Letters: Online progress, offline lags

This refers to the report "India aims to better business ease rank with online portal for project clearance" (January 20). It is a matter of great concern to see that an entrepreneurship endeavour will take almost a year to come to life even after so many years of economic reforms, and after the so-called licence raj was abolished. While we appreciate the concept of project clearances through a single portal, only digitisation will not help. We must also orient the attached government machinery with the right kind of investment-friendly outlook and bring the desired change in the mindset. It is disturbing to know that this forward-looking project is facing stiff opposition from some government departments for not so valid reasons. The government must act firmly on such issues and drive the project to its desired completion. It does not sound encouraging to be ranked 134th out of 189 countries in the "ease of doing business" index when we project our country as the most desired investment destination to global investors.

M L Kabir Kolkata

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