February 17, 2014

The party also plans to focus on manufacturing and good governance

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 17: The BJP will continue to oppose FDI in multi-brand retail, but will support the proposed Goods & Services Tax (GST) regime provided certain concerns are addressed.

Spelling out the party’s economic agenda for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Piyush Goyal, National Treasurer, BJP, said its first priority will be to create jobs.

The party will also focus on manufacturing and good governance.

At the National Council Meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Monday, Goyal, while unveiling his party’s economic agenda, said unless the country’s manufacturing base is strengthened, it is not going to allow foreign retail brands to enter India, as they are not going to work on strengthening the back-end systems and supply chains.

GST issue

On the issue of GST, which has been stuck because of lack of consensus between various States on a number of key matters, Goyal said the BJP is not against it provided certain issues such as the needs of States in situations of natural calamities are addressed.

“If these contentious points are addressed then BJP stands committed to the approval of GST,” he said.

Goyal stressed on job creation and said the very fact that the policies of the National Democratic Alliance created 60 million jobs is a testimony of good governance.

Skill development

He said it is regrettable that only 3 lakh people had been imparted skills against a target of several millions.

He suggested dovetailing of skill development of 200 million people with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme so that people can be provided with funds to gain skills. Four areas where skills could be built, he said, are tourism, manufacturing, housing and infrastructure.

“Any government (that comes to power) has to look at skilling 200 million people,” Goyal said, adding that skill development needs a lot of focus, as exemplified by China. “But figures in our budget (for skill development are dismal,” he added. Focus should also be on manufacturing and good governance and programmes and policies have to be planned around this.

Easy approvals

Goyal said a government’s job is to get all approvals in a time-bound manner, be it for mining auctions, giving leases or pricing.

Discretionary powers of the government have to be removed wherever possible. And more attention should be given to implementation of policies rather than framing them.

Giving an example, Goyal said SEZ is a good policy that turned sour because of poor implementation.

(This article was published in The Hindu Business Line on February 17, 2014)