Business

Kamal Nath cautions against growth without equity

NEW DELHI: The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Kamal Nath, on Monday flagged off the two-day ‘India rural business summit’, with a strong note of caution that the high rate of growth would become unsustainable if the growth impulses were not transmitted and felt in all parts of the country.

Inaugurating the summit, organised jointly by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Department of Commerce and the Ministry of Rural Development with the support of nine other ministries, Mr. Kamal Nath said: “If we are to ensure that growth is both inclusive and equitable then we have to align and integrate our rural areas with the economic processes that are transforming our country at a rapid pace. The urban-rural divide that exists in our country must be bridged.”

He said lack of adequate and remunerative employment opportunities in rural areas had led to large scale migration to urban areas. The elasticity of employment in the agricultural sector had almost fallen to zero, thereby creating the need to look at other sectors for employment generation within the rural sector.

Stating that while the employment options were abound for the skilled professionals, he said the periphery of unskilled and semi-skilled was worsening. “There is, therefore, an imperative need for developing creative strategies for mass semi-skilled employment generation in the near future.

This calls for an integrated approach involving the government, the private sector and the intended beneficiaries — the local rural population,” the Minister pointed out. Underlining the role of the private sector in enhancing employment opportunities and promoting farm and non-farm enterprises in the rural areas, Mr. Kamal Nath said, enterprises in rural areas required advice on technology-related aspects, on globally benchmarked production methods, information on the changing consumer needs and ways to diversify product portfolios.

He urged the summit participants to consider micro financing models of using credit as a cost-effective weapon to fight poverty and to promote income-generating activities among the poorest of the poor people in the country.

Industry, he said, “can partner with the panchayats to assess and meet local requirements of agricultural inputs, to meet the storage and post-harvest needs, to engage in contract farming, to encourage direct procurement, to market agri produce and to promote agro processing. Each of these linkages has the potential to spur rural businesses in a major way.”

Habil Khorakiwala, President, FICCI, said the focus of ‘India rural business summit’ was to engage various stakeholders involved in the development process in the country’s hinterland and to come out, through a structured thought process, with a strategy that would give a boost to employment generation and entrepreneurial ventures in he rural areas.

He said giving a strong push to economic activities in the rural areas required us to simultaneously improve infrastructure facilities and education level and health standards among people residing in these areas.

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