ECONOMIC REFORMS HAS BENEFITTED
THE COUNTRY AND THE
COMMON MAN –SAYS ADVANI
The Deputy Prime
Minister, Shri L.K. Advani today said that the Government’s policy
on Economic Reforms has benefited the country and the common man.
The country is on the thresh-hold of rapid progress in various
fields. Inaugurating the 46th Annual Technical Convention
of the Indian Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication
Engineers, here this morning, Shri Advani said even getting a
simple phone connection was a frustrating exercise involving a
long waiting period. The same was true for a humble gas connection.
In other words wrong policies adopted by the Government had created
an economy of shortages. Now, India is rapidly making the transition
from an economy of shortages to an economy of surpluses. This
has been possible because of the sound and far reaching policies
adopted by the NDA Government during the past five years. Giving
the example of the Telecom Landscape in India he said the situation
has changed beyond recognition. India is one of the fastest growing
telecom markets in the world today and a mobile phone is no more
a luxury for the common man.
The Deputy Prime
Minister said the meaning and applicability of self-reliance has
also changed because of liberalization and globalisation. The
world has become far more inter-dependent than before and new
avenues have opened up for trade, investment, technology transfer
and economic cooperation in various fields. India has to fully
seize this opportunities coming up in the new era. Nevertheless,
self-reliance or the larger concept of Swadeshi has not ceased
to have its relevance in the changed situation. Foreign investment,
foreign technology, foreign management practices are welcome wherever
they are needed but the basic effort has to be our own in terms
of human and cultural resources. For this, we have to sharpen
our focus on R&D. We will have to learn from the experiences
of countries like Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan. Manpower
development is very important for achieving success in this direction.
Our efforts must be oriented towards producing quality products
with internationally acceptable standards. With growing competition,
particularly in fields like information technology, it is extremely
important the professional manpower produced by India should be
at par if not better with what is available in other countries.
He said the end use of all technology is for the progress of human
society and for improving the quality of life. Therefore, every
organization working in this field must be conscious about this
social responsibility.
Shri Advani hoped
that the deliberations in the Conference will be fruitful and
result in pragmatic and tangible recommendations for policymakers.
