Prof. Saugata Ray, Minister of State for Urban Development to inaugurate the seminar on “Towards Industrial Revival of West Bengal-- New Directions and Policies”
IIM Calcutta Campus, Kolkata, September 23, 2011: In its golden jubilee year, IIM Calcutta is hosting a joint seminar with IIM Bangalore and Indian Overseas Bank on “Towards Industrial Revival of West Bengal-- New Directions and Policies” being held at IIM Calcutta campus during September 24-25, 2011. The seminar will have a series of panel discussions and open sessions on substantive issues concerning the industrial revival of West Bengal. Leaders from Government, Industry, Academia and Practitioners will participate in session with substantial allocation of time open discussion. The recent change of government in West Bengal opens an opportunity for academics and practitioners to reassess and propose new directions for the economic trajectory of West Bengal.
This seminar aims to provide a forum for dialogue on policies and initiatives that are needed to bring about a rapid and sustainable revival of industry in the State. This seminar will bring together academics and practitioners from government, business and civil society to share their analysis, experience and ideas.
This seminar seeks to promote dialogue towards evolving a strategic policy perspective that takes into account both the larger economic context of the potential competitiveness of the industry/services operating in W. Bengal, as well as local and industry level issues of relevance to business and government practitioners. The latter set of issues includes promotion of employment, improving the state government’s resource mobilization capability, development of small scale and traditional industry clusters, land acquisition, induction of private sector participation in infrastructure and restructuring of older enterprises. Success in this major task of industrial revival and re-orientation depends on clarity with respect to economic strategy and macro-economic vision and the ability to manage the politics of the policy choices, as well as readiness to put in place appropriate institutional mechanisms for successful policy implementation. There are contributions from academics, industry and financial sector representatives, government leaders and officials, and civil society practitioners.
Themes: The seminar will focus on the following major themes:
- Strategies for a Turnaround of the Industrial Economy of W. Bengal
- The Human Resource Dimension—New Strategies for Health, Education and Employment
- Promoting SME and Traditional Industries
- Policies for Large Scale Industry—Towards Revival, Restructuring and New Beginnings
- Achieving Competitiveness in Services in Bengal—a Roadmap
- Expanding W. Bengal’s Economic Linkages with the Asian Region
Seminar Programme
24 September:
9:00-9:30: Registration
9:30-11:00:Session 1
Inauguration
a) Orientation and Welcome
· Chiranjib Sen, IIM B
· Amitaya Bose,IIMC
· Nupur Mitra, Executive Director, IOB
· Pankaj Chandra, Director, IIMB
· Chair: Shekhar Chaudhuri, Director IIMC
· Inaugural Speaker : Prof. Saugata Ray, Minister of State for Urban Development, Government of India
“Industrial Resurgence of West Bengal—the Way Forward”
· Q &A
11.00-11.15 : Tea/ Coffee
11:15-13:00: Session 2
Strategy for Industrial Growth in W. Bengal
· Chair: Mihir Rakshit, Director, Monetary Research Project, ICRA Limited
· Speaker 1: Abhirup Sarkar, ISI Koltata
“Breaking Out of the Low Productivity Trap—Towards a Growth Strategy for W.
Bengal”
· Speaker 2: Sugata Marjit, CSSSC, Kolkata
“Regional Competitive Advantage — What Role for W. Bengal in the Indian Economy”
· Discussant:
· Pulapre Balakrishnan, CDS, Trivandrum
· Open Discussion
13:00-14:00: Lunch
14:00-15:00: Session 3 :
Panel Discussion
“Strengthening the Human Dimension of Growth—Health”
· Chair: Dr. Saibal Gupta, Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery (Retd) and Chairman, ICARE
· Speaker 1: Dilip Ghosh, IAS, Special Secretary, Health, Govt. of W. Bengal
“The Health Scenario in W. Bengal”
· Speaker 2: Achin Chakraborty, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata
“Health Care in West Bengal—Are Public Private Partnerships Effective?”
· Comments from Round Table of Invited Representatives of Industry, Banks, Government, Academia
· Open Discussion
5:00-15:15: Tea/Coffee
15:15-16:45: Session 4:
Panel Discussion
“Revitalizing Small Scale and Traditional Industry”
· Chair: Nirmala Banerjee, CSSSC (Retd)
· Speaker 1: Keshab Das, GIDR, Ahmedabad
Promoting Industrial Clusters—Principles and Lessons of Experience”
· Speaker 2: Saikat Sinha-Roy, Jadavpur University
“Leather Goods Industry in W.Bengal
· Speaker 3: Jayanta Aikat, Govt. of West Bengal
“Handloom Industry in West Bengal”
· Speaker 4: Pradip Kumar Biswas, NISTADS, CSIR, New Delhi,
“Technological Change and Income Generation in Handloom and Conch Shell Clusters”
· Comments from Round Table of Invited Representatives of Industry, Banks, Government, Academia
· (Rajlaxmi Kamath, IIMB)
· Open Discussion
September 25
9:30-11:00: Session 5
Panel Discussion
“Policies for Large Manufacturing Industry”
· Chair: Dipankar Dasgupta, Indian Statistical Institute (Retd)
· Speaker 1: Parikshit Ghosh, Delhi School of Economics
“Land Acquisition for Industry—Critique of Bill & A New Approach”
· Speaker 2: Raghu Ram Tata, XLRI Jamshedpur
"Land Acquisitions in a New Policy Regime: Corporate Strategy Perspective"
· Speaker 3: K. Ranganath, Chairman & Managing Director, KIOCL Ltd
“Strategies for Natural Resource Intensive Industries”
Speaker 4: Sankarshan Basu, IIMB
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“Reviving Public Sector Establishments—the Case of Mining and Allied Machinery Corporation”
· Comments from Round Table of Invited Representatives of Industry, Banks, Government, Academia
· Open Discussion
11:00-11:15: Tea/ Coffee
11:15-12:45: Session 6
Panel Discussion
“The Services Sector—A Road Map for Bengal”
· Chair: Alok Ray, IIMC (Retd)
· Speaker 1: Roopen Roy, Managing Director, Deloitte Consulting
“IT Services Industry in Bengal—What could be Achieved with Right Policies”
· Speaker 2: Suresh Bhagavatula, IIMB
“Incubating and Developing IT Entrepreneurs—Lessons from the NSRCEL Experience”
· Comments from Round Table of Invited Representatives of Industry, Banks, Government, Academia
· Open Discussion
12:45-13:45: Lunch
13:45-15:15: Session 7
Panel Discussion on
“Strengthening the Human Dimension of Growth—Education and Demography”
ü Chair: Raghabendra Chattopadhyay, IIMC
· Speaker 1: Anup Sinha, IIMC
“Higher Education Strategy for Bengal”
· Speaker 2: Jyotsna Jalan, CSSSC Calcutta
"Quality of Primary Education in Rural Bengal"