A former additional chief secretary [Industries and IT] to Kerala Goernment suggested some views:
To focus on a few areas, which could contribute toindustrial development, the number one area is . We should use road, rail, inland
Navigation, coastal shipping and airways, fully. K-Rail will take care of the goods and passenger transportation. Once inland navigation is completed within five years, the slow-moving, large-volume will move to that, decongesting roads. The movement of hazardous materials and bulk carriers could be shifted to coastal shipping.Secondly, regarding the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), we have a long way to go. What has been done in the past is, rightly, that we are trying to give approvals faster. But fundamentally, I have a difference of opinion, because I feel that many of these licences are not necessary. We just need to do three things: A) Remove unwanted approvals, licences, NOCs and restrictions after a review of all requirements of licensing and approvals. B) Procedure for giving these could be simplified. C) The process should be automated, bringing human interaction to a minimum. Singapore Government gives time limits for licences in hours, not days four hours is the time needed for starting a new company there.
One drawback I noticed in EoDB is that we are depending on in-house agencies to deliver these. We need the help of a professional external agency to maintain Software and monitoring systems round the clock. So, EoDB should be done in PPP mode with one of the best professional consultants coming on board.