'Govt must take hard decisions on reforms'

the leadership (government) cannot defer hard decisions just because a consensus on reforms is proving elusive, or it will lose credibility about its intention and ability to further reform, minister for law, justice and company affairs mr arun jaitley said on monday. speaking at a session on ten years of reform: where do we stand at the india economic summit 2001, organised by world economic forum and confederation of indian industry (cii), mr jaitley said, decision-making should not be delayed if reforms are to be implemented, adding that especially in the case of legal reforms, some hard decisions were necessary. in implementing reforms, which could be through a broad consensus or through hard decisions, any government today faces the tough question of either taking hard decisions and leaving behind a legacy, or ensuring that it stays on for the next five years, mr jaitley pointed out. stating that in spite of the broad consensus among political parties on economic reforms, decision-making is slowing down. he stressed the leader will have to take hard decisions and go ahead and implement those decisions, and added that privatisation was one case in point where the government had stood by its decisions in spite of opposition. on labour laws, he said while it was one of the most challenging areas of reforms for the government, there was increased realisation in government about the need to reform labour laws. the three legislations which needed to be amended are the industrial disputes act, the contract labour act and the payment of wages act, he said. stating that legal reforms was another area where achieving consensus on many aspects was not possible and, therefore, hard decisions by government were necessary, mr jaitley said the government would undertake initiatives which have the potential to reduce the life of a civil case to one year. earlier, speaking at session, dr bibek debroy, director, rajiv gandhi institute for contemporary studies, said that in the past three years, the focus had shifted away from economics to politics. he said indian industry would like to see further reforms in the area of exports. a competitive exchange rate and reduction in paperwork for exporters could help boost domestic exports, he said, adding that reforms in the tax structure and corporate restructuring to encourage mergers and acquisitions would also help in achieving the goal.

'Govt must take hard decisions on reforms'

THE LEADERSHIP (government) cannot defer hard decisions just because a consensus on reforms is proving elusive, or it will lose credibility about its intention and ability to further reform, minister for law, justice and company affairs Mr Arun Ja...

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