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: Well, I am not offering them anything. I am looking at possibilities.

Karan Thapar: What sort of thing you are considering?

Kamal Nath: Well, I am looking at, what the government is considering, is how do you incentivise an industry which goes to such a district and create employment.

Karan Thapar: You are talking of tax concessions?

Kamal Nath: Obviously, concessions can only be. What cannot be spiritual? They have to be fiscal. And if they are fiscal and financial, what do you look at if you want employment? You look at that if you employ so many people, you will get a bigger benefit than what you will do anywhere else.

Karan Thapar: So you are talking of tax concessions, excise holidays, land subsidies -- in other words financial measures that would be in industry's own advantage to take and in return, you are saying, employ a certain percentage of ST/SCs.

Kamal Nath: Investment has to be attracted. What will attract investment? Where there is a greater viability. Now, somebody will come to Chhindwara, if he feels that here he can get less financial burden.

Karan Thapar: In other words, you are appealing to the self-interest of industry and in return you are saying please employ a certain fixed percentage of ST/SCs.

Kamal Nath: Well, industry is there for investment and investment is there for a return. There is no question of self-interest. Everything is based on self-interest, right? So, we need to make them attractive for them to reach out to those districts, which they do not consider.

Karan Thapar: These incentivised policy that you have just told me about, will they be part of a new policy package that you are about to announce?

Kamal Nath: We are looking at working on some possible alternative that we want a policy which attracts investment and employment generation in certain districts.

Karan Thapar: When will you formally be in a position to announce as policy the ideas we are discussing today?

Kamal Nath: At the moment, it's still in a formative stage. Then we are going to circulate it. We have got to discuss it with various other ministries of the Government of India. It's go to be approved by the Cabinet. I want to discuss it also with the industry associations. Because there is no use having a policy which they won't buy.

Karan Thapar: What is the chance that you Cabinet colleagues, many of whom have already as individuals committed themselves to reservations, perhaps by constitutional changes, will accept what you are suggesting?

Kamal Nath: I don't know. I mean if it's rationale and whatever I propose works, there is logical end and it has got an economic sense and it makes social sense, why should anybody not accept it. Everybody there is reasonable.