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on record ‘Our proactive stance will bring in industry’ —Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, Punjab Punjab has realised that the path for its growth lies in industrialisation and it cannot remain an agrarian economy. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also holds the charge of department of investment promotion, has taken a proactive approach and is wooing top business houses in the country.
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on record —Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, Punjab
Punjab
has realised that the path for its growth lies in industrialisation and it cannot remain an agrarian economy. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also holds the charge of department of investment promotion, has taken a proactive approach and is wooing top business houses in the country. For this purpose, he has designed a new industrial policy, with a plethora of fiscal concessions, and focus on providing the ease of doing business in the state. The infrastructure ecosystem is in place, with the state offering assured power supply, good road and air connectivity and a readily employable workforce. The state is all set for the Progressive Punjab Investors Summit on December 9-10. Excerpts: What is Punjab’s USP as an investment destination vis-a-vis its tax exempt neighbouring hill states and Haryana, which enjoys proximity to the National Capital? Are there specific sectors you are seeking investment in? We are looking at investors in each and every sector, though the aim is to get investment in sectors where we have inherent strengths. Due to good IT professionals, we are looking at investment in the IT and knowledge industry. Textile has been our forte, and we are targeting textile industry in a big way, especially as Punjab offers raw material in the form of cotton. Being an agrarian state with high agriculture productivity, we are also looking at investment in the agro-processing sector. The other areas where we are aggressively pursuing investors are healthcare, education and tourism industry. Punjab has had an uneasy equation with industry, with several projects being scrapped after governance changed hands. Why would the same industrialists, like Reliance whose farm-to-fork project was scrapped, come back to the state? Without going into the history, let me tell you that the seriousness of the state to seek investment can be gauged from the fact that the top brass of the state, led by me, is personally going to these industrial houses to seek investment. We are telling industrialists about the fiscal concessions offered, excellent law and order situation and advantage of the land route for trade with Pakistan, via Wagah border. It is this proactive approach by the government and scope for seeking a much bigger market in West Asia by basing themselves in Punjab that industry is sure to invest here. The single-point clearance for all new projects by the Investment Promotion Bureau, where an officer will be delegated with powers to clear a proposal in 10-15 days, is unique to the state and an added attraction for industry that believes time saved is money saved. Investors have been apprehensive about changes in the government’s tax regime, especially payment of advance tax. What is your take on the issue? There is no apprehension in industry about the advance tax. The entire issue is politically motivated. Advance tax is not an additional tax, we are just asking traders and industry to pay VAT in advance. In case the sale of goods is not affected, it can be refunded. In fact, several initiatives by the excise and taxation department to bring more transparency like self assessment and star rating of industry, too, has been well appreciated by potential investors. What are the steps being initiated to ensure that the investment is not concentrated near Chandigarh alone but is spread across the state? We are offering fiscal concessions to industry coming up in all industrial focal points and industrial parks across the state. For the IT sector, we are offering land at concessional rates across Punjab. Other than the Software Technology Park at Mohali, we are setting up another one at Amritsar, besides seeking the Central Government’s help to set up these parks at Ludhiana and Jalandhar. The textile industry will be encouraged to set up units in the Malwa region, where cotton is readily available as a raw material. In the new policy, the less developed industrial districts have been offered higher incentives as compared to relatively more developed districts. While the emphasis is on promoting fresh incentives, industry here rues that it has been ignored. Fiscal concessions in the new industrial policy are not restricted to new investors alone. We are also extending these incentives to the existing industry which decides to expand its operations by investing over Rs 1 crore. Any new policy that comes into force is aimed at the promotion of new industrial development only. Let me reassure that the state is committed to protecting the interests of its existing industry. Is there a bias towards big industrial houses, rather than promoting small and medium businesses or startups? No, there is no such bias. We realise that SMEs and startups are the real engines of growth and we aim to encourage this sector in a big way. There is an apprehension that land is being offered to big industrial houses at much cheaper rates. This is not true. We are offering land to smaller companies with a payment schedule spread over several years. What is the investment that the state is seeking from the Progressive Punjab Investment Summit? I would not like to quote any figure on this, but we are expecting to sign many MoUs during the summit. The meet has created a positive buzz in the business community in India as well as abroad and we are expecting companies from the US, France and China not only to participate, but also to invest in Punjab.
