the forests, to provide gainful employment to people in villages. Although Mr Mahajan is quite optimistic about effectively handling the problem, it is not an easy proposition. The government is mostly banking on the private sector, which will make investment on its own terms. Over the last five years over 3,000 industries have closed down, providing a clear indication that the environment has not been very conducive to attract private investment. The government is hopeful that the package of incentives and concessions announced by the Centre under the new industrial policy will help in reversing the trend and accelerate the process of industrialisation.
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