Sardar advocated Swadeshi, cutting red tape - Times of India

AHMEDABAD: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is primarily remembered for his role in the unification of India after Independence but Mahatma Gandhi's trusted lieutenant also had ideas to make India economically sustainable.

M C Bhatt, former trustee of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial at Ahmedabad who also worked as Sardar's secretary when he was Home Minister gives insights into his thoughts on the economy and finances of the newly-born nation. Bhatt has written a book: 'Sardar Patel's Ideas on Economic Policy - Their Relevance Today'.

Bhatt mentions that immediately after Sardar finished the integration of the princely states into the Union of India, he wanted to devote time and energy to the economic growth of the country.

In his speech at Mumbai in February 1948, Sardar said: "The future of India depends on how much more we can produce in the matter of foodgrain, clothes, iron, cement and other things required for the common man as well as the army. This is not only necessary to remove poverty but also to strengthen the independence which our country has secured by paying high costs and sacrifice and also for self-confidence."

In his broadcast in November 1949, Patel showed his displeasure over foodgrain imports. "If we had at our disposal the amount we have spent on food imports during the last three years, we could have completely rehabilitated those unfortunate brothers and sisters of our who have had to leave their hearths and homes in Pakistan and who are still looking up to us for relief and succour," he said.

In the same speech, he appealed to industrialists and labourers for maximum output and abolition of government red tape. "Let industrialists concentrate on getting the maximum out of their plants and machinery, let labourers lend their helping hand to industrialists to exploit their resources to the maximum national advantage. It will be government's duty to ensure the decks are cleared for action and there are no impediments, no bottlenecks and no red tape," he said.

About foreign investment, Bhatt notes that Sardar believed in proper utilization of such funds. "We must create a sense of confidence in the investor and in those on whom will fall the great national duty of utilizing investments. It is only then that we can successfully implement our efforts to stimulate investments and to ensure that every paisa saved is used in a great national endeavour to stage a recovery from a severe economic malaise," he said.

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