WEST BENGAL: NRC FEARS

in MP, there is no such depression. Auto sales have not seen a slump, like in other states. The other day, I was in Indore at a CII meeting, and people said there was no depression in MP. The state has not been affected by what is happening in the rest of the country.

Q. The state bureaucracy has often been blamed for delays... Well, I am the industries minister as well. The bureaucracy has undergone an attitudinal change. That chalta hai attitude has gone. Now, I meet most investors myself and ask, is this on or is this not on? Bureaucrats have to be ahead of the investor where pace is concerned. Most importantly, investors must feel that it is so.

Q. The prime minister travels all over the world marketing India, but do you feel that some regions have benefitted more in getting investment?

Well, I don’t know if the PM markets himself or markets the country. The investments that came in between 2014 and 2019 had originated prior to 2014. I don’t see any major new investment; records and statistics bear this out.

Q. Today, there is more a problem of unemployability rather than unemployment, which is where skill development comes in. What are you planning to do on that front?

The largest number of skill development centres, in MP or in India, are in my district of Chhindwara. It started 10-12 years ago, much before the Skill India slogan had become popular. We have to skill with an outcome in mind. It is the outcome analysis that will give an assessment of the success or failure of skilling.