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| Centre helping in revival of J&K economy | | |
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
Jammu, December 26:
The Centre has been helping the government of Jammu & Kashmir in availing benefits of various schemes for the revival of its economy. In fact, J&K gets far more benefits by way of incentives than several other states, according to senior government officials.
Senior officials associated with different ministries of the Union government told a group of journalists from J&K in the national capital Delhi that it was important to spread awareness in the state regarding various Central schemes. The citizens can avail of facilities like soft loans from the banks and consider tying up with outsiders to set up employment-generating units if only they knew about these schemes, they added.
During a trip to the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Noida, senior officials explained the concept of SEZ in detail through a power-point presentation. The industrial units in such zones are exempt from certain taxes that are levied otherwise.
The government also provides facilities like land, uninterrupted electricity and soft loans for setting up units in these economic zones. This helps the entrepreneurs in setting up their units very quickly and cut overhead costs.
The idea behind setting up the SEZs is to create employment opportunities as also manufacture quality products for domestic as also the global market. The top priority of the government is to absorb highly trained manpower by way of creating jobs in a good environment.
The SEZs thus become islands of excellence in backward areas where few opportunities exist otherwise. The SEZs are set up only in areas where the land has been lying fallow or where only one crop per annum is produced, the officials explained.
The emphasis is on creating top class manufacturing infrastructure in backward areas so that scarce resources like land (otherwise lying fallow or producing very little) and trained manpower can be utilized properly.
The SEZs usually follow a single window clearance system and the necessary sanctions for setting up any industry are granted very quickly. This helps in avoiding delays that lead to cost overruns and make the manufactured products costly and uncompetitive.
The Central government helps state governments in setting up SEZs on receiving requests for doing so. Some of the thrust areas in SEZs are information technology (IT), high value electrical and electronic goods, gem, gemstone and jewellery workshops.
These high value products help the states to run highly profitable ventures and also earn foreign exchange.
The incentives offered to the individuals are varied and income-tax exemptions, excise exemptions, transport subsidy, subsidy on power and uninterrupted power supply play a major part in the SEZs and attract big companies and small.
The visiting journalists were taken to some manufacturing units in the SEZ. One of the companies with a turnover running into several hundred crores is a leading IT company while the other is a manufacturer of high quality electronic goods.
The production units were spotlessly clean and the employees highly skilled, the journalists learnt during an interaction. The officials made it clear that strict norms are followed in the SEZs as far as implementation of labour laws are concerned.
The officials emphasized that small newspapers and media houses working in the hinterland could play in important role in taking the benefits of the Central schemes to the most backward areas |
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