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MP CM invites diaspora 'home', seeks investment
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By Arul Louis New York, Feb 2
"Ghar aye pardesi", come home
diaspora, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said Sunday as he
launched an ambitious "Friends of Madhya Pradesh" program here with a
call to them and Americans to pour their talents, investments and
philanthropy into his state's development.
He marked the
launch by joining four US members of Congress and other VIPs in placing
their hands on a globe which lit up on the stage a projection of the
portal site for the program, friendsofmp.com. The program aims to create
a pool of talent and of those interested in helping the state, he said.
The
event, modeled after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reception here last
September, featured dance programs, films about the state's economic
development programs and the Ujjain Kumbh Mela and a procession of drums
and banners leading the VIPs into the Avery Fisher Hall. About 3,000
people filled the venue, which is the home of the New York Philharmonic
Orchestra at the Lincoln Center.
Chouhan, the three US
Congresswomen, Nita Lowey, Caroline Maloney and Yvette Clarke, and
Consul General Dnyaneshwar Mulay spoke of the ties between the US and
India boosted by the visits of Modi to the US and President Barack Obama
to India and how they could mutually benefit the two democracies.
Calling
out to investors and friends of MP, Chouhan said his state follows a
"Single Door" policy that goes beyond the Single Window programs for
investors, and asked the audience to reciprocate to the open door by
"opening your hearts and coming to Madhya Pradesh". The diaspora has
made significant contributions to the US, especially in health care, the
Silicon Valley and job creation, he said, and now was the time for them
to turn to developing India.
"Policy paralysis is over," he
said, and with Modi's leadership the world's view of India has changed
and the nation was on its way becoming the fastest growing economy in
the world. (The World Bank has projected India's growth rate at 7
percent in 2017, making it the highest growth rate for a large economy
that year).
He said the old stereotypes were demolished and MP
had become a dynamic state on a trajectory of rapid development. The
state was no longer "bimari", or sick, he said playing on the acronym,
BIMARU, used for states trailing in development. Nor was it any more the
state portrayed as the home of notorious bandits of the Chambal valley,
he said.
He pointed to the MP's development figures: The state
recorded the highest rate of economic growth in the country at 11.8
percent compared to 4.7 percent for India in the last fiscal year and
MP's agricultural growth rate was 24 percent.
The state was
peaceful and maintained law and order and one of his achievements was
turning the citizen's charter into a law, The Public Service Guarantee
Act, which made the government responsive to the people and personally
penalised officials for bureaucratic delays, he said.
Modi's
call is "Make in India," he said, "and my request is 'Make it in Madhya
Pradesh'." Modi speaks of a Digital India, and, he said, Madhya Pradesh
ready with an electronics cluster and facilities to set up semiconductor
manufacturing.
The state has taken several measures, Chouhan
said, to make it easy for investors to start enterprises in the state
and rapidly begin production:
It has has ready availability of
land from a land bank he has created, 24 X 7 power availability,
plentiful water, rule of law, industrial peace with no loss of mandays
due to strikes, skilled workforce from the upgraded technical institutes
and engineering colleges, and the "single door" policy to clear
projects.
But he said development will not work unless it reaches
the common man and, therefore, he has instituted programs like free
health care and food subsidies. He added that economic opportunities
were essential for uplifting those living below the poverty line.
With
three US Congresswomen on dais, Industry Minister Yasodhara Raje
Scindia spoke of the state's mission to improve the lives of girls
through the Ladli Lakshmi project for women's empowerment. The project
sets up a recurring bank deposit for girls so that they build an asset,
and provides books and scholarships, assistance for weddings and even a
bicycle when a girl reaches high school.
Scindia recalled that
she had spent 18 years in the US, "living the American Dream" before
returning to India. "You have lived the American Dream, now come live
the Madhya Pradesh Dream," she said.
Mulay, who is working to
organise forums for states to tap into the resources of the world's
financial capital, New York, said that Chouhan's initiative is a step
toward developing the relations between the US and India.
With
Maloney and Congressman Eliot Engel, who was also at event, Lowey said,
"We will work in Congress to strengthen relations between the US and
India." As a member of the House State and Foreign Operations
Appropriations Subcommittee, Lowey said she will endeavour to make
relations with India a top priority and will be visiting India soon with
a Congressional delegation.
Maloney, who has sponsored a bill in
Congress for the Postal Service to issue a stamp honoring Diwali, asked
the audience to request their legislators to support her bill.
India and the US shared the goal of protecting and promoting democracy, she said. "When India succeeds, America succeeds."
As
the daughter of immigrants, Clarke said she knew of the attachment to
their native countries that people cherished and how that can help bind
the two countries.
Nori Dattatreyudu, a noted New York-based
cancer specialist and a Padma Bhushan awardee, said that the diaspora
can also help India by sharing their expertise and through philanthropy.
He said that he was working with a cancer center in Indore to train
specialists and develop treatment facilities. He spoke of a cancer
hospital he had started in Hyderabad, which has become one of the
top-rated cancer treatment centers and said Indians can help start such
institutions.
(Arul Louis can be contacted at [email protected])