Debashis Basu's column "Make in India: Beyond the slogan" (Irrational Choice, December 15) has pinpointed the real cause of India's economic woes. We have to shed the Luddite mindset, which has prevailed in the political circles. Instead of designing jobs to suit the implementation of various labour laws, the government should have trained workers to meet the increasing job requirements in India. It is difficult to find operators and skilled maintenance workers in every new field - for fixing household-related repairs, automobiles and so on.
Regarding land acquisition, politicians are propagating a myth that farmers should cling on to their unviable pieces of land, even when they are not being trained to get the maximum yield out of farming. Research on genetically-modified crops is being blocked. Environmentalists are doing everything to block industrialisation, however, when we drive through the countryside, we can see a lot of greenery in the premises of business units (who can afford to maintain them) and vast areas of barren land where there are no factories. Regarding capital, as mentioned in the media, why would foreigners invest when even Indians do not want to invest in India? Foreign investors have been scared away by recent episodes involving Vodafone and Nokia, as they could not cope with the country's complex tax system.
Satish Kapoor Pune
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