JOIN USPM decries US move on jobs
Singh’s statement comes less than a week after US President Barack Obama ridiculed the existing tax code that provides for tax breaks to companies which outsource jobs to Bangalore in India rather than those which create jobs in Buffalo, New York. Obama had also indicated that the new budget proposal would disincentivise companies outsourcing jobs abroad.
“There are I think several US corporations who have been representing to the US Congress that these official restrictions on outsourcing to India and other countries would in fact hurt the competitiveness of the US corporations themselves,” he said, replying to a question on the US proposals on outsourcing, at a press conference here.
Singh also said: “I think governments take certain postures but they learn very fast” and that he was confident of the US realising the “reality” soon. “The very fact that US corporations have access to cheaper facilities in India also help them in their competition with their rivals... I am confident that in the not-so-very distant future the US government would recognise this reality,” he said.
Alhough Singh acknowledged that the prices of essential commodities were high, he said they would fall because of an expected bumper food production. “Our granaries are full and we will end the current year with record food stocks.
He said the five years of UPA rule had bettered the previous NDA rule on the economic front, saying the Indian economy grew at an “unprecedented” growth rate of 8.5 percent during its tenure.
Describing the Cauvery water row among the southern states as sensitive, Manmohan Singh said a permanent solution has to be found to the vexed issue. “If we come back to power, we will make it a priority,” Singh said. The sharing of Cauvery waters among the riparian states in south continues to be a ticklish issue during the summer months with Tamil Nadu demanding its share of water from Karnataka.
Dr Singh ruled out sending the army to Sri Lanka and favoured solution to the problem of Tamils in that country within a united and federal set up, ignoring demands voiced by parties in Tamil Nadu, including the Congress’ ally, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, for a separate Tamil Eelam.