Where mutual interests need to converge
Monday, 1 November 2010
Moazzem Hossain
THE southern Indian city of Chennai with IT industry as one of growth drivers of the state of Tamil Nadu bears out what has turned the corner in India, particularly after dismantling of the 'License Raj" in the early 1990s. Since then Indian economy has been opened up to foreign trade, leading to the boom of Indian businesses. India now boasts legions of small, medium and large businesses. In this process, industrial associations like that of Ambattur Industries Estate Manufacturers Association (AIEMA) in Chennai have played the role of catalysts.
The team of senior media people from Bangladesh visiting India early last month had the opportunity of having interactions with the functionaries of the well-known IT-centric Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and also of the AIEMA to get some ideas about the progress in both IT and manufacturing sectors that Tamil Nadu has achieved.
The Tata group-owned TCS has a strong global outreach. The Ambattur Industrial Estate, which covers an area of over 1500 acres, is well-connected with sea and airport and has good infrastructure with constant upgradation efforts, houses 2000 units of small, medium and large industries. Such industries are involved in a wide range of production-oriented operations like processing textiles and garments, auto mobile components, fabrication units, foundries/ forge shops, engineering products, leather goods, rubber and plastic components, electrical equipments, tool rooms, machines tools, machines shops and industries (heat treatment metal finishing etc.).
The AIEMA provides excellent support facilities to the units located in its industrial zone and liaises with government statutory bodies, financial institutions and other relevant bodies to address issues of concern to all its members.
There is a scope for forging new areas of cooperation between Bangladesh and India, particularly for setting up special economic zones (SEZs) - the government of Bangladesh has also taken up the decision about setting up such SEZs -- and promoting the IT sector in order to achieve the goal of 'Digital Bangladesh'.
A visit to Chennai, though a very brief one, will not fail to give an indelible impression about how this southern city in India is becoming a hub for global car manufacturing companies such as Ford and Hyundai. This beachside city, know as the 'Detroit of India', has found solution to its water woes, tapping the waters of the Indian Ocean through a $125m desalination plant which is a Indo-Spanish joint venture in the private sector.
The Indian government, as both its finance minister and deputy chief of the Planning Commission stated to the visiting Bangladesh media team, recognizes the need to tackle the "infrastructural deficit", to ensure access to good quality education and to balance growth across all its regions.
The Deputy Chairman of the Indian Planning Commission, Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, considers that developing an effective system of public delivery mechanism in areas of immunisation, sanitation, health and education -- particularly for dissemination of proper knowledge to empower the youths - is vitally important at this stage of India's growth. This is, however, a state-specific issue. There will be a priority thrust for this under the forthcoming 12th Five-Year Plan of India. "About 40% of our children remain malnourished and this calls for special efforts to bring down the rate," Ahluwalia emphasised.
About the Naxalite problem, the Deputy Chairman of the Indian Planning Commission said it is "a serious challenge to our national security". He posited, "We cannot ignore the realities and have to accelerate our development efforts in the Naxal-affected areas and make our administrative machinery more sensitive and responsive to local concerns."
Reports said about 200 of India's 588 districts are affected by the Naxalite movement, the so-called Maoist insurgency. The rebels hide in India's forests which are where is also buried much of the country's mineral wealth. As a result, mining and logging firms are seriously affected. Most Naxalite-affected areas, where are large concentrations of "adivasis" (tribal population), are lagging behind in development.
The north-eastern states of India, known as 'seven sisters,' constitute yet another large laggard or backward region. The Indian government is now giving special focus on addressing the problems of the region.
"We have a special responsibility towards the states of the North-East. We are trying to live up to that responsibility," so India's softly-speaking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced in his last Independence Day Speech.
All the three Indian Ministers whom the Bangladesh team of editors and senior journalists met, voiced similar concerns over the development needs of the country's north-eastern region. While they noted the situation in general there "is better today than it was in the past," they felt that some areas of concern "still remain."
For obvious reasons, India now looks forward more positively than before, to the opportunities for enhanced economic interaction in its north-east region in the light of transit, transshipment and connectivity that Bangladesh has agreed to provide India through its territory, for movement of goods and merchandise to, and from, there from and to, the rest of India.
