Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram today stressed on a "more humane and tolerant society" to make India prosperous.
"We must create a more humane and tolerant society. Even as India grows, if it grows in an intolerant society, like a religious group does not tolerate other religious groups or a caste does not stand other castes, we are bound to fail," he said at a session on economic reforms organised by the Observer Research Foundation and IIM.
He said that in the last few years intolerance had grown. "Intolerance brings more and more conflict. Eventually, it holds back the country from becoming a prosperous India," Chidambaram said.
However, he said, "I see a bright future as we still remain a vibrant democracy despite setbacks and remain as an open economy and open polity."
The senior Congress Rajya Sabha member said that there was shrinking public spending on health and education in the country.
Chidambaram said that in order to increase government spending on the two vital areas tax revenue need to be sufficient and to do this more people have to be brought under the tax net.
He also points out that space for new entrepreneurs has also shrinked, but stayed away from elaboratin on that or did not give comparative data to support his contention.
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