Laws are being tweaked to boost ease of doing biz

INTERVIEW SARBANANDA SONOWAL, UNION MINISTER

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Key bills that are awaiting Parliament's sanction will change the face of the shipping and ports sector in the country, enhancing the ease of doing business as well as giving impetus to jobs and the economy, says Union minister for ports, shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal.

In an interview with Smriti Kak Ramachandran, Sonowal speaks about the new bills, the changes that have taken place in the shipping sector in the last decade and how the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government's focus on the north-eastern region has resulted in a transformation on the ground in sectors such as health, infrastructure and tourism. Edited excerpts:

There are four bills piloted by your ministry that are awaiting passage in Parliament. How will the legislation impact the sector?

Since Independence, the Indian legal system had been clogged with thousands of obsolete, colonial laws, which created confusion, prolonged legal tussles and eroded our nation's credibility and trust in the fast-changing global scenario.

This led to decades of wasted opportunities and avenues, abysmally slow growth and immense poverty and misery for our people. Through Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visionary initiative of 'Reform to Transform', this government has repealed more than 1,500 old and redundant laws since 2014.