PM for political consensus on reforms; sets at rest debate on SEZs

Saturday October 7 2006 00:00 IST
PTI

MUMBAI: Setting at rest the debate on Special Economic Zones, which he
felt have come to stay in India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday
sought political consensus for pushing forward financial and labour
sector reforms for sustaining high economic growth.

"We can't afford a chalta hai (complacent) attitude... We need to think
out of the box... We have to evolve a broad consensus on reforms and I
and (Finance Minister) Chidambaram meet Left parties every two-three
months," he said during the Economic Times award ceremony here.

On a query about SEZs, Singh told captains of industry that "SEZs have
come to be accepted as a part of new policy paradigm we have evolved".

"I do believe that SEZs have a role to accelerate the growth and to
generate more employment... In recent weeks concerns have been raised
with regard to acquisition of agriculture land. I do believe that some
of these concerns should be taken on board. We will take them on board
and SEZs have come to stay."

Singh also sought flexibility in the labour sector, saying the overall
economic growth of 8-10 per cent, if achieved, would help create more
jobs and benefit the workers.

Towards this, he appealed to the trade Union leaders to contribute to
the process of labour sector reforms and said the creation of more jobs
would take away the genuine fears of the workers about loss of jobs if
labour laws are made more flexible.

Asked what could derail the economy over the next 15-20 years, the Prime
Minister said that though he was not an astrologer, "the political
process could derail growth" if it was not agriculture-oriented.

On infrastructure, he said a large amount of investments are needed in
this sector in the next 5-6 years and would lead to substantial
activities in areas like roads, railways, ports and airports, but
regretted that power sector had lagged behind and needed utmost attention.
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