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Divorce government from economic activity, says Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh Ambani, vice chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries Limited, has called for divorcing the business of governance from economic activity completely, so that the quality of enterprise and adventure will flourish.

India's priority should lay in disengaging statecraft from the general notion that the state is the fountainhead of all major economic activities, Ambani said.

Inaugurating the 91st annual general meeting of the Indian Merchants' Chamber in Bombay, Ambani said that economic activity was never a part of the statecraft in India, except in the post-Independence years. Whenever, the government sought to exercise control on economic activities, it only resulted in stifling private initiatives and creating road-blocks to economic development.

He also stressed the need to debureaucratise the government. If china can reduce the size of its bureaucracy by 50 per cent, why can't India do it ? It is high time the government machinery is trimmed. Most bureaucrats perform very little, but reap huge rewards, Ambani added.

Observing that the past 50 years saw a technological leapfrogging of a milennium, the next half a century will see a complete technological transformation of every aspect of people's life. Our genius would lie in welcoming radical changes needed to unleash our latent energies, Ambani said.

Earlier, Deepak Parekh, chairman and managing director of HDFC, said that layers after layers of government impinge on people's life in many dimensions. So often the citizen has to protect himself from government. Only a high level of transparency, right to information and accountability in the governance mechanisms can ensure public good, Parekh said.

Y P Trivedi, the IMC's outgoing president, announced that the chamber has decided to set up a world-class business communications centre. This will be a revenue generating activity and will put the chamber on par with the leading chambers of commerce in the world.

He also disclosed that the chamber has decided to adopt a village near Bombay and take care of the people's need of drinking water supply, education and health as a model for business houses for fulfilment of their social obligations.

UNI

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