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good news
Talent
works and genius creates. Every person is born with talent and given the right guidance he or she can have the potential to become a genius. This as motivation, the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) is promoting tennis not only in Chandigarh, but the entire region. With the aim of providing the best ‘tennis star’ to the nation, the CLTA initiated its dream project to find the best talent and nurture players through its Chandigarh Academy for Rural Tennis (CHART) programme since 1988. The programme is among the best for children of rural areas. Under the programme, a player is selected through a proper screening procedure. The expert panel of coaches and technical staff members visit various schools in rural areas and select children. The panel covers Haryana, Punjab, Uttaranchal and Jammu and Kashmir. Every two years, new talent is enrolled under the programme. At the final stage of selection in Chandigarh, boys and girls are assessed for their aptitude for the game with exercises that reveal their hand-eye coordination and ball sense. After the selection, they are adopted by the CLTA. Their daily schedule includes training and physical and mental conditioning. All this happens under the guidance of professional coaches working round the clock. The passion All through the year, board and lodging of players is taken care of by the CLTA, with no aid from any government institution. The players are provided with playing kits, school admission, meals, touring expenses for competitions and the experience to learn some fine tennis with international quality of coaching. The programme has produced players like Sunil Kumar, India’s senior national champion at age 16, Robin Dhingra, Asian Junior Champion, and Vijayant Malik, current Davis Cup player. In the junior circuit, Prinkle Singh is making her presence felt. The CLTA provides facilities like multipurpose complex, synthetic tennis courts, gymnasium hall, physiotherapy, hostels, changing rooms and world-class coaching. The campus has 12 synthetic and clay courts, six of which have floodlights, with four smaller courts for the youngest group of children in the age group of 4-7 years. “The main aim is to provide the best environment for players. In India, rural areas are full of talent. People are not aware of tennis in those areas and that is where we come in. Our panel finds the right talent. Over the years, we have produced many players. Not only players but trainees from CHART programme are making their name in the tennis world. In 2005, we had a group from an Army background. In 2009, we had players from Punjab and Haryana. And everyone from that batch is performing very well. We are providing them a chance to shine. We have the passion and are working towards it day and night,” says Gajendra Singh, director coaching and development, CLTA. Behind the scene Rajan Kashyap, a retired IAS officer and patron-in-chief of the CLTA is the founder of CHART. “The larger the base, better are the chances to produce the best. With this vision, I introduced the programme in 1988. Being a tennis player, I was aware of the problems faced by the middle-class or people from weak financial background in adopting this game. Tennis is not easy on the pocket. When I was working with the government, I asked all districts heads to shortlist players in the 9 to 11 years age bracket on the basis of fitness. “Around 40 children, with no knowledge of tennis, were shortlisted. Many stayed back to continue the game while some returned to their villages. Gradually, everything fell into place. Now we have many excellent players under the programme. About 15 of them are being sponsored by the Haryana Government, but the basic requirements are taken care of by the CLTA. As a team, we are working round the clock to improve their game,” he says. “We have requested the Chandigarh Police and Punjab Government to send in their talented children and sponsor them. The Tribune group has also decided to sponsor two children of its employees under the programme. We would like industry to sponsor the talent. Out of 100 CHART trainees, at least 15 are well settled in international and national circuit,” he adds. Spain calling The programme got international attention during the Davis Cup ties held in Chandigarh earlier this year. Spanish referee Javier Sansierra was impressed with the functioning and concept of the programme and within six months, the CLTA signed a protocol with its Spanish counterpart, Madrid Tennis Foundation, with a view to improving the quality of tennis in the region. Twice a year, international coaches from Spain take classes of local CHART trainees and invite them to play tournaments in Madrid. In happy space “We are very happy to be part of this programme. The most important thing is that despite being an amateur, we are treated like professional players. A lot of coaching, conditioning and guidance goes into improving our game,” say players Naresh and Shashikant. Trainees and players want to achieve new heights through the programme. “This is the most amazing place for learning the game. Tennis asks for more time, technique and individual attention. That is what, we are getting here,” say Rohit and Bhupinder. The expenses of a player come to about Rs 25,000 every month. “No one from our family has played tennis, but we are lucky to have gotten the chance,” say Krishna and Anil.
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Mamata Banerjee, west bengal chief minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Pak ex-foreign minister Sudhir Mishra, filmmaker
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Punjab has built the best infrastructure possible, with assured power supply, good road and air connectivity through international airports at Amritsar and Mohali. No other state can offer such infrastructure to industry. This, coupled with the fact that we have a good telecommunications network and readily employable skilled workforce, makes Punjab the best destination to invest. The NCR region in Haryana and Tier-1 cities have become saturated and industry, especially the service industry, is looking at other places to expand. Unlike some other states, Punjab has no problems of labour unrest, making it an obvious choice for investors. 
It is very important to attend proceedings of the Assembly or Parliament. These are important platforms to learn and discuss. I was an MP for seven years and I used to attend the proceedings every day like a student. 
As I was going back from Delhi to Lahore by road, I decided to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. No visit to Amritsar is complete without a visit to the holy shrine, which is a symbol of humanity.
Where do we look for the Bollywood heroine mostly? Not in drama schools, theatre groups or in auditions but in beauty pageants. About 40% Indian cinema is soft porn and the other 40% pure corn. Thank God for the 20%!