Policy: Playing To Win Pg. [2]

[Contn.]
Playing To Win

Dream#3: Conquering Cyberspace

The Perplexing Politico

The Grassroots Man

Infrastructure Challenge

It's easier to send e-mails than faxes to government officials in Raipur the capital of Chhattisgarh. The faxes get gobbled up by the copper wires. In Ranchi the capital of Jharkhand, it's just the opposite. Sometimes, even the faxes don't get through.

That isn't stopping Jharkhand from aspiring to become Cyberkhand and keying in mega plans to speed down the information superhighway. The draft industrial policy talks about a Software Technology Park (STP) and an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Ranchi, it Habitats in rural areas around cities, and lists a slew of incentives for the industry, ranging from faster clearances to fiscal sops. IBM may be roped in as a consultant. Public sector engineering consultancy Mecon will be involved in project management.

Chhattisgarh's focus is somewhat different. Says Jogi: ''My priority is it for the people, to use it to make their lives easier.'' That doesn't mean the industry will be neglected. By June, promises it Secretary Amit Agarwal, the industrial town of Bhilai will have an international gateway, greatly increasing bandwidth. The Software Technology Park of India (STPI) has been approached to set up a STP near Bhilai. And Delhi-based Compact Disc India is investing Rs 9 crore in setting up another STP at Charoda, between Bhilai and Raipur.

BABULAL MARANDI, JHARKHAND
The Grassroots Man

The other tribal chief minister, Babulal Marandi of Jharkhand, is the complete antithesis of his Chhattisgarh counterpart. The unpretentious former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Vishwa Hindu Parishad activist lacks Jogi's suave demeanour and bilingual eloquence. The contrast extends to their views on tribal welfare. Not for him an isolationist model of development. ''Log ghut ghut ke mar jaayenge (people will suffocate to death),'' he says. Only communities which have moved out of their native places have prospered, he argues, citing the example of the Gujaratis, Marwaris, Punjabis. ''Have they lost their culture?'' he asks. And look at the north-east where people have remained confined to the region, he says. The region hasn't developed at all, despite money being poured in.

MARANDI'S AGENDA

Improve law and order situation

Focus on roads, power, irrigation, education

Generate jobs through value-addition

Create an investor-friendly environment

In fact, he wants a debate on what constitutes tribal welfare and how tribals can share the fruits of development. But not for him arguments that the government alone is the true saviour of the tribals. ''Jharkhand has so many public sector undertakings-Heavy Engineering Corporation, Bokaro Steel Plant, Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. How has the tribal benefited?'' he wants to know.

Marandi has a four-point developmental agenda-roads, power, irrigation, and education. It's the key to solving his biggest headache, the Naxalite menace. Industry will come only when there's adequate infrastructure, he explains, and the Naxalites can be neutralised only when job opportunities grow. Of course, he's also given the police a free hand to deal with both the Naxalites and the criminals who ran amok in erstwhile Bihar. ''Today that situation does not prevail in Jharkhand,'' he asserts.

Marandi is less anxious about tackling his second biggest problem, the image of Jharkhand being no better than its parent state of Bihar. ''Image will come with work,'' he says. Once there is proper administration, roads are built, law and order is maintained, power is available, the image will change. ''Then we won't have to try very hard to attract industry. People will be drawn to Jharkhand,'' he claims. ''It might take one or two years,'' he admits, ''but I am not impatient about changing the state's image.'' Unfortunately, in today's cut-throat world, that could be his biggest mistake.

REALITY CHECK: Chhattisgarh may have a headstart here. Remember it has inherited its it culture from Madhya Pradesh, which encouraged e-governance in a big way. So, it's not surprising that all the senior officials have the latest Compaq PCs on their tables, the purchase of mechanical typewriters has been banned, and all future recruitments and promotions in government will be linked to computer literacy.

Jharkhand's legacy, on the other hand, is Bihar supremo Laloo Yadav's well-publicised contempt for it. So, the closest the government seems to have got to being it-savvy is to have a person with a laptop sitting next to Rai, keying in suggestions about the industrial policy. But can computerisation of government offices help these late starters catch up in the IT revolution? Says L.K. Singhal, Chairman and Managing Director of Mecon: ''Availability of bandwidth and trained manpower will be the key.'' Both states claim they have that advantage. Bhilai, everyone in Chhattisgarh will tell you, sends around 50 students to various IITs every year. K.K. Sarda, Chairman and Managing Director of Raipur Alloys and Steel, proudly talks about how he wired up his entire factory, using only local talent. Both states claim they churn out enough engineering graduates which companies can draw on.

Kishore Anand, Vice-President, Enterprise Systems Solutions, isn't sure this will help. ''While these states may have engineering colleges, the cream of talent is not available here. Top rung it companies may not come here.'' The biggest hurdle could be the low teledensity-1.07 per hundred persons in Chhattisgarh and 1.10 per hundred persons in Jharkhand and the poor quality of power supply in the latter.

