New Delhi:
In an exclusive interview to NDTV's Group Editor Barkha Dutt, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has made it clear that airlines in the country have one week to cut air fares or they could be in trouble.
Here's the transcript of the interview: Barkha Dutt: Praful Patel, as the year draws to a close and you sort of look back at it, it hasn't been that good a year. It's been a bumpy ride - there was the Mangalore crash, there have been problems with Air India and now you are sort of in this position of confrontation with all the private airlines over fares. We'll get to that in a moment, but are you kind of grateful and hope, relieved that the year is coming to a close?
Praful Patel: Well, I think it's really nothing to be relieved or excited or whichever way you look at it. It's a question of continuity. It's one more year where we have contributed a lot to the growth of civil aviation and I'm sure everybody will acknowledge, and I would be happy if people did, that we have been able to transform this sector since the last six years into a very vibrant one. While of course when the sector grows there will be challenges, there will be not everyday a good time and therefore, one of the few things which have happened this year, which has really saddened me, has been the Mangalore crash. I'm sure there will be lessons to be learned and everybody in the system will make the necessary amends.
Barkha Dutt: But when you look at the big picture, don't you feel a sense of frustration that in UPA I, you were able to achieve a lot, you were able to bring in changes into the sector, and now when you look at at least this year of UPA 2, there is a sense of constant confrontation with pilots on the one hand, with the environment ministry on the other, with private airlines, and I mean you seem to be dowsing fires in every corner?
Praful Patel: Not really, You see when you talk of UPA 1, you see, the initial years we had kick started most of the things, and when you kick start a process and do initiatives like airport modernisation, joint ventures, the acquisition of aircrafts, opening of new airlines, new routes, more airports - so all these things give a different picture to the people, but now what we are doing is actually consolidating, and in fact a continuity of most of the things which we have started. So, therefore, everyday cannot be exciting like yesterday, but the fact is that aviation has gone through worst times in 2008 and 2009. People don't realise that when oil prices have go to 147 dollars, when global recession sets in, when domestic economy slows down, all these factors affect aviation the most and therefore, today, when we reflect back to 2004 and 2005 and then interim two years, this 2010 in fact has been a good year again for kick starting the second round of reforms in aviation. While whatever has happened was good, I would say background to the whole thing, I think the future is very, very exciting. That is what I personally feel - that if there is one sector which can be termed as sunrise sector for India in the future, aviation can be one of them.
Barkha Dutt: But you have spoken about global fuel oil prices, now global oil prices are what private airlines are citing today to say that the minister doesn't understand why we need to raise prices. Now you had a meeting this week, you said you have done something to bring down the fares but you got something to do much more. Are you not being (they are saying) sympathetic enough to these rising fuel prices, they are basically saying look if you want us to cut fares, do something about aviation turbine fuel that nobody in the government is willing to lift those taxes. So is it realistic to expect airlines to not respond to the global fuel prices?
Praful Patel: No I'll be very candid, see taxes on fuel, nobody need complaint extraordinarily...
Barkha Dutt: Vijay Malia is complaining?
Praful Patel: No, I'm not talking about him. All airlines knew when they started business that these are the taxes of the land and there is a level playing field from the national carrier to last entered, so nobody should feet that there is a discrimination. Yes, rationalisation of taxes or reduction in taxes has been even the supporting line of the ministry we are taking up this case with states, because states sales tax is involved, we are taken it up with the Centre, but that apart, the issue is that the government does not regulate fares, government does not actually wish to regulate fares, the fact is demand-supply and actually aviation has grown in the last five years on the back of low fares, competitive fares, so we should not ignore the fact that the government is supportive of the airline industry when it comes to bringing more passengers to flying. So we have been supporting them. The issue here is, suddenly, there is a demand-supply mismatch. I agree that the aviation in 2008 and 2009 slowed down and therefore, when the economy again took off in 2010 there were more flyers and suddenly airlines could not get that number of seats, but you can't overnight say, just say, that there is demand-supply mismatch. A Mumbai Delhi ticket on economy will suddenly be Rs 30,000 or Rs 40,000 if you buy at the last moment. The issue again Barkha is about spot fares, the fares of the tickets that you buy at the last moment. It's not about the tickets that are bought in advance - they are still competitive, they are still reasonable and they continue to be reasonable. The reason is because there is enough competition. Today we have seven airlines in the country. It's not the days 10-15 years ago where you use to know one station manager of the Indian Airlines because he could only get to a seat at the last moment.
Barkha Dutt: But aren't you contradicting yourself because on the one hand you saying that the government is not a regulator in a liberalised environment which what the people like Vijay Malia have said that actually the state is interfering in an area that is not its business, but on the other hand you are saying this type of cartelisation...
