In Gujrat , Even poets pay taxes

As state inches closer to its golden jubilee year in 2010, the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) should take the lead in drawing up a charter for Gujarat's progress to make it a global engine of growth, Chief Minister Narendra Modi told a gathering of Gujarat Inc here on Friday. "As the apex trade and industry body, GCCI should work closely with the state government and put in place an institutional set-up for regular interactions," said Modi at the installation ceremony of GCCI's new office-bearers for year 2008-09. Urging trade and industry to think big and global, Modi said, "Earlier we could not think beyond Morbi clocks and Rajkot engine oil. Now even metro rail wagons will be made in Gujarat." But it was not just talk about Gujarat's progress in the past 5 years and its golden future. In his characteristic style, Modi jokingly referred to his five-year term as CM not as a contract but a responsibility to steer the state to prosperity. "I am not on a five-year contract as CM. I am committed to the state's development. If anything goes wrong, I am here to take the blame and if good things happen the credit is yours." In an obvious response to the poetic introduction new GCCI president Rupesh Shah gave of the CM, Modi expressed satisfaction that a state where industrialists were comfortable enough to indulge in poetry had to be prosperous and peaceful. "It's good to see that people in Gujarat are feeling the effects of peace and prosperity. Maybe GCCI should now also host mushairas. I have heard that in Gujarat, even poets are paying taxes," Modi joked. Earlier in his address, Rupesh Shah urged Modi to simplify the complex tax structure in the state and expressed GCCI's willingness to take on any responsibility the state government wanted to entrust it for the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat global investors' summit in 2009. And with talk of Lok Sabha elections becoming louder, Shah also expressed hope that Gujarat would give the nation its next prime minister and the one after that as well. - www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com