*No regular meetings of Apex, Monitoring Committees
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 2: Despite being ranked 29th during All India Assessment of Business Reforms carried out by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) of Union Government, Jammu and Kashmir has yet not laid required focus on implementing the key points of the Action Plan vis-à-vis Prime Minister’s ambitious Ease of Doing Business Initiative. The situation is grim mainly because of the failure of the State-level Apex Committee as well as Monitoring Committee to address and properly follow progress on the issues identified by the DIPP for action by the State Government.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that in order to enhance India’s competitiveness and improve the business environment in the country, the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi launched Ease of Doing Business Initiative and in December 2014 the State Governments agreed to 98-point action plan for business reforms during a workshop held at Union Capital.
The objective of the Action Plan was to simplify regulatory burdens on business at the State level for being an important component of the ambitious Ease of Doing Business Initiative. At that time it was conveyed to the States including Jammu and Kashmir that assessment of implementation of business reforms during the period between January 1 and June 30, 2015 would be carried out by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. Eight major points were pointed out to measure the progress of the States.
However, J&K has been ranked at 29th in the All India Level Assessment for achieving only 5.93% score. The adjoining States like Punjab, Himachal and Haryana have performed much better than J&K, which is ahead of only three States namely Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. For its score of 5.93% only, the J&K has been kept in “Jump Start Needed” group.
Out of eight points identified by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, J&K has only implemented four points but that too not up to the satisfaction as several of these four points have yet not been fully translated into reality, sources said.
Despite being ranked 29th, the J&K has yet not started laying required focus on carrying out business reforms mainly because of the failure of the State level Apex Committee and Monitoring Committee to perform the activities assigned to them, sources further said.
The Apex Committee headed by Chief Secretary was constituted on January 30, 2015 and it was mentioned in the Government Order No.129-GAD of 2015 that the Apex Committee will address the issues as have been identified by the DIPP for ensuring Ease of Doing Business and creating an enabling framework for stimulating investments in manufacturing. Moreover, it was specially mentioned that the Apex Committee will meet at-least once a month or more frequently.
By the same order, Monitoring Committee headed by Financial Commissioner, Industries and Commerce Department was constituted to review the existing procedures prevalent in the Industries and Commerce Department and other Government departments that regulate the setting up of and smooth working of industry in the State. As per the contents of the order, the Monitoring Committee was supposed to meet at-least once in two weeks or more frequently.
However, the Apex Committee has met only once that too on April 20, 2015 when certain decisions were taken and thereafter no meeting of this committee was convened despite the fact that it was supposed to review the implementation of its decisions. Similarly, the Monitoring Committee has not met during the past quite long time especially after the report of All India Level Assessment was made public by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India in the month of September.
“What is the fun of constituting these committees on such a vital issue when they are not adhering to the timelines fixed for their meetings to review progress and hurdles in implementing the points vis-à-vis business reforms”, sources said, adding “it is unfortunate that these committees are also meeting the fate of many other panels framed from time to time to look into important subjects”.
According to the sources, there are infirmities in various orders issued as per the decisions taken in the Apex Committee meeting held on April 20, 2015 and unless detailed discussions are held the same cannot be removed and confusion will persist and continue to create road-blocks in meeting objectives behind the Ease of Doing Business Initiative launched by the Prime Minister.
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