Praful Patel: No, they should be thankful Barkha that we have not being interfering and in fact I'm also thankful that competition has brought in a large number of people to flying because of good fares, reasonable fares but that does not mean that overnight, because there is a demand-supply mismatch you suddenly start exploiting the situation. That is where the government has the power to step in or government should steam in, after all, there is an outrage in people's mind about. Suddenly you know if I were a person of reasonable means and if I had to go last minute in the medical emergency or some personal reason and I had to pay Rs 40,000 to go Mumbai-Delhi or anywhere within the country, how is it justifiable? How can the government at that moment say that I am a mute spectator? I can't help it, so that's the only issue, we are not telling airlines tomorrow that don't charge reasonably whatever is good for your bottom line.
Barkha Dutt: Would you consider capping the spot fares?
Praful Patel: No, we are capping anything, we are asking them first to be transparent. You see today if you go to the airport, at least if you go to the website, most people now go on to the website - so when they go to the online booking, they can know at least that whether if you go today you can get the fare at this price, or if you go tomorrow or at the last moment this will be the fare, at least that option should be there, I shouldn't discover that when I go to the airport that this is the fare.
Barkha Dutt: But is there a fare beyond which you will not allow? Let's say the Delhi-Mumbai sector which you spoke about the spot fare being Rs 30,000 on economy, and you are clearly looking at this and saying that the airlines are exploiting the situation, this is over the top, is there a limit that the government would set if the airlines don't decrease on their own?
Praful Patel: You see Barkha, worldwide and in India, we do not regulate fares, what I said earlier. The reason is that every airlines offers a different level of service, you went on an Air India or Kingfisher or Jet Airways, you are expecting much more service. You went on another carrier you expect a little lesser service, it's not a question. Now every carrier will have a certain cost for giving the service which they want, so it is the question of airlines deciding what is the best fare because ultimately if there was no competition I can understand government decides fares. With so much competition, seven airlines is not less in our country and if you have seven major airlines, they definitely would, if not today or tomorrow, the situation is the demand-supply mismatch cannot be permanent so when there will be more supply then the airlines will start competing with each other. Issue here is what is reasonable, what is unreasonable is a very, very I would say difficult question to answer but there is a tariff monitoring unit in the DGCA which in the event, when we find such kind of situations can go into checking whether the airlines are actually judging much more that they actually incur the cost.
Barkha Dutt: What is the timeline you are setting for the airlines to reduce the cost further and if they do not comply what will be the response of your ministry?
Praful Patel: See the two things that we have done is that in the last few weeks, especially this all happened around Diwali, didn't happened before that so as in when it started within a week we asked all airlines, the DGCA rather spoke to all the airlines, and told them that we want transparency on clarity and inform passengers basically what is the level of fares which are being charged on a particular day, that apart we have also told them that you cannot charge these kind of exorbitant fares. I mean, if your average ticket was say Rs 5,000, on a last minute you can charge Rs 10,000 I can understand. But if you charge Rs 5,000 and then Rs 40,000 there is no justification, and tomorrow therefore the DGCA, then at that moment will exercise its regulatory powers. The second thing we have done is that we have formed a civil aviation economic advisory where we call passenger associations, industry associations, people from all walks of life who are stake holders in aviation so they can interact, they can bring it to the notice of the airlines, to the government, to the regulator that what are the issues that are confronted by them.
Barkha Dutt: What response have you got so far from the airlines?
Praful Patel: I think we got a very positive response. In fact, yesterday we had this meeting where we formed a working group between the passenger association and the airlines and other stake holders, a small working group which in a week's time will give us a some kind of input on how the fares should be displayed, what the airlines should be passing on as information and also in a way bringing in some kind of discipline about reasonableness in last minute spot fares.
Barkha Dutt: Now holiday season is coming up, lot of people will be travelling in the next month. Are you saying in a week, that we can expect private airlines to reduce their spot fares further?
Praful Patel: Well, I would expect that and if doesn't happen I'm sorry to say then the DGCA will exercise some powers and I don't wish to be sounding threatening to anybody...
Barkha Dutt: But you are giving a warning.
Praful Patel: Of course the warning has to be given; ultimately the ministry cannot be looking the other way when most of the travelling public is facing some kind of... I would say, I won't call it harassment but I would call it certainly a very, very difficult situation.
Barkha Dutt: What can the DGCA do?
Praful Patel: Well we have many residual powers I don't want to... that's the point
Barkha Dutt: But you will not hesitate to use those powers if the airlines did not complaint?
