The day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about India being the country offering abundant opportunities, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh elaborated on the new policy initiatives being undertaken by the government for promoting inclusive growth. Chairing a session on “Investment Opportunities in Indian States” at the Pravasi Bharatiya pas in Gandhinagar, Shri Rajnath Singh asserted that the country is moving towards an era of cooperative federalism, giving voice to states in shaping the economic destiny of the nation. He said, with this objective in mind, the erstwhile Planning Commission has been replaced with the Niti Ayog, w.e.f 1st January 2015. “In democracy, we follow the dictum of ‘collective wisdom’ and ‘collective responsibility’. I am confident that our collective wisdom will help us in overcoming any differences” he said.
The Home Minister said, the new government headed by Narendra Modi has already taken a series of measures to re-ignite the economy. “We have reasons to be optimistic as we are constantly making course corrections to gain investor confidence” he added. Rajnath Singh said the ‘Make in India’ initiative is a mission to transform this country from an importer of manufactured items to an exporter of manufactured products. The objective is to increase the share of manufacturing in the GDP from the current level of 14% to 25 %."In order to improve the global perception about difficulties in doing business in India the Centre is working tirelessly to remove the bottlenecks and busy cutting the red tape.
Rajnath Singh said the Prime Minster is focussed on improving the business environment in the country and has stressed on the mantra of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’. He said the Government is seriously pursuing early implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which will create a buoyant source of revenue and create a large common market by eliminating internal barriers . Mr. Singh said a decision has been taken to allocate natural resources only through e-auction to ensure transparency. “Such measures are necessary to rebuild confidence and trust that is extremely important to revive investments and drive higher growth” he said.
Singh said India has a vast pool of natural resources and skilled human resources to make this country a ‘New Manufacturing Hub’. The people of Indian origin and the NRIs should invest in actualizing the dream of ‘Make in India’. “India’s progress can not be achieved only by the people living within the country. Today, I exhort the people of Indian origin to come and invest in this great country and become an active partner in our definitive march towards prosperity and in making India a global superpower”, the Minister said.
The Home Minister however, did not forget to stress on inclusive growth and removing regional imbalances. Stating that India’s potential to prosper lies in the growth of its villages, Shri Rajnath Singh said “the process of development has to reach the far flung areas of our country and the villages even in the remotest areas should be brought within its ambit. If we fail to develop the rural areas of India it would create a sense of alienation, isolation and dejection among the major sections of our society.”
Chief Ministers of some prominent states like Prakash Singh Badal , Punjab, Manoharlal Khattar, Haryana, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh, Raghubar Das, Jharkhand, Anandiben Patel, Gujarat, Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra, Laxmikant Parsekar, Goa, N Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh, Oomen Chandy, Kerala made brief presentations about investment opportunities in their respective states. States of Gujarat, Maharashtrta, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, UP, Bihar and Jharkhand are also holding separate investor meets.