Endevour to bring transparency, stability in policies: IT Min

Communications and IT Minister Ravi Prasad Shankar today said the government's endevour is to bring in predictability and stability in policies to offer a conducive environment to both Indian and foreign investors.
"We have also mentioned in our manifesto that some tax decisions taken the past have brought in uncertainty...Tax structure has to be stable. How will it be, depends on the Finance Minister. But our entire endevour is to bring in predictability, it has to be transparent," Shankar said at an Aaj Tak event.
He added that decisions will be taken transparently without any interference from lobbyists.
Former Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, who was also present said people-friendly policies should not be changed.

"In 2004, we decided that there would be no policy reversal so that poeple don't get a feeling that when governments change, policies change. I have told the same thing to Mr Modi that people friendly policies should not be changed," he added.
However, the two got into a heated argument when Congress' performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections came up in the discussion.

Referring to BJP's 282-seat victory as a "tidal wave", Sharma said it was his duty and responsibility to defend Congress' position.
In turn, Shankar said Congress' win in the 1984 elections, where BJP won just 2 seats, was a "sympathy wave" after the unfortunate killing of Indira Gandhi.

"This election (2014) was fought on the basis of governance and development. This is a change. After this, it is up to the people," he added.
Shankar said the new government is focussed on leveraging technology to further growth in the country and improving condition of state-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL.