Speech Delivered in India Today Conclave 2006

India Tomorrow: Bridging the Divide

Topic: Can we bridge the Infrastructure deficit?

Once Mr. Churchill was asked what are the three most difficult things in life. He said :-
(i) Climbing a wall which is leaning towards you;
(ii) kissing a woman who is kneeling away from you (anyway what else can I say on thirty-fourth wedding anniversary); and
(iii) speaking before an audience which is more interested in dinner to be served than in your speech. Maran has taken more time than Is route ki sabhi line wyast hain" and Proful was hovering over Delhi for two hours.
Sometimes I feel that we Indians are so starved of development that even signing a contract we start opening a champagne bottle as if we have already got the airport. So my job here is that both the most efficient ministers because Prabhu has brought up - I am seeing Karan is sitting here - so normally you have best actor prizes. You don't have worst actor prizes because they don't turn up.

No this is no comment to Lalu. So the best two actors of this government in all true sense have presented their case. I am here to tell you the reality of the infrastructure. Because sometimes I feel that if you see only petals of a rose, you are optimistic. If you see only thorns, you are pessimistic. But if you see both of them together, then you are realist. I want to be realist. As far as the aviation sector is concerned, Praful was thinking why I was called here, I am connected to both the sectors. And sometimes I can say that as far as the aviation boom in this country is concerned, now I have to self propagate myself, I have more contribution to make than what Praful is trying to make. He is trying to make, it is yet to be seen.

Because I remember in 1994, when the private airlines came into this country they were called as Air Taxi Operators. They were not even allowed to publish the time tables because we had a law which bestowed upon Air India and India Airlines the monopoly in Indian skies. And there was a loophole as every law has to have some kind of a Air Taxi Operator and then East West and Jet started working. The then Minister Madhav Rao Scindia tried to introduced a bill to take away this monopoly of Indian Airlines and Air India and BJP opposed it.
Now, normally now-a-days we all support Indian Airlines.

But when I became Minister, we all used to abuse Indian Airlines, because it was the only airline. And then, Madha Rao was not a minister and after than Gulam Nabi came. And accidentally I became the Chairman of Transport Committee and he sought my help and then I convinced my BJP friends and we submitted a report to take away the monopoly of Indian Airlines and Air India so that these all airlines can become the scheduled airlines and that was much before Praful signed the agreement for two airports.

That was the only government initiative taken long back in 1994 to make the Indian skies free. What happened in ten years and I am not blaming him, though he said that Pramod – see politics can't go out of anybody. He said Pramod you know I don't want to play politics from 1998. Nobody sanctioned a pie to Mumbai airport. Now, I don't know he inaugurated recently a terminal from where the money came, it did not come in last twenty-two months. It is a continued process. But I don't want to go into that.

The question comes that airlines started coming and we had a mismatch with the airport and at no point of time we ever thought how to match – now as he is really saying that two hundred aircrafts, now two thousand will come – now he promised even Khajuraho world class airport – so Praful it is a very long way to go. And fortunately we are Indians. We are not Chinese who can build two Shanghai airports in three years. So let your airport be completed in your terms. I wish you every success to continue as Minister and get it inaugurated because it is very difficult, sometimes as Minister we marry pregnant brides and we celebrate somebody else success. In last one decade from two state owned airlines, we have gone to twelve. And Praful tells me half a dozen are waiting. I would request you that we should not reach in 1953 situation. Right from Gulam Nabi, I have told liberalization doesn't mean that you purchase one aircraft and start an airline. That is not liberalization. Nowhere in the world, twenty airlines can work. It never happens. So some day we have to find out.

Otherwise, it is very easy because wet leaves, dry leaves is available and so there are many challenges before you as far as aviation is concerned. I want to show some thorns so I don't want to rub petals.

I congratulate Dayanidhi Maran. He is doing a excellent job in the last twenty-two months as far as the telecom sector is concerned. But all of us know, whether aviation , where you have two hundred aircrafts, only Praful has ordered new aircrafts. Otherwise all these aircrafts have come from private sector.

Similarly, in telecom sector also, if you look at 1994, it is all from 1994-2006, these are the twelve years when Sukhram started it. And then came one policy, then another policy, the third policy, the fourth policy – I didn't like to take names Maran because I don't survive on leaders so I don't have take names. But there were many Prime Ministers who came and went and added something to this telecom sector, took risk and today we are seeing blooming of this sector and I as a former Minister appreciate and publicly I am ready to appreciate that you are taking this relay race even little more faster than what we did in the past and I really congratulate you.

But at the same time, let me say only two things – One as far as information technology is concerned, it is neither a technology nor a business. Information technology is neither a technology nor a business. It is the fourth generation of human communication. When we came on this earth, first communication was gestures. Then came the sound. Then came the written language. Now it is digital language. It is the combination of earlier three. And so this is the new language and though the numbers which you say and which all of us are proud of, make us proud, but when you go percentage-wise that in one billion people, people who know computers, people who can open e-mails, then I think it is a very long way to go, because I am afraid we have to bridge the deficit. I am afraid Americans might forget how to write because they are going all on e-mail. And so any communication, written communication with the advance world will almost become impossible and if we want Indians to be communicative, I think we have a long way to go. One more friendly suggestion to you, not an advice, - Junior Mittal is sitting here. My only complaint against telecom sector is friends you have touched the sky as far as quantity is concerned. You are still not international standard as far as your quality is concerned. If you don't agree with me, send me a Happy Holi message, it will reach me in Diwali.

