Punjab's decline not just government problem, it is the problem of every Punjabi: Rakesh Bharti Mittal

Bringing fiscal and financial discipline in Punjab is the most important step in improving the state's condition, according to CII president and vice-chairman Bharti Enterprises, Rakesh Bharti Mittal.

Mittal, who was the keynote speaker for the session 'Wanted: An income revolution for Punjab' at the India Today State of States Conclave Punjab, said that one big lesson for Punjab is that the state cannot get into a fiscal trap every five years and spend the next 10 years fixing it. "That's not the way to talk about prosperity and generating jobs," according to Mittal.

He agreed that India has a complex federal structure, but "the state has the constitutional responsibility to be held accountable in the fields of agriculture, healthcare and education."

Therefore, he said, it is imperative that every state government and its leadership and all political parties must come together to see what needs to be done to aid the development process.

Bharti said we need to ask what happened to Punjab -- a state that was flourishing till the '80s. He called for collective introspection on the state of Punjab today. "From being a leading state to becoming laggard is not just a problem of government and governance alone, not of political party and politician, but the problem of every Punjabi who should seriously think on what needs to be done," said Bharti.

He stressed on developing productive employment for Punjabi youth, who are battling the drug menace in the state. He praised the Captain Amarinder Singh government for tackling the issue head-on. Bharti commented, "We can keep blaming terrorism, cross-border drug trade and keep bringing in opium production in Rajasthan and MP, but ultimately our aim needs to be -- can we have productive Punjab youth with productive employment so they don't go into this?"

Bharti also talked agricultural growth in Punjab, saying that short term measures like loan waivers and subsidy must be ended. He advocated against the "politics of appeasement" that has been embedded in the minds of all Indian governments. He said instead of freebies the government should charge small user fees for services so as to provide funds for the development of these services.

"We need to do away with subsidies and farm loan waivers, these are short term. What should be done is develop agricultural infrastructure like roads, irrigation and power. We need investment in these sectors. Farmers say we don't need free power as there is no power supply. in our wisdom we continue appeasement -- we need to come back to user charges on small margin so that we continue development work" he said.

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