steel prices, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the industry not
to manipulate the market for short term gains.
"I would advise our steel industry to take a long term view and not
fall prey to the temptation of seeking windfall gains from market
manipulation in a period of excess demand," he said at Tata Steel's
centenary celebrations in Jamshedpur on Tuesday.
Rising steel prices is a major concern for the government, as
inflation has been hovering around a 3-year high in the last few
weeks, prompting the administration to threaten a ban on futures
trading in steel and bringing it back into Essential Commodities Act.
"The Indian economy would continue to grow and the demand for steel
will continue to grow. Industry and trade must eschew short-term gains
that hurt consumers and disrupt the stability of the process of
economic growth," he said.
Appreciating the achievements of Tata Steel, the world's cheapest
steel maker, in the last 100 years, he said steel was a symbol of
progress in the past century.
Earlier, the Prime Minister laid the foundation for the modernisation
and expansion of the Bokaro Steel plant at Bokaro.
State-run SAIL has embarked on a Rs 11,000 crore expansion of the
Bokaro steel plant.
Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who was also present on the occasion,
said that the Indian steel industry was growing at the rate of 10
percent while consumption grew by 13 percent.
This called for raising of production for which Steel Authority of
India would invest Rs 54,000 crore across all steel plants in the
country to raise the total capacity.
He said SAIL's capacity would be ramped up to 26 MT by 2010 from the
present level of 14 MT.
Singh said one hundred year ago, India was just beginning to
industrialise in an environment of hostility where the playing fields
were tilted against domestic enterprise.
"We must salute the patriotism, the enterprise, the business acumen
and the spirit of adventure of that great generation of pioneers, who
laid the foundation of Indian industrialisation," Singh said.
Jamsetji Tata, Tata Steel founder, was one such visionary who made
India proud, the Prime Minister said.
Praising the private steel major, he said the company has been
fortunate that it was succeeded by successive generations of forward
looking business leaders.
"I must pay tribute to the memory of J R D Tata, I take great pride in
the fact that our government, in 1992 chose JRD Tata as the first
Indian business leader to be awarded Bharat Ratna," he said.
"I recall that Tata Steel was a pioneer in introducing eight hour
working days, as early as in 1912, and the concept of 'leave with pay'
and employee provident fund, the prime minister said."
He said Jamshedpur was a symbol of progress in the 20th century.
"It has demonstrated that industrialisation is a win-win process,
without industrialisation one cannot provide new opportunities for
employment for those who are no longer able to earn a living out
agriculture. Industrialisation provides a way out of the process of
agrarian change and agriculture development," he said.
Singh said over the past 25 years, the share of agriculture in
national income had declined due to the rapid growth of new industries
and the services economy.
"However, there has not been a commensurate decline in the share of
population dependent on agriculture," he cautioned.
Many from Jharkhand and Bihar were forced to migrate to other parts of
the country where new industries were emerging, he said.
"I share in the distress of their families. I understand the pain of
migration, since my own family had to once migrate. I want a new era
for Jharkhand in which jobs will come to the people."
"However, we must encourage new industrial activity in the state,"
Singh said while complimenting Tata Steel for showing faith in the
people of the region and re-investing in the state.
"When I met Mr Lakshmi Mittal, he also spoke to me about his plans for
Jharkhand," he said.
Expressing hope of rapid growth in Jharkhand, he said the private
sector would benefit in the long run if it also became a partner in
social development, especially in less developed regions like
Jharkhand.
"There is a lot that large companies can do to improve the welfare of
the wider community of their stake-holders, even as they reward their
share-holders."
He said he would like to see the ripple effects of growth in
Jamshedpur to be felt even more visibly in an even wider region
around.
Singh said such efforts would be further encouraged if the state
government also paid more attention to development.
Jharkhand needed investment in education, investment in better
healthcare, investment in rural infrastructure, investment in urban
development and an environment of place, security and political
stability, he said.
