Protectionism is a knee-jerk reaction: Kamal Haasan

May 09, 2018

The real performing India is not on the radar: S Gurumurthy

FICCI National Executive Committee Meeting features special sessions with Kamal Haasan and S. Gurumurthy

 

CHENNAI, 9 May 2018: Actor, Director, Producer & Founder of Makkal Needhi Maiam, Dr. Kamal Haasan today said that protectionism is a knee-jerk reaction and we don't have to follow Europe as India has its own philosophies.  

 

He was speaking on globalisation and protectionism during the special session of FICCI's National Executive Committee Meeting at Chennai.  

 

He also stressed that the diversity of the nation calls for a federal outlook and we do have to fight for regional rights.

 

Emphasizing on the need of small entrepreneurs, he said "I truly believe that the survival of Tamil Nadu would rely on small entrepreneurs. There must be more employment generation and engineers trying for the post of village administrative officers must stop. The new 'Satyagraha of the Nation' must be about developing skill in every vertical", he said.

 

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, "there is enough for man's need but not his greed" , he said that Tamil Nadu today needs attention badly. "At the Makkal Needhi Maiam, we are working with a group in Harvard. We relay our ground level problems affecting industry and receive good advice" , he added.

 

Mr. S Gurumurthy, Economic Expert & Eminent Journalist, Thuglak in his address said, "The shelf life of ideas has been getting progressively shorter. Colonialism and capitalism existed for 150 years but globalization is being questioned in 25 years. Why? There is no permanence in direction as we have built a fundamentally unstable polity and market. Today, even small things like by-election results get highlighted by the media and this has disturbed our capacity to think with a futuristic vision". 

 

 "Family based societies such as India and individual based societies need to have a different approach.  The economy, savings, investment pattern, HR, discipline differs. We need to move away from the idea of putting all our savings into banks, gold and real estate," he added.

 

Stressing that real performing India is not on the radar of India, Mr. Gurumurthi asked, "Do you know which place in India has the highest per capita income. No, it's not Delhi or Mumbai. It's Morbi in Gujarat where out of 2 lakh people 1.4 lakh are employed and they don't speak a word of English" .

 

Earlier, Mr. Rashesh Shah, President, FICCI welcomed Dr. Kamal Haasan and Mr. S Gurumurthy for the special session to share their views on various aspects of growth. 

 

Mr. Sandip Somany, Senior Vice-President, FICCI, gave the vote of Thanks.