7 industrial townships, 100m jobs
ITIs, polytechnics, green technology part of national manufacturing policy
Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni and commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma on Tuesday announced the cabinet's approval of the national manufacturing policy, and they drew attention to the fact that this was implementation of the electoral promise made in the 2009 Congress manifesto.
Clearly, the scandal-scarred Congress-led UPA government of prime minister Manmohan Singh wants to turn the tide with big ticket economic programmes at a time when the political fortunes of the UPA government and of the Congress have reached the nadir.
The policy envisages seven manufacturing and investment zones (MIZs), of which three are in the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor (DMIC), that will create 100 million jobs and raise the share of manufacturing in the GDP to 25 per cent by 2022 from the 15 per cent to 16 per cent share at present.
Sharma said of the seven zones, sector- and region-neutral, two are in Maharashtra, and one each in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat. Each of them would spread over a minimum area of 5,000 hectares. He said that land will be allocated by the state governments and he did not see any hurdle because some of the state governments already have land-banks.
The other important decision was to create the optical fibre network which will connect 2.5 lakh panchayats of the six lakh villages in the next two years with an outlay of Rs20,000 crore. The right of way for laying down the optical fibre network will have to be cleared by state governments, but the project will be funded by the central government, central public sector undertakings.
Telecom and information technology secreatry R Chandrasekhar, responding to a DNA query whether this was the phase of last-mile connectivity, replied that this was the middle-mile connectivity, which will bring into the network all public institutions at the village level, and which will help spread e-health and e-governance.
He admitted that the last mile connectivity will be achieved when private and public service providers provide the individual connections.
Both the MIZs and the laying of optical fibre network, which will provide panchayats with broadband network, will be executed through special purpose vehicles (SPVs).
The MIZs are to have private sector participation and to ensure this the policy has provisions to enable small and middle enterprises (SMEs) to set up units through venture capitalists, who will find financial backing from the nationalised banks and insurance companies. "This is to unleash the entrepreneurial energies of young India," Sharma assured.
The new zones, which are a variant of special export zones (SEZs) but with a broader domestic base, have enormous incentives through subsidies for use of green technologies and set up industrial training centres and polytechnics to create the skilled work force to make them hum. Subsidies will also be used to create patent pools for green technologies.
Sharma revealed that the share of manufacturing in India's GDP is low in comparison with economies at a similar stage of growth and development, and that it has declined over the last one-and-a-half decades.
ITIs, polytechnics, green technology part of national manufacturing policy
 |
Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni and commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma on Tuesday announced the cabinet's approval of the national manufacturing policy, and they drew attention to the fact that this was implementation of the electoral promise made in the 2009 Congress manifesto.
Clearly, the scandal-scarred Congress-led UPA government of prime minister Manmohan Singh wants to turn the tide with big ticket economic programmes at a time when the political fortunes of the UPA government and of the Congress have reached the nadir.
The policy envisages seven manufacturing and investment zones (MIZs), of which three are in the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor (DMIC), that will create 100 million jobs and raise the share of manufacturing in the GDP to 25 per cent by 2022 from the 15 per cent to 16 per cent share at present.
Sharma said of the seven zones, sector- and region-neutral, two are in Maharashtra, and one each in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat. Each of them would spread over a minimum area of 5,000 hectares. He said that land will be allocated by the state governments and he did not see any hurdle because some of the state governments already have land-banks.
The other important decision was to create the optical fibre network which will connect 2.5 lakh panchayats of the six lakh villages in the next two years with an outlay of Rs20,000 crore. The right of way for laying down the optical fibre network will have to be cleared by state governments, but the project will be funded by the central government, central public sector undertakings.
Telecom and information technology secreatry R Chandrasekhar, responding to a DNA query whether this was the phase of last-mile connectivity, replied that this was the middle-mile connectivity, which will bring into the network all public institutions at the village level, and which will help spread e-health and e-governance.
 | |
He admitted that the last mile connectivity will be achieved when private and public service providers provide the individual connections.
Both the MIZs and the laying of optical fibre network, which will provide panchayats with broadband network, will be executed through special purpose vehicles (SPVs).
The MIZs are to have private sector participation and to ensure this the policy has provisions to enable small and middle enterprises (SMEs) to set up units through venture capitalists, who will find financial backing from the nationalised banks and insurance companies. "This is to unleash the entrepreneurial energies of young India," Sharma assured.
The new zones, which are a variant of special export zones (SEZs) but with a broader domestic base, have enormous incentives through subsidies for use of green technologies and set up industrial training centres and polytechnics to create the skilled work force to make them hum. Subsidies will also be used to create patent pools for green technologies.
Sharma revealed that the share of manufacturing in India's GDP is low in comparison with economies at a similar stage of growth and development, and that it has declined over the last one-and-a-half decades.
No comments:
Post a Comment