Making Jharkhand in sync with the Centre's 'Make in India' call and also improve ease of doing business' in the State, the Industry Department is almost ready with a report specifying the structural reforms required in various regulatory wings of the State Government.
The report card is based on the 98 points specified to do structural reforms in the Departments so that investment can be made easy.
As per the initial report, the Industry Department, which is the nodal department for the whole exercise, has found that substantial progress has been made in labour Department, Commercial Tax, Forest and Environment and even Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB).
"We had appointed 'Ernst and Young' as a consultant for preparing a report on ease of doing business in Jharkhand. Based on 98 points relating to procedure in getting clearances, time taken in granting approvals, set rules and guidelines etc, they have prepared a report. It suggests that the State has made substantial progress on those aspects in various departments which are most importantly related to labour issues, land, water and environmental clearances and taxes," said Industry Secretary Himani Pandey.
Mainly the procedures to get approval at department levels have been smoothened based on the 98 point agenda and the work to implement those further in the State would take more time. "It is a time taking process. Reforms cannot be done overnight. We have with us a set guideline and agenda and the reform process in all the departments would be done in accordance with that only," added the Secretary.
Moreover, ultimate goal is to find out ways for ease of doing business in Jharkhand and also score on the Centre's idea to rank the performing States for the investors. The rating would be in the lines of international levels and investors from across the country or even outside may feel easy to follow the grading points before venturing out. It is likely that the first 'report card' would be out by June or July this year.
An EY official said that the firm has collected and compiled 'best practices' from other states and presented before the concerned departments here as well to ease out the entire investment scenario. "We have studied best practices of MP, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, etc. for granting, to say, consent to operate from pollution board and presented it before the Board here. This, besides putting pressure on the officials concerned, would give them an insight about grey areas where improvement is required," he said.
On its part, the JSPCB has started working on listing 'green industries' in the State for which one-time consent to operate can be granted. This is being done in the lines of Madhya Pradesh where 544 such industries have been categorised that do not require regular renewal of the permission whereas no such practice exists here in Jharkhand.