The success of Tata Steel showed how progress could be made here, if
all worked together to create the appropriate environment for
enterprise, he said.
"The challenge before our country is to, in fact, create such an
environment in all regions so that industrial development is more
balanced across states and we can increase total investment in the
country."
He said townships like Bokaro and Jamshedpur came up during the first
phase of Indian industrialisation.
"Today, as we enter new phase of industrialisation, we need new
centers that can create new jobs and promote new industries."
"Our government has come forward with a humane industrialisation
policy where the focus is on creating employment while at the same
time ensuring that no section of society is displaced or dispossessed
by the processes of industrial development," he said.
Singh said "our labour is our golden asset and people become an asset
when we invest in them. However, they become a liability only if we
did not invest in them".
The UPA government was emphasising on education, healthcare and on
providing skill development opportunities to youth, he said.
The government had launched a national skill development mission and
modernising industrial training institutes so that the youth could
acquire the skills that opened doors for them to new employment
avenues, he added.
The Prime Minister said he had invited the private sector to become a
partner in this process of skill creation and empowerment of the
people.
He said that Tata Steel has been a leader in steel making and "I am
sure that for Tata Steel the best is yet to come".
"Tata Steel has a proud record of corporate social responsibility,
which can show the way forward in deploying corporate power for public
interest," he said.
In the present context where industrial prices were on the rise, he
said there was an opportunity for corporate leaders to deploy
corporate power in the best interests of society.
"Stable growth, with reasonable prices can, in fact, widen and deepen
the market for industrial products and in turn benefit business,"
Singh added.
PM regrets loss of funds due to non-holding of rural polls
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described as unfortunate the loss of Rs
7000 crore in Central funds incurred by Jharkhand because of delay in
holding Panchayat elections in the state.
Addressing a function organised by the Steel Authority of India
Limited (SAIL) in Bokaro on Tuesday, Singh said the state had incurred
the loss due to pending cases.
A batch of cases pending in the Supreme Court against a reservation
clause in the Panchayat Act.
The prime minister, however, said that the Centre was committed to
ensuring development of Jharkhand.
He asked the state government to step up literacy programmes and those
under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
"The Centre has provided food security in the rural areas through the
NREGA. Rs 1000 crore has been given to the state. About 14 lakh
families have benefited in the last two years under the scheme," the
prime minister said.
Stating that the NREGA was the brain child of UPA chairperson Sonia
Gandhi, the prime minister said the scheme has done justice to former
prime minister late Indira Gandhi's slogan -- 'garibi hato' (remove
poverty).
Laying the foundation stone for the modernisation of SAIL in Bokaro,
Singh said the Centre had already approved road, electricity and
educational schemes for Jharkhand.
"The Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi would be
modernised on the lines of the AIIMS and Rs 120 crore has already been
earmarked for it," he said.
Speaking on the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electricity Programme, the prime
minister said the Centre had proposed to provide electricity free of
cost to the BPL people.
Lauding the Forest Right Act and the UPA's commitment to protect
forest dwellers, the prime minister said he had written to all chief
ministers to give special attention in implementing it.
Speaking on the occasion, Steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan urged Chief
Minister Madhu Koda to speed up the settlement of the Chiria mines
dispute to pave way for the SAIL to lay foundation stone of its
proposed 12 million tonne steel project in Jharkhand during the UPA
regime.
"In a (recent) meeting presided over by the prime minister, it was
decided that SAIL should get one million tonne of iron ore, but we
have got nothing so far," Paswan said while urging the chief minister
to settle the issue soon and approve whatever amount of iron ore he
felt right.
The Lok Janshakti president stated that SAIL had emerged from
difficult times and the public sector would carry on its expansion and
merger proposals and strengthen the company.
He hailed SAIL's corporate social responsibility which saw setting up
of 42 schools in the state.
On behalf of the prime minister, Paswan said, SAIL employees would get
Rs 3000 each as ex-gratia for their good work.
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