From 50 Years Ago: Break This Prison of Words.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry is the mouthpiece of organised industry and big business in this country. Over the past few years, it has striven hard to establish its bona fides and win the recognition of the Government, and it has done so with a measure of success. This has been an uphill task. For the Federation to win and retain a position of respect from a Government which is committed to economic planning in which the private sector was given an expanding role, would have been difficult in any case. The circumstances in which the Congress came into power, the economic chaos and aftermath of the war-time controls made it far more difficult for the Federation to win the status which it feels should rightfully belong to it.

The working of a mixed economy can never be smooth and free from friction. A division of the economic field between the public and private sectors itself leads to sharp clash of interests and there is resentment the moment the State goes beyond what private industry had come to regard in the past as its own sphere. Pressure of circumstances, however, has forced businessmen and industrialist s to concede much to the State and to recognise that economic development of an underdeveloped country calls for t hese concessions. How far has the acceptance of the extension of the public sector by the private sector been genuine and sincere? On this question, there is much room for doubt.