Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit - Economic Freedom for the States of India held in Jammu and Srinagar

Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit - Economic Freedom for the States of India held in Jammu and Srinagar [Druckversion]

Economic Freedom for the States of India held in Jammu and Srinagar

The Friedrich Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit together with its partner Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation organized two workshops in the state of Jammu and Kashmir recently. The programme in Jammu on 17.06.2008, jointly organized by the University of Jammu, invited Mr. Janak Raj Gupta, the political advisor to Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir to interact on the subject of Economic Freedom for the states of India with a special focus on J & K. On the other hand, in Srinagar (19.06.2008), the seat of parliament in summers, the Deputy Chief Minister of J & K, Mr. Muzaffar H. Beigh, participated in the discussions on the issue of Economic Freedom.

The objective of the programme was two-fold,

a) to create awareness on the issue of Economic Freedom amongst the people of the state and show the ranking of the state vis-à-vis other Indian states as ranked in the Index, and
b) to encourage a discussion and debate on the areas where the state could reform thereby getting a higher ranking.

In Jammu, Mr. Janak Raj Gupta supported the ideas of economic freedom, however, pointed out that the role of the state could not be undermined. Mr. Gupta stated that the conditions of J&K remained unique in India and recognized that it would be very difficult for the state to exist on financial aid. The state lacked the entrepreneurship qualities if compared with the other states of the country. He also suggested that the state would relax regulations in order to facilitate business environment in the state and attract investments.

In Srinagar, the programme was jointly organised by the Islamic University of Science and Technology and the presence of Muzaffar H. Beigh, the deputy CM of the state was an important part of the programme. The Deputy CM also ensured that the state became an equal partner in conducting the programme by agreeing to share the cost of hosting the programme. The deputy CM argued in favour of implementing policies which provided greater economic freedom to the citizens of the state. He identified the administration (burocracy) as one of the major hurdles in the development of the state.

The deliberations from the programme were extremely fruitful. The state and other important stakeholders like the academia, policy-makers, the civil administration and media are largely unaware of the concept of Economic Freedom. There is still a mindset about an ever increasing role of the state in development. The state lacks private enterprise and elements of economic freedom are not so easy to adopt. Though, there were few who did not agree to the concept, but even they recognized the benefits of Economic Freedom for their state.

It was imperative to initiate the discussion on Economic Freedom in the state. The state has very few liberal elements and there are important aspects that the state needs to fulfill before they start understanding liberal solutions.

The chief researcher, Dr. PD Kaushik, Associate Director. Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, made a presentation on the Index. The Friedrich Naumann Stiftung für die Freiheit was represented by Subodh Kumar.