‘Redefine parameters of economic reforms’

Eminent political scientist and president of Centre for Policy Research,  Pratap Bhanu Mehta, has called for redrawing the parameters of economic reforms to make it more conducive for holistic growth of Indian society.

He was delivering his keynote address at the 77th annual general meeting of the Mahratta chambers of commerce industries and agriculture (MCCIA) in Pune on Sunday.

“Economic reforms have to take into account various parameters of society to make it more people-friendly. Instead of great ideas, small changes are required to make the effects of economic reforms produce tangible changes,” he said.

Mehta mentioned that although in present-day India, the ratio of educated women to men is tilted in favour of women, the presence of women in the workforce is dismal. He reasoned that the absence of support systems like day care centre and creches prevent educated women from embracing full-time careers.

Mehta asked bodies like the MCCIA to start a movement to make the process of urbanisation more “poor-centric”. “Instead of making cities slum-free we must plan and make our cities accessible to the urban poor. We need to plan economic development in such a manner that everyone would have their place defined in the socio-economic ladder of society,” he stated.

Critical of the recent legislations like Land Acquisition Act and Right to Education Act, enacted by the Union government, Mehta stated that such laws promote the growth of red-tape in society. “Instead of centralising power, we need to decentralise it and that would help prevent corruption,” he explained.

Abhay Firodia, president of MCCIA, claimed that lack of consensus about major reforms has hampered the infrastructure growth of the country.