Author: Soumya Kanti Mitra
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: September 26, 2004
URL: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/863815.cms
The CPM's latest rant against some
so-called 'foreign' experts in the Planning Commission is reminiscent of
the cosmic phenomenon whereby even a non-descript star suddenly attains
gigantic, if tenuous, significance (rather like the party led by Mr Jyoti
Basu).
It first becomes a red giant in
a desperate attempt to claw-in energy from surrounding space, only to again
collapse upon itself by becoming a white dwarf - and even, ultimately,
perhaps a black hole.
That is an apt description of the
party, and the ex-chief minister who presided over the de-industrialisation
of West Bengal. It had been one of the two most industrialised states in
post-Independence India.
(Bihar used to log in at third place
around 1950!) But not only did Basu's state slither down, it also started
to lag other arriviste states in human development indicators.
Now, though, its rulers are desperate
for investment to fuel employment creation as they lack the official surpluses
needed to foot the job-guarantee promises. And the most authentic sign
of the CPM's desperation is that it has started pillorying the Centre,
and the Planning Commission, for doing just it has been doing!
For, West Bengal is one state that
has been trying the hardest to get foreign (read disinterested) kudos to
paint a better 'investment destination' picture for itself.
The McKinseys? They are there, and
providing serious inputs into the state's strivings for economic growth.
It was not the Centre, but the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation
(WBIDC), and the management of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), that had
set up a task force on ailing Haldia Petrochemicals along the lines of
McKinsey's recommendations!
That had been done long ago, in
2000. The ADB, too, has long been roped in to help in activities in sectors
like power, the environment, a north-south inter-modal transport corridor
- and the outlining of the modalities of financial sector reforms to boost
the market for housing and mortgage-backed securities.
