08-09-05-21 Daily-Kerala-KPSC Current Affairs

A former additional chief secretary [Industries and IT] to Kerala Goernment suggested some views:

To focus on a few areas, which could contribute toindustrial development, the number one area is . We should use road, rail, inland Navigation, coastal shipping and airways, fully. K-Rail will take care of the goods and passenger transportation. Once inland navigation is completed within five years, the slow-moving, large-volume will move to that, decongesting roads. The movement of hazardous materials and bulk carriers could be shifted to coastal shipping.

Secondly, regarding the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), we have a long way to go. What has been done in the past is, rightly, that we are trying to give approvals faster. But fundamentally, I have a difference of opinion, because I feel that many of these licences are not necessary. We just need to do three things: A) Remove unwanted approvals, licences, NOCs and restrictions after a review of all requirements of licensing and approvals. B) Procedure for giving these could be simplified. C) The process should be automated, bringing human interaction to a minimum. Singapore Government gives time limits for licences in hours, not days four hours is the time needed for starting a new company there.

One drawback I noticed in EoDB is that we are depending on in-house agencies to deliver these. We need the help of a professional external agency to maintain Software and monitoring systems round the clock. So, EoDB should be done in PPP mode with one of the best professional consultants coming on board.