Following the completion of works for related infrastructural development projects and upgradation of infrastructural facilities for operationalising transit arrangement, Assam's tea, to cite an example, would not require to travel 1400 km to Kolkata Port. With access to Chittagong Port in Bangladesh, 60 per cent of the distance would then be curtailed. Likewise, direct distance from Agartola to Kolkata will come down from 1645 km to 350 km, when the Bangladesh territory will be available for movement of goods between the capital cities of the two Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura. There will be similar advantages for other Indian north-eastern states with the availability of transit facilities for movement of goods through Bangladesh to, and from, there from and to, the rest of India.
The Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce & India (FICCI), in its status paper on India-Bangladesh Economic Relations, has estimated that Bangladesh would earn more than USD 1.00 billion as "transit fee" annually, on account of "free movement" of Indian goods through Bangladesh.
"This will help reduce the trade imbalance substantially between the two countries," Mr. Manish Mohan, Joint Director & Head, South Asia, FICCI, told the visiting Bangladesh media team, at a meeting at Federation House, Tarsen Marg, New Delhi early last month.
Free movement of Indian goods, he noted, will also give a boost to Bangladesh economy, as a whole host of services will have to be developed all along the route in Bangladesh. There will be more jobs for the people of Bangladesh, he forecast.
The actual economic benefits of transit for Bangladesh, from short-, medium- and long-term perspectives, will, however, be a subject of much interest that will be observed, monitored and assessed carefully by all concerned in the days to come.
Yet then, it will be foolhardy to contest the fact that transportation, connectivity and enhancement of economic interaction hold the key to leverage mutual strengthens for the benefit of all concerned peoples.
Lack of proper transport connectivity and infrastructure, it is widely acknowledged, is one of the main reasons for high transaction costs of trade. This also holds true for promotion of both bilateral and intra-regional trade and investment-related activities.
In full appreciation of this, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has earlier declared the decade of 2010-2020 as the "Decade of Inter-Regional Connectivity in SAARC". But this regional forum is yet to see implementation of projects and corridors that have been prioritized on the basis of the SAARC Regional Multi-Modal Transport Study.
Efforts to negotiate regional agreements on Motor Vehicles and Railways in South Asia have not also succeeded yet. It will be well-right impossible to take forward intra-regional economic cooperation without tangible progress in such areas.
In this context, the Indo-Bangladesh bilateral agreement on transportation, transit and connectivity and the subsequent developments relating to extension of such facilities to Nepal and Bhutan, will be considered a forward-looking move.
More next
THE southern Indian city of Chennai with IT industry as one of growth drivers of the state of Tamil Nadu bears out what has turned the corner in India, particularly after dismantling of the 'License Raj" in the early 1990s. Since then Indian economy has been opened up to foreign trade, leading to the boom of Indian businesses. India now boasts legions of small, medium and large businesses. In this process, industrial associations like that of Ambattur Industries Estate Manufacturers Association (AIEMA) in Chennai have played the role of catalysts.
The team of senior media people from Bangladesh visiting India early last month had the opportunity of having interactions with the functionaries of the well-known IT-centric Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and also of the AIEMA to get some ideas about the progress in both IT and manufacturing sectors that Tamil Nadu has achieved.
The Tata group-owned TCS has a strong global outreach. The Ambattur Industrial Estate, which covers an area of over 1500 acres, is well-connected with sea and airport and has good infrastructure with constant upgradation efforts, houses 2000 units of small, medium and large industries. Such industries are involved in a wide range of production-oriented operations like processing textiles and garments, auto mobile components, fabrication units, foundries/ forge shops, engineering products, leather goods, rubber and plastic components, electrical equipments, tool rooms, machines tools, machines shops and industries (heat treatment metal finishing etc.).
The AIEMA provides excellent support facilities to the units located in its industrial zone and liaises with government statutory bodies, financial institutions and other relevant bodies to address issues of concern to all its members.
There is a scope for forging new areas of cooperation between Bangladesh and India, particularly for setting up special economic zones (SEZs) - the government of Bangladesh has also taken up the decision about setting up such SEZs -- and promoting the IT sector in order to achieve the goal of 'Digital Bangladesh'.
A visit to Chennai, though a very brief one, will not fail to give an indelible impression about how this southern city in India is becoming a hub for global car manufacturing companies such as Ford and Hyundai. This beachside city, know as the 'Detroit of India', has found solution to its water woes, tapping the waters of the Indian Ocean through a $125m desalination plant which is a Indo-Spanish joint venture in the private sector.
The Indian government, as both its finance minister and deputy chief of the Planning Commission stated to the visiting Bangladesh media team, recognizes the need to tackle the "infrastructural deficit", to ensure access to good quality education and to balance growth across all its regions.
