Inking the truth | Shivang Satya Gupta | Editor-in-Chief
With the state government celebrating its first ‘success’ in getting corporate investment in J&K after Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) announced to make its 500-seater Call Centre functional in the state from April next year the local entrepreneurs have again started questioning the sincerity of the state government in grooming the sons of soil in business sector. The entry of Reliance Communications in J&K is a welcome step as they have proposed to establish 100 seater call Centre providing jobs to 3000 youth but what irks the local entrepreneurs is who is going to benefit in the larger game; Reliance or the state? The question assumes significance as big corporate entities enter into any agreement after securing huge benefits and other facilities from the government and in return provide just three thousand employments but if same courtesies and facilities are extended to local entrepreneurs it would have benefited the state as a whole with the entrepreneurs growing further and the money remaining in the state. On the other hand by giving away numerous facilities to big corporate entities the major revenue share would be grabbed by the corporation while the state would get a meager employment to just three thousand of its youth that too temporary. Similar questions were raised by the local entrepreneurs earlier too when the businessmen of the state were harassed on one or the other pretext but similar facilities were extended to corporate people like Ambani to set up their centers in J&K. The problem with the state is that everything here is illegal if it is done by a local entrepreneur while the state government gives similar things to outsiders on a platter thus negating its own policy of helping the local youth to groom as also compromising the unique identity the state has. While there is no denying the fact that big corporates would get bigger investments but how much does it need to setup a 1000 seater call centre that a local entrepreneurs cannot do if the state government gives him same red carpet welcome as it gives to likes of Ambani etc. Many observers are asking whether the courtesies were extended because of some consideration for which big corporates are famous adding why the state government forgets its own enterprising people who are ignored here but appreciated the world over. The announcement by Reliance which is actually a sequel to Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s meeting with Anil Ambani, owner of ADAG (Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) in Mumbai last month in his mission to woo the outside investments in the state. Similarly people are asking why local film makers and educational institutes are not encouraged in PPP mode and other schemes while the government goes whole hog to please the Bollywood filmmakers inviting them to shoot here and extending numerous facilities while the local people even don’t get permissions on time. The moot question that people of the state are asking is whether coming of Reliance Group or any other group in the state would benefit the company or the state as people have a right to know.
