[India] Kalam calls for bringing number of people below poverty line to zero

from India Info Online

Inaugurating CII”s Partnership Summit, 2006 with its theme, Shaping Growth; Nurturing Development in Kolkata, the President emphasized that while the primary challenge in the country lay in uplifting 260 million Indians, who exist below the poverty line and take this number to near zero by 2020, he recommended that this be done through a network of connectivities encompassing a knowledge grid, a healthcare grid, e-governance grid and the PURA knowledge grid.

In this scheme of things, it was the small-scale industry that was a “promising candidate for becoming the CEO for managing the PURA complexes in an integrated way”, the President said. Critical leadership on the one hand while the country’s numerous partnerships at every level and across countries would form a valuable resource one that he advocated that the CII put together in the form of “Partnership Directory”.

Kalam said that professional management strategy must be based on the creativity of entrepreneurship, the civilizational heritage contained in the 5,000 years of Indian history whose lessons must be embedded into the mission mode that the country adopts to achieve economic prosperity. The President conjured the image of an utopia and provided the numbers and the road map that would enthuse the business leaders to believe that such an utopia was within reach.

This could only be possible if the country could push its growth rate from the current 7% to 10%. Even though any development would have to be propelled by the dynamics of competitiveness in terms of the quality of product that a country produces and its aggressive marketing, especially in a globalized world, the President advocated that the twin pillars that such a mission mode should rest on PURA (Provision of Urban Amenities to Rural Areas) and electronic connectivity. In this mission, he said, India would be well served by its 540mn youth, which was a big resource, provided it was ignited competently.

Its was therefore incumbent on the managers of the economy ensured that the three wings of economic activity: agriculture, manufacturing and service were invested with the ability to constantly add value to themselves so that all human endeavours in these activities could maximize the returns. This was particularly essential for the farm/rural sector where the returns were the lowest thanks to a paucity of infrastructure, application of knowledge and technology.

Only correcting this wrong through creatively led projects such as Bharat Nirman, a $35bn, four-year project covering rural electrification for 1,25,000 villagers, housing for 50 lakh poor, rural roads, rural telecom connectivity to 67,000 villages, drinking water supply to 74,000 habitations and additional irrigation of 10mn hectares and PURA that would feature 7,000 units through integrated simultaneous, connected actions, in the areas of physical connectivity of village clusters, electronic connectivity through telecommunication and knowledge connectivity through education and vocational training. Basing the rural development model on these lines, the country would succeed in reducing the rural urban divide to a thin line.

West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee during his address made a strong pitch for FDI in industry and infrastructure and announced his government’s commitment to industrial growth.

Focusing on the criticality of partnerships, Y.C. Deveshwar, President CII and Chairman ITC Limited, said that inclusive growth and sustainable development was only possible through partnership.

They were becoming more and more important with India’s rising growth trajectory, its increasing engagement with the world and the growing aspirations of its people, in a paradigm in which a 10% growth was within the realm of possibility.

Growth empowers, and industry secures such empowerment, Deveshwar said, especially referring to the 70% of India’s rural population. CII was developing rural business hubs, promoting value-addition to renewable agricultural produce and strategizing on nurturing finite natural resources in a system that was committed to sustainable development of economic and social capital. CII had enlarged this perspective to sustainable competitiveness to address the development challenge and position India as not just a preferred destination for goods and services but for foreign capital.

CII is committed to partnerships with the government in all these endeavours and was attuned to the Prime Minister’s “three I” formula of investment, implementation and infrastructure. As a reliable partner of the government, the CII was setting up a Centre of Excellence in Kolkata that would serve as a facilitator for development of leadership through people and processes.

Welcoming the guests to Kolkata, Sanjiv Goenka, Past President CII, Co-Chairman Partnership Summit and Vice-Chairman, RPG Enterprises described West Bengal as a state that was a model of pragmatic leadership, lauded by one and all; one that had been reconstructed and rejuvenated by a Chief Minister who had redefined leadership, action and mindsets with both performance and action.

The occasion was also graced by His Excellency, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, Governor, State of West Bengal. The Inaugural plenary was attended by more than 1,500 delegates from India and abroad.

In his concluding remakrs, Ravi Poddar, Chairman, CII, Eastern Region and Chairman, Ravi Auto Ltd., reiterated CII’s commitment to productive partnerships whether for fighting terror or disease in an internationally networked society.