Having talked about these two most successful sectors I would very fastly would like to touch upon two challenges – I don't want to call it unsuccessful. Whether you are aviation or you are mobile phone, what do you need in this country – the biggest challenge of infrastructure is power. We have to electrify the nation. Now, Praful rightly doing a good airport from Mumbai. We all Mumbaikars feel proud of you. But the next day, we read in the newspaper that Mumbai will face twenty per cent power-cut in summer. We have never imagined that Mumbai will ever have a power-cut. Our demand and supply shortfall is nine per cent. We have the highest transmission and distribution losses. Seventy-five per cent of the small and medium entrepreneurs in this country depend upon generators.

The slogans of the government are save power. I really don't understand. I am a student of science. You can't save power. How can you save the power? Power has to be instantly used. I can't save power – I will keep two nights of darkness so that tomorrow is my wedding anniversary so I will get few more lights. You can't do that.
Generated power not used is wasted. It is a like a Five star hotel room, the night gone, the room gone. It is useless. It is zero. But instead of spend power, Government is advising us save power. We have gone to hundred thousand megawatts in last fifty years – China has gone to six hundred thousand megawatts. I must feel proud when I read Hindustan Times that we have three times more billionaires than Chinese. They have eight, we have twenty-three. And all of us feel proud for somebody else money.

I was more worried that I should have more power than China instead of more billionaires than China. And here I would like to say that privatisation is not the only way, any how we have done it the wrong way. We started privatising generation. We should have started privatising distribution first, transmission later and generation last. We started privatising generation, we have a private power project and generated power, nobody knows who will purchase it. So we went the other way round. But anyway, whatever has happened, but today I think the state has to come forward to create power. One more point, roads. Because Praful flies in the sky with a machine. Maran is borderless, he doesn't need even a machine. But most of Indians travel on roads. So world class airports are not enough. That is not enough to infrastructure.

Now, India has 3.32 million kilometres of roads. Out of which hardly, sixty-six thousand roads are national highways – two per cent. And our forty per cent of transport goes on this two per cent roads. Now we, I hope both of you will take relay race – you have asked other Ministers to take relay race – forward. We had an excellent program we called it as NHDP. Because we do not name by persons so naturally we thought it National Highway Development Program, so we called it.

We decided that in this golden quadrangle, which includes Chennai Sir, to get best road, five thousand eight hundred forty six kilometres.
Within two years we delivered two thousand eight hundred and one kilometres. And in last two years four hundred and ninety three kilometres. The remaining is two thousand five hundred and fifty two.

Where are these roads? We had an excellent program, all of you know, Praful must be knowing it – Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna. It was named after Pradhan Mantri, so any Pradhan Mantri could have claimed success for it. But in present government Pradhan Mantris are not allowed to claim the success. And so that Yojna seems to be dropped.
I don't know what is happening to this Pradhan Mantri – can we not Indians not built up, yes we can built up. We have the Metro in Delhi, we have Mumbai Pune express highway, built up during regime of one government, we could have built up in Mumbai thirty-three flyovers one flyover per month. We could do it. But this road sector is waiting.

I don't want to go on an on then you will think that and there are too many foreigners sitting here so this high-fly Indian tricolour – so nobody should get this opposition leader is just trying to bring it down and down and down. But Sir, last three – this urban development is one infrastructure. You should not forget. Forty per cent of Indians are living in urban area. There is nothing like rural urban.
Forget about it. All rural India is coming to urban India because in the villages you have nothing to export. And when you have nothing to export, you export the population. Bangladesh does it, so does the Indian villages. And so naturally we have to see – look at the slums from – why Praful can't make a base to airport because half of his land is occupied by slum. He can't vacate it because his colleague MP will not allow him to do.

Now this slum – Is India slum? When I went first to U.K. on their invitations, I was from Mumbai so I want to see slums and how you develop them. So they showed me something and when I sat with the City counsellors so I asked them one small question – how did you define a slum. Now, he said slum is an apartment which is not fully air-conditioned and there is no twenty-four hours hot and cold water supply. I said with this logic Taj Palace is a slum. Now we have changed Surat, we have changed Thane, we have changed Nagpur. So it is not that we can't change the cities, the urban areas. This one great infrastructure you need, you need water management. This water bottle is as costly as petrol. Slowly the gap between water and petrol, you can't put it in car, you can't drink petrol, both have same prices, you can't mix even. Now we had an excellent program, now Dayanidhi fights for Kabir, rightly so, we had an excellent program of connecting Ganga with Cavery. A river connectivity. I don't know what has happened to that program. I don't hear it. Water is life.

The air, champagne is all extra. Thirst of water cannot be met with any other liquid. So this kind of a river connectivity is more needed. Friends I don't want to go on an on as I said. Governments are relay race. Prabhu, Arun called me today here for this gala dinner to speak. I felt very happy. You know when you are not a Minister, you miss such occasions.

I am sorry you thought about me, no.. no I am warning them. After having heard them, I am confident if their tribe increase in their own ministry, there is no scope, only one can be added. So if you have to be replaced, India can breach the infrastructure deficit. It needs only three things, sustained commitment which Dayanidhi Maran is showing in his sector or which Praful Patel is showing as far as Delhi and Mumbai airports are concerned. What you need is sustained commitment. Secondly, you need a continuation of policy. Governments may come, governments may go. People don't vote on airports, who told you, after Indian shining again you are telling me that good airports are going to give me votes. Who told you that people vote on telecom.
Sir, you took the relay race. I made all the speeches before you.

I made bhikari to carry telephone, but they did not vote for us. And so government comes, governments go, what you need is continuance of a policy. And thirdly what you need is some degree of a national consensus as far as the infrastructure policies are concerned. If you have these three things, I am sure that the dream which Dayanidhi is seeing or which Praful is seeing and trying to fulfil, I wish they will fulfil. If they don't I will come.

Thank you very much.