India Ka DNA 2019 Conclave: What the business leaders and experts said on Indian economy

New Delhi: Zee Media on Wednesday hosted the “India Ka DNA 2019” Conclave where eminent business experts and leaders discussed and deliberated on a wide range of issues including digital India, farming sector growth and affordable housing.

The first session of the Conclave was being held at Hotel Taj Palace in New Delhi. Experts also discussed on the achievements of government in the last four years in the sector of economy and growth. The second session will have political leaders giving out their opinion on four years of PM Narendra Modi's government and on their vision for the road that lies ahead.

Here is what the experts said on a host of topics

Digital Dividend

Anupam Shrivastava, Chairman and Managing Director of BSNL talked about the changes that Digital India has brought into the country. He also added that BSNL is trying to begin 5G services in India by 2020.

"BSNL was the first to begin 3G in the country. Continuing the trend we are trying to begin 5G services by 2020," Shrivastava said in the panel discussion.

He emphasised on the need to focus on broadband for all that will take the country ahead on digitisation path.

Rural Resurgence

Several Agri experts talked about government's objective of doubling farm income by 2022. Issues like water supply for irrigation, fixing the MSP and creating a conducive market for farmers dominated the discussion.

Experts highlighted that water was a very important element of irrigation. “It is important to ensure that farmer gets ample water supply for irrigating farmland. Our dependence on Monsoon can be reduced if we pay more attention on this front,” RG Agarwal said in the panel discussion.

Vijay Sardana stressed on the need to arrive at a workable Agriculture model where the consumer pays a little more and the farmer gets a little more. He said, there are 3 types of cost in farming--A2 or direct cost, labour cost and fixed cost. In our country everybody talks on affordable price for consumers, nobody talks about giving more benefits to farmers. We need to focus on this area where the farmers benefit output can be enhanced.

Another expert highlighted the need to focus on farm harvest gate to the last consumer –the agri-logistics like storage, transportation, handling and processing –everything has to be in place.

The session ended with common agreement that it is more important to recognise agriculture as an economic activity and not a political activity. Farmers will be benefited if we work on policies towards increasing their farm output.

Affordable Housing

Real estate experts held discussion on Affordable Housing and how the government's dream of housing for all can be achieved through buyers and builders participation.

The interesting fact that came out from the panel discussion was the new thrust into tier 3, 4 and 5 cities. Experts said that a lot of development is taking place in the Sub-urban areas. Many of these developments fall under government's affordable housing scheme. Panelists also said that such types of conclaves, as hosted by Zee Media, will create more awareness among the buyers.

The conclave on economy ended with Union minister for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri's views on affordable housing.

The minister was hopeful that PM Modi's 'Housing for All' Mission by 2022 will be completed before time.

The governments has strong intent to achieve its Housing for All mission by 2022 by enabling home ownership for every Indian. Till May 31, 4.75 million homes had been sanctioned. 3-5 lakh homes are being sanctioned every month. And by June, 51 million we will have sanctioned homes. So going by this rate, I think we can achieve housing for all scheme target by the third quarter of 2019.