Letters: Great expectations

The editorial "Missed opportunities" (May 7) observes that the failure of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government to meet the expectations of corporates for quick reforms is the main cause of dampening investor optimism.

If the expectations were to be of hurricane speed, part of the blame should not only go to Narendra Modi's election strategy, which promised the same, but also to the corporate world if they believed those rhetorics. Still, the government has done much more for easing business operations than for the common man in areas of corruption, employment and quality of life.

Labour law reforms, despite opposition from trade unions, the placement of a pragmatic politician minister in charge of environment clearance, the Goods and Services Tax, enhancement of foreign investment and making Herculean efforts to modify the land acquisition system - all these have taken a lot of the government's energy to please business houses and dented its claims of being a pro-poor party.

But our business people behave the same way with the government as the trade unions behave with them - the more you give them, they more they will demand without being thankful for the benefits they already have. Take the much-dreaded labour laws. The government has turned a blind eye to their reckless violations and all you have to do to overcome the stringent provisions is to grease the palm of the labour law-enforcing authority. Bribing is cheaper than implementing those provisions. So, no wonder economic growth is healthy despite the outcry against strict laws.

Y G Chouksey Pune

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