On a day of remarkable consensus, the Left, Liberal and the Right agreed on the need for socially equitable growth during an interactive session here today.But there was consensus at the end of the debate on India in the emerging global order, as evident from the words of state Finance minister Asim Dasgupta. While calling for an “alternative IMF or WTO” model, he did not altogether rule out competition. “A global order should take us to more competition but there should be social concern, too,” Dasgupta said. In return, BJP national spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, “We hope your (CPI-M) Delhi counterparts also speak the same language.” But Javadekar was quick to point out that India’s entrepreneur-led growth was taking place “despite the government, not by the government”.Abhishek Manu Singhvi, MP and national spokesperson for the Congress, said the Indian economy is characterised by the much-used concept of a glass half-full or half-empty. He said: “What we see today is a reverse economic imperialism. Over 100 Indian companies have a market capital of US$ 1 billion.”But the other side of the coin, Singhvi said, is India’s poor ranking in the Human Development Index (HDI). “Fifty per cent of the world’s hungry populace live in India,” he pointed out.While on the issue of development, the participants differed on the issue of land acquisition for setting up special economic zones (SEZ). Dasgupta defended the Buddhadeb government’s land acquisition policy in Singur. “We have compensated farmers by offering a price that is 30 per cent more than the market value,” he said. Javadekar retorted by saying that a 30 per-cent higher mark-up was not enough because the concept of market price is unrealistic in such cases. “They should be given a value that is 300 per cent higher than market price, as is the case in Gujarat. The government should recreate entire infrastructure of villages.”Singhvi also pointed out that value of land appreciates after SEZs are set up, and this should ideally be the market price for calculating compensation. Summing up the session, Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-chief of The Indian Express who was moderating the interaction, said, “They (participants) were at daggers drawn but today they arrived at a consensus…. Rasta alag alag, lekin nishana ek hai (different roads to reach the same goal).”