The Deputy Chairman of the Indian Planning Commission, Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, considers that developing an effective system of public delivery mechanism in areas of immunisation, sanitation, health and education -- particularly for dissemination of proper knowledge to empower the youths - is vitally important at this stage of India's growth. This is, however, a state-specific issue. There will be a priority thrust for this under the forthcoming 12th Five-Year Plan of India. "About 40% of our children remain malnourished and this calls for special efforts to bring down the rate," Ahluwalia emphasised.
About the Naxalite problem, the Deputy Chairman of the Indian Planning Commission said it is "a serious challenge to our national security". He posited, "We cannot ignore the realities and have to accelerate our development efforts in the Naxal-affected areas and make our administrative machinery more sensitive and responsive to local concerns."
Reports said about 200 of India's 588 districts are affected by the Naxalite movement, the so-called Maoist insurgency. The rebels hide in India's forests which are where is also buried much of the country's mineral wealth. As a result, mining and logging firms are seriously affected. Most Naxalite-affected areas, where are large concentrations of "adivasis" (tribal population), are lagging behind in development.
The north-eastern states of India, known as 'seven sisters,' constitute yet another large laggard or backward region. The Indian government is now giving special focus on addressing the problems of the region.
"We have a special responsibility towards the states of the North-East. We are trying to live up to that responsibility," so India's softly-speaking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced in his last Independence Day Speech.
All the three Indian Ministers whom the Bangladesh team of editors and senior journalists met, voiced similar concerns over the development needs of the country's north-eastern region. While they noted the situation in general there "is better today than it was in the past," they felt that some areas of concern "still remain."
For obvious reasons, India now looks forward more positively than before, to the opportunities for enhanced economic interaction in its north-east region in the light of transit, transshipment and connectivity that Bangladesh has agreed to provide India through its territory, for movement of goods and merchandise to, and from, there from and to, the rest of India.
Following the completion of works for related infrastructural development projects and upgradation of infrastructural facilities for operationalising transit arrangement, Assam's tea, to cite an example, would not require to travel 1400 km to Kolkata Port. With access to Chittagong Port in Bangladesh, 60 per cent of the distance would then be curtailed. Likewise, direct distance from Agartola to Kolkata will come down from 1645 km to 350 km, when the Bangladesh territory will be available for movement of goods between the capital cities of the two Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura. There will be similar advantages for other Indian north-eastern states with the availability of transit facilities for movement of goods through Bangladesh to, and from, there from and to, the rest of India.
The Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce & India (FICCI), in its status paper on India-Bangladesh Economic Relations, has estimated that Bangladesh would earn more than USD 1.00 billion as "transit fee" annually, on account of "free movement" of Indian goods through Bangladesh.
"This will help reduce the trade imbalance substantially between the two countries," Mr. Manish Mohan, Joint Director & Head, South Asia, FICCI, told the visiting Bangladesh media team, at a meeting at Federation House, Tarsen Marg, New Delhi early last month.
Free movement of Indian goods, he noted, will also give a boost to Bangladesh economy, as a whole host of services will have to be developed all along the route in Bangladesh. There will be more jobs for the people of Bangladesh, he forecast.
The actual economic benefits of transit for Bangladesh, from short-, medium- and long-term perspectives, will, however, be a subject of much interest that will be observed, monitored and assessed carefully by all concerned in the days to come.
Yet then, it will be foolhardy to contest the fact that transportation, connectivity and enhancement of economic interaction hold the key to leverage mutual strengthens for the benefit of all concerned peoples.
Lack of proper transport connectivity and infrastructure, it is widely acknowledged, is one of the main reasons for high transaction costs of trade. This also holds true for promotion of both bilateral and intra-regional trade and investment-related activities.
In full appreciation of this, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has earlier declared the decade of 2010-2020 as the "Decade of Inter-Regional Connectivity in SAARC". But this regional forum is yet to see implementation of projects and corridors that have been prioritized on the basis of the SAARC Regional Multi-Modal Transport Study.
Efforts to negotiate regional agreements on Motor Vehicles and Railways in South Asia have not also succeeded yet. It will be well-right impossible to take forward intra-regional economic cooperation without tangible progress in such areas.
In this context, the Indo-Bangladesh bilateral agreement on transportation, transit and connectivity and the subsequent developments relating to extension of such facilities to Nepal and Bhutan, will be considered a forward-looking move.
More next