Too much democracy in India, tough reforms difficult: Niti Aayog CEO

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Tuesday (December 8) said tough reforms are very difficult in the Indian context as “we have too much democracy”.

Kant made these remarks at a virtual event organised by Swarajya magazine. He said for the first time, the Centre has carried out hard reforms across sectors, including mining, coal, labour, agriculture, and the next wave of reforms must be pushed by the states.

“Tough reforms are very difficult in the Indian context, we have too much of democracy… You needed political will to carry out these reforms (mining, coal, labour, agriculture) and many more reforms still need to be done,” he said.

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“This government has demonstrated political will to carry out hard reforms,” he added. It is not easy to compete against China without hard reforms, opined Kant.

The Niti Aayog CEO stressed that the next wave of reforms must come from states. “If 10-12 states will grow at higher rates, then there is no reason why Indian won’t grow at higher rates. We have asked union territories to privatise discoms. Discoms must become far more competitive and provide cheap power,” he said.

Replying to a question on protests by farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, against the Centre’s new farm laws, Kant said the agriculture sector needs reforms. “It is very important to understand this that MSPs (minimum support price) will be there, mandis will remain…farmers must have a choice to sell their products as they benefit out of this,” he noted.

On Modi government’s “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” initiative, he said it is not about looking inwards, but unleashing the potential of Indian companies.

The government has identified 10 champion sectors for production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme and these sectors will play a major role in making India a manufacturing hub, and give the country economies of scale, Kant said.

“The PLI scheme is going to provide a huge opportunity to these sectors for 4-5 years to export,” he added.

(With inputs from agencies)