The Smarter Man

Both chief ministers need to scale down their ambitions a mite and work hard to swing things. Jogi started off well, making some smart moves like setting up of the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board in November and the central load despatch centre in December. In one fell swoop, Chhattisgarh became a power surplus state and industry, dogged by frequent power cuts under the earlier regime, was ecstatic. Then came promises to slash tax rates and power tariff. But the honeymoon with local industry soon ended. The tax reliefs didn't come, instead the budget levied fresh taxes. Protesting businessmen were lathi-charged and jailed. And necessary steps to plug revenue leakage haven't gone down well. Says Puran Lal Agarwal, Secretary of the Chhattisgarh Chamber of Commerce: ''Tax rates must be reduced to help us compete with other states.'' Rolling mills and sponge iron units reeling under hefty power bills have also been disappointed. Jogi, says V.K. Gupta, Managing Director of the Bhilai-based Beekay Engineering Corporation, has been promising revision of power tariffs. ''He has done nothing,'' he exclaims. Jogi is also seen to have frittered away all the advantages Chhattisgarh had as an investment destination, with his stand on BALCO and private sector operations in tribal areas. ''The positive messages hadn't started to go out, but the negative message went out first,'' laments Sandeep Jajodia, Managing Director of Delhi-based Monnet Ispat, who otherwise finds Jogi extremely industry-friendly. Seconds Navin Jindal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Jindal Steel and Power: ''He's a very positive person.''

Signals, unfortunately, are important. Laveesh Bhandari, co-author of a report ranking states as investment destinations, points out that large industry is extremely sensitive to government attitude. Videocon Chairman Venugopal Dhoot says the plan to set up a unit in Jharkhand was conceived around the time the state was to be formed and finalised when the motion for a separate state was placed before Parliament. ''It was then, and then alone, that we moved in,'' he asserts. Jogi, then, needs to go for an image overhaul.

Marandi, too, will have to shed his indifference to changing the state's image. Says Rai: ''With this image problem, we must make an extra effort to market ourselves. If we fail in this, no one will come here.'' Marandi certainly needs to publicise his initial successes on the law and order front, a major reason for investors keeping away. But his two-point strategy to tackle the Naxalite menace (socio-economic development and strict police action) seems to be working. Says Irani: ''There's a marked improvement now.''

Unlike Jogi, Marandi still has the confidence of local industry, though Irani is getting a trifle impatient for results. Says Siddhartha Jhawar, Managing Director of the Ranchi-based Chhotanagpur Rope Works: ''It's a very earnest government which is learning to grapple with issues.'' HFCL, for example, was pleasantly surprised to find the government helping it clear all formalities fast. It may have something to do with the fact that the plant is located in Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha's constituency, but Madhukar Sinha, Managing Director of the Bokaro-based Associated Plates & Vessels testifies to a definite feeling of positive change. However, Marandi's lack of assertiveness with the bureaucracy and the opposition he faces from within his government may spoil all that. Some pluses, some minuses. This will certainly be an interesting race to watch.

-Additional reporting by Ashutosh Sinha, Rakhi Mazumdar,
R. Chandrasekhar, Ranju Sarkar, & Vinod Mahanta

The Infrastructure Challenge

Poor infrastructure could derail the ambitious plans of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. If the potholes in the roads in Raipur's Urla industrial area can swallow up trucks, chemical units in Jharkhand's Bokaro industrial area are driven up the wall by water supply and waste disposal problems.

Jharkhand is still to get its act together. Roads are top priority for chief minister Babulal Marandi, who insists connectivity is the key to rural prosperity. But all that the state has done is to hire the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) as a consultant for a 300 km Govindpur-Sahibganj road, besides identifying several projects for the build-operate-transfer (BOT) route.

The state's power woes could short circuit many of its ambitious plans. Against an installed capacity of 1390 mw, the actual generation is a paltry 530 mw and the quality of this supply is also pathetic. Ask Rajiv Duggal, Managing Director of JMT Auto, which manufactures gears for Tata engineering, Tata Cummins, and TAFE. Duggal's state-of-the-art plant in Adityapur industrial area, faces 12 power breakdowns a day, damaging his computerised equipment. The state, therefore, is focussing on upgrading its present power plants and transmission and distribution equipment. Promises Jharkhand State Electricity Board chairman Rajiv Ranjan: ''I will make the state free of all load shedding by March 31, 2002.''

Unfortunately, the state is talking in different voices on privatising distribution. While the draft industrial policy promises to privatise distribution in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, and Dhanbad, the state Power Minister, Lalchand Mahto, won't hear of it. Industry, understandably is disappointed. Says V.K. Mehta, Managing Director of the Jamshedpur-based Eastern Tar: ''The government must get serious about privatising distribution.''

Chhattisgarh has got off to a good start. The Chhattisgarh Infrastructure Development Corporation (CIDC) has already given out 17 projects on a bot basis and is dreaming of a mass rapid transport system between Raipur and Bhilai. Interestingly, the Congress-ruled government of Chhattisgarh is working closely with BJP leader and former Maharashtra PWD Minister Nitin Gadkari, who scripted the success story of that state's highways.

CIDC is also working on projects that will catapult hick towns like Raipur and Bilaspur into happening places. The district jails in these two states are being relocated and the 50-acre plots will be home to commercial complexes, leisure facilities and mini-amusement parks. Asserts CIDC Managing Director Shailesh Pathak: ''We'll change the perception of these two towns.''

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