RED CARPET FOR INDUSTRY

Chief Minister Kamal Nath is making a big push to bring industry to his state

-  Rahul Noronha

As Chief Minister Kamal Nath undertakes his annual pilgrimage to the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting at Davos from January 20, the big challenge before him will be to get business for the state. While Madhya Pradesh is primarily an agrarian state, there is now a fairly broad-based consensus that the state must outgrow its dependence on agriculture and build capabilities in manufacturing and services. Nath has been trying to drive that change since he took over in December 2018, and policy changes and legislative support have begun to slowly make a difference. Early on, his government saw the need to ease land acquisition and building laws. Circle rates were slashed by 20 per cent, and the number of documents required to get building permissions and layouts, from 27 to five. “Colonisers can begin work and don’t need permission. We will check for compliances after three years,” said Nath at Magnificent Madhya Pradesh, the state’s business meet in October 2019.