Private sector - engine of India's growth: Ahluwalia
Monday, 20 December 2004, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: India's achievements in future will come in a large measure through the private sector but the growing technological progress and economic prosperity should be utilized to bridge the gnawing social inequity in the country. This was the leitmotif of a two-day event that began Monday aimed at providing a meeting point for top-notch entrepreneurs and ideas men from across the industry, academia and the government for exchanging ideas and innovations on the theme entitled 'Entreprenurship in a Global Age: The Engine of Growth' organised by the Silicon Valley-based The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE). Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia outlined the vision of the government as an enabler and catalyst to industry at the two-day convention. Alluding to the government's road map for reforms in key sectors like aviation, Ahluwalia, key economic adviser of the government, said: "We in the government should stop lecturing industry as to what to do. What India is going to achieve is going to come from dynamic entrepreneurs in the private sector." Some of the iconic businessmen and thought leaders like Desh Deshpande, Kanwal Rekhi, C K Prahalad, Kiran Karnik, Saurabh Srivastava, Sam Pitroda and Naresh Trehan will participate in panel discussions on diverse subjects related to the master theme. TiE, a global NGO, was formed in the Silicon Valley in 1992 to foster and advance entreprenurship. Tech visionary Sam Pitroda, founding chairman of the Telecom Commission, radiated optimism and energy abut the triumvirate of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Ahluwalia shepherding the country's economy. Pitroda said: "We have a good team to look at economic issues. India has accepted globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation and they have taken roots in India." But prosperity has yet to address the problems of inequality, said Pitroda, who then went on to outline core problems afflicting the country like water and sanitation and illiteracy. The solution, according to Pitroda, is e-governance. "Through IT we can bring about a generational change in the practice of governance. Everything requires 35 forms. Let's question these forms and processes and look at IT as an entry point and not as an end point." Pitroda's indefatigable optimism was all too evident and appeared to infect his listeners. "We have 100 million phones. In three years, we need to double that figure. We need 100 million broadbands. We have 500 million people who are below 25 years of age. Now that's a huge market for entrepreneurs." Speaking at the inaugural conference Monday, Sunil Bharti Mittal, CEO, Bharti Enterprises, spoke glowingly about the entrepreneur as a new role model for the younger generation. "In those days of the 'licence-permit-inspector raj,' entrepreneurs were simply people who bent the system to make money. They were not looked upon as role models. The good news now is that entrepreneurship is being celebrated. We are celebrating success in a big way," said Mittal.
Source: IANS
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