True, there are large tracts within India which require substantial material and social upgradation. The government's concern in this matter is hardly misplaced. The solution adopted, however, is grossly so.

During the mid-cap and small-cap initial public offers boom in the early 1990s, thousands of companies which raised money projecting profits from tax freedom have disappeared. Their committment to value was far less than their avarice, and the subsidies provided them the perfect veil to throw over investors' eyes.

That apart, the government should pay some heed to the modern management theory, spelt out most clearly by Michael Porter. He says location is the moststrategic of business tools, and manufacturing facilities must be located closest to raw material and the respective markets.

Rather than hoping that individual corporations will, through their manufacturing, upgrade wastelands, the government must adopt a more responsible role for itself. Instead of tracts of wasteland, it must identify competitive advantages more entire underdeveloped regions, such as the north-east or eastern India, and frame integrated strategies. Such integrated strategies must combine development of social infrastructure such as education and public health, as well as harder political decision-making such as corporatisation of agriculture and land reforms.