Socialist economy produces lethargy: Swraj Paul

While underlining his socialist orientation, NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul today said that conservative, socialist economic model is flawed as it produces "lot of lethargy and lot of self-protection."

India might have done marvellously well by starting on a socialistic pattern, but the lethargy that set in led to lot of diffidence and discouraged enterprise, Lord Paul told PTI.

"I am a socialist by heart. I belong to the Labour Party which is socialist. However, the whole socialist system has cracked up, and that is why we shifted to economic system. The world keeps moving, we can't stay still."

Lord Paul was terse in his response to the issue of reservation and was against "discrimination of any kind".

"I am against discrimination of any kind, whether positive or negative".

When asked to elaborate, Lord Paul said: "The government should be less involved in businesses. It should be concerned more with raising the standards of public so that they don't need reservation. It should mind its business of running the government and not business, not pampering a few".

The septuagenarian industrialist instead wanted greater governmental focus on higher education in the country and welcomed the idea of private participation in the sector.

"India can afford to spend more on higher education. I am all for anything that produces better results, whether private, public or anything."

On the question of farm subsidies given by the rich nations, Lord Paul said: "I am fighting very hard in the WTO, as a representative of the British Parliament. All these agricultural subsidies will have to stop in the West. I have raised that issue more than anybody from India and for a longer time, because the West has no reason to tell us how to conduct our trade without opening their market."