Commerce and Industries Minister Kamal Nath and Commerce Department Secretary G K Pillai, who have together championed India’s case at the World Trade Organisation as well as successfully battled opposition of all hues to make the Special Economic Zone policy a reality, have been out of step of late. A few weeks back, when Pillai said that the country may miss its export targets and that the Government may consider expanding the maximum area of SEZs from the current 5,000-hectare limit, Nath promptly dismissed both the ideas. Last week, again, when the Goa Congress did a flip-flop on SEZs embarassing the Congress leadership, the Commerce Secretary honoured the state’s wishes about the approved SEZs, but stressed that the three SEZs already notified cannot be scrapped legally. Next day, when Kamath met Nath in Udyog Bhawan, Nath contradicted his secretary again, saying the Goan people’s wishes wouldn’t be ignored. For some time now, Pillai has been identified as Nath’s cloak of credibility on these ticklish issues. Having played his part, the buzz among babus now is that Nath is dropping the cloak for his political expediency.
