Devil's Advocate: Kamal Nath

STRONG VOICE: Kamal Nath says Nandigram issue has nothing to do with the SEZs.

        

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Keywords: Devils Advocate, Kamal Nath

Kamal Nath: First, economic activity generates more revenue. One can’t be more basic than that and this is no rocket science. Number two, when exports are there you refund your customs and excise duties. Taxes are never exported. So, if on one hand, if you creatively calculate that I never collected these taxes - not saying that I am going to refund them as when they are exported, I am also refunding them - it gives you a distorted picture.

Karan Thapar: So, when the Ministry of Finance says that there will be losses, they are only giving half the picture and that’s why it is a distorted picture. They are not giving the full picture?

Kamal Nath: The Ministry of Finance has to present their own case and that’s the way they are doing it.

Karan Thapar: But you dispute it entirely?

Kamal Nath: I believe there is a very major substantial revenue gain and it doesn’t take much because any increase in economic activity is going to create jobs, it is going to create Income Tax for those people who are going to get those jobs, they are going to become consumers and going to pay taxes. So, obviously, there is an increase in revenue.

Karan Thapar: Not a decrease?

Kamal Nath: Not a decrease.

Karan Thapar: The second criticism made of SEZs is that in fact they won’t realise the sort of jobs you and your Ministry keep saying will be created. They say that 60 per cent of the SEZ proposals that you are considering are in the IT sector, which means they will have minimal, if any, impact on rural employment, where in fact the impact is needed. How do you answer that criticism?

Kamal Nath: IT sector has to go where people are available but SEZs are not about the IT sector alone, SEZs are about manufacturing, SEZs are going to go where they can export because they are largely meant for exports. So, SEZs are not meant necessarily to go to the backward district.

Karan Thapar: Do you have enough SEZs in the manufacturing sector to actually give a meaningful boost to employment?

Kamal Nath: Of course, the whole canvas today if you see what SEZs in principle approvals are there, formal approvals are there, there are so many gem and jewellery sector, textile sector and leather sector and they are all coming up they are on the ground, 50 of them are under construction.