Devil's Advocate: Kamal Nath

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Devil's Advocate: Kamal Nath

In an exclusive interview with Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate, Minister of Industry and Commerce Kamal Nath discusses issues like Nandigram violence, SEZs and FDI in retail sector.

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Kamal Nath: I do not know. You are quoting the figures. I don't have the NSSO figures in my pocket. But I must tell you we have done a district-wise study in the country. And we are doing this all the time.

Karan Thapar: Let me put to you what the vice-president of CII, Sunil Mittal, said to us last week. He said the industry is regarded with the false impression. Industry, he said, is a victim of prejudice. Is government and the manner in which today you are responding to industry part of that prejudice?

Kamal Nath: There is no prejudice. I think there has never been a better partnership between government and industry as that is today. They keep saying that at every forum.

Karan Thapar: All right. You talk of the partnership. Let me quote to you something else that Sunil Mittal said. He said regardless of what the industry was already doing today to help the weaker sections, nonetheless he personally believed that it had a moral commitment and duty to do more. He actually said it and I want to quote to you. He said, "This is something the industry must have right in front of their agenda." As industry minister, how do you respond to that suggestion?

Kamal Nath: I respond to it very well. And industry has met me. They are meeting me all the time.

Karan Thapar: Is this the sort of thing you are looking for?

Kamal Nath: We are looking at industry participating also feeling the need that growth cannot be isolated. Growth cannot be sectional. We have been articulating this all the time. And I see industry is now coming out with a positive response. Whether the response is adequate on the ground is to be seen.

Karan Thapar: All right. That's the interesting thing -- whether the response is adequate is to be seen. Sunil Mittal in the same interview that I am quoting said to us last week that he appeals to government to give industry two years so it can prove itself before legislative measures are imposed upon it. Again, I want to quote from him. He said, "Give us a chance to prove that we mean business." Are you prepared, as industry minister, to give industry two years to prove that they can do it on their own voluntarily?

Kamal Nath: Well, if they come and they say what is the kind of business they mean, we are willing to look at it. But, we cannot be talking of what he tells you. Government cannot be responding to what statements he makes here and there.

Karan Thapar: Perfectly correct.

Kamal Nath: If he comes, if industry comes on a formal format with proposals, which are positive and we consider adequate, which are going to work. We will work.

Karan Thapar: Then you are prepared to give them the two years that they ask for?

Kamal Nath: It depends on what it is. I may decide to give them two months. My point is this: We have to see what is there. There is no use starting a question with an 'if'.