Davos (Switzerland): At Davos, Sunil Mittal tells NDTV that despite the concern over scams at home, investors are not disenchanted with India.
"People are celebrating India. We in India are trying to talk more about our problems, but the world is seeing India as a great place to do business, great place to come and invest. I think that's what we need to celebrate. Let us celebrate our successes, let's showcase those good things," said the Bharti Group Chairman and CEO.
Breaking his silence for the first time after the 2G scam turned into a national controversy with the government's auditor saying losses could add upto 1.76 lakh crores, the telecom czar said, "I think we have a fine Telecom Minister who is looking after the issues now. He's been there for a very short period of time but made a very strong commitment to deliver a new National Telecom Policy (NTP). He has got a 100-day plan. So, I think, let him pull together all the pieces... I am very hopeful that we will have a long-term, sustainable telecom policy."
He also outlined his preferred areas of improvement for India, emphasising that development vs environment needs to be a carefully-balanced equation.
"We need the last burst of reforms, which are now under debate... some FDI issues. We are looking at some pressure which comes from the area of environment that needs to be dealt with. The good news is that the world, as it engages with India, recognises that India has to have a growth rate of 9-10 percent to serve its people to help them come out of the poverty and into the mainstream. India will need to grow and for growth we need to consume resources and I think our government is again engaging with the world when they are giving commitments to carbon emissions, carbon controls. I think very good balance is achieved. I am very hopeful... the government should grow the industry, create employment , ensure there are enough taxes for social programmes. We will all su! pport th ese programmes as we go forward," Mittal said.
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"People are celebrating India. We in India are trying to talk more about our problems, but the world is seeing India as a great place to do business, great place to come and invest. I think that's what we need to celebrate. Let us celebrate our successes, let's showcase those good things," said the Bharti Group Chairman and CEO.
Breaking his silence for the first time after the 2G scam turned into a national controversy with the government's auditor saying losses could add upto 1.76 lakh crores, the telecom czar said, "I think we have a fine Telecom Minister who is looking after the issues now. He's been there for a very short period of time but made a very strong commitment to deliver a new National Telecom Policy (NTP). He has got a 100-day plan. So, I think, let him pull together all the pieces... I am very hopeful that we will have a long-term, sustainable telecom policy."
He also outlined his preferred areas of improvement for India, emphasising that development vs environment needs to be a carefully-balanced equation.
"We need the last burst of reforms, which are now under debate... some FDI issues. We are looking at some pressure which comes from the area of environment that needs to be dealt with. The good news is that the world, as it engages with India, recognises that India has to have a growth rate of 9-10 percent to serve its people to help them come out of the poverty and into the mainstream. India will need to grow and for growth we need to consume resources and I think our government is again engaging with the world when they are giving commitments to carbon emissions, carbon controls. I think very good balance is achieved. I am very hopeful... the government should grow the industry, create employment , ensure there are enough taxes for social programmes. We will all su! pport th ese programmes as we go forward," Mittal said.
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Print Story Kanpur, January 26: Locals and activists took to the streets here to protest the award of the President's Police Medal to the city's former Deputy Inspector General of Police Prem Prakash, accused of shielding the rapist of an 11-year-old girl last year."DIG Prem Prakash was squarely responsible for shielding the owners of Gyansthali School, where Divya was raped and sodomised following which she died the same evening on September 27 last year," the victim's mother Sonu Singh told mediapersons here today."It was this very officer who beat up protestors who gathered on the streets to raise their voice against the horrors inflicted on my daughter, it was he who was responsible for false implication of an innocent boy who had to remain behind bars for 89 days", she said.The girl was allegedly raped by the son of the school manager."I am shocked that a lady chief minister like Mayawati has rewarded this officer who was responsible for the physical abuse, torture and death of an innocent minor girl," she added.The officer figured in the list of awardees whose names were announced on the Republic Day today, following a recommendation of the Uttar Pradesh government."He (Prakash) doesn't deserve any medal. He himself is under scanner for showing laxity in supervising the investigations of the case," one of the protestors, Neeraj Mishra, told reporters in Kanpur, some 80 km from Lucknow.Shouting anti-government slogans, protestors burnt the effigy of Prakash.What irked the demonstrators even more was that the state government did not care to withdraw its recommendation even after the state police's Criminal Investigation Department (CI! D) found his conduct doubtful in the case.Even the state's Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh had said at a press conference Jan 13 in Lucknow that "the CID found the then Kanpur DIG Prem Prakash guilty of dereliction of duty", and addeed that a separate probe had been instituted into his role by Additional Director General of Police (law and order) Brij Lal. The probe was to be completed in 15 days."Awarding the President's Police Medal to Prem Prakash amounts to showing disrespect to the Republic Day. It is a matter of great shame," said Gyanesh Misra, a leader of the Kanpur Traders Association who led the demonstrations here.Prem Prakash had even gone to the extent of raiding the local editorial office of the Hindustan Times that had spearheaded the expose of the Divya case, protestors said.Prakash is now the DIG of Jhansi. (IANS)