Praful Patel: Of course they showed, if they don't fall in line they should exercise, and believe me Barkha there is also enough scope even to go to the competition commission. Even if there is some gray area if somebody does feel so, the competition commission ultimately if everybody decides to have very high spot fares, then competition commission which is also set up by an act of Parliament can step in and in the long run what we propose is, therefore this advisory council is also going to help us, we want to set up a larger civil aviation authority which is also autonomous by an act of Parliament which will have far more powers then the DGCA and the far more role also and far more teeth I would say rather than the DGCA has.
Barkha Dutt: I was going to ask you does all this throw up a need for civil aviation regulator like we do have in some other sectors that is independent. The independent regulator that looks at prices that looks at all these controversies, do you believe there is a need for that?
Praful Patel: Of course because the sector is growing. The India's civil aviation in 2004 was un-recognised all over the world, we had 100 airplanes of all the airlines domestic and international all put together. Now we are the vibrant sector, we are the ninth largest aviation market already in the world and within next five years we will be in top five and within the next ten years India will be the third largest civil aviation market in the world, so that is not a small responsibility for the future and therefore, everything cannot be then dictated and determined by the government alone, there has to be some independent authority. As I said far more wider powers, far more scope of work, and that is why we are looking at setting up a civil aviation authority for the future.
Barkha Dutt: You speak about it being a vibrant sector and in many ways of course the proliferation of private airlines points to that, but the national carriers to urge in a sense from crisis to crisis. Now one of the thing that the Air India management has been repeatedly speaking is about how they need the equity in future, because they borrowing it at a very high rates and they are saying that if the government were to provide them this Rs 1200 crore equity infusion, then it would save them about Rs 1000 crore per annum. Is this something that you believe is the reasonable demand and can we see any possibility of this happening?
Praful Patel: See, absolutely one thing has to be understood that Air India is the national carrier and will continue to be the national carrier and there is no doubt in my mind, there are different views which always keep coming up that you should privatise Air India, you should do this with Air India, fine...
Barkha Dutt: I was going to ask you are privatising something... well completes the first thing then we will get into that...
Praful Patel: As far as the government's commitment is concerned, Air India has the government's 100 per cent backing and therefore equity infusion that we were talking about should come may be as early as this week or may be next week. The real issue is...
Barkha Dutt: It would have to be get cleared by the cabinet...
Praful Patel: Of course it will go to the cabinet, but in principle the government is committed because it's already budgeted for in the current budget so there is no real issue on that. But the real issue is...
Barkha Dutt: But you have had some of resistance from Finance Minister and Home Ministry.
Praful Patel: No, I don't think that those issues to be publically discussed, they are minor issues which...
Barkha Dutt: Have those obstacles been crossed?
Praful Patel: Of course we have, I have spoken to Finance Minister who was quite objective and positive. The issue about Air India is, one must understand, that it was the lone carrier of the country. When competition comes definitely everybody's market shares start declining. People should look at Air India and Indian Airlines as one entity then. Has Air India and Indian Airlines grown since 2004 or not. In 2004 the Air India and Indian Airlines combined had less than 75 aircrafts, today both of them combined have more than 120 aircrafts. Their capacity has increased, their reach has increased. When competition comes naturally your share in the pie will naturally shrink because there are more entrants. Jet Airways enjoyed 60 per cent market share only about five years ago, and now Jet Airways market share is around 25 per cent. So, it's not that Jet Airways have shrunk, neither has Air India shrunk, the pie has grown bigger. The real issue for Air India is, and which I feel that sometimes pains, that we have not been able to, I mean we as I say the entire system of Air India, the people of Air India, have not been able to change according to times and that is what sometimes you know, it is sometime unfortunate that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.
Barkha Dutt: You said that in an interview a week ago. What does that mean? You didn't elaborate it. Are you saying that it's badly run?
Praful Patel: No I feel that... yes, there is a lot of shaking up to be done in Air India and I can assure you that now the Parliament is over I'm seriously looking at... Not good for a minister to be actually looking at running an airline, neither do I intend directly but I would certainly be looking at it much more microscopically than I have ever done in past. Because otherwise you yourself will say there is a conflict of interest here. Praful Patel is looking at Air India's interest only and not looking at the sectors interest, I get accused both ways. When I look at sectors interest they say that I'm looking at this fellow's interest or that fellow's interest, I'm over looking on Air India's interest. This is an absolutely unfair situation to be in, but at the same time I can assure you that Air India will and does and will continue to get the attention that is deserves, I will be taking of much more charge of lot more things to be able to turn it around and I can assure you all is not lost in Air India.
Barkha Dutt: When you say that the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, what do you mean exactly? But they are management issues within Air India?
Praful Patel: Of course there are management issues, there are many people in the organisation - some are well meaning some are I don't want to say well meaning, but certainly not living up to the expectations what are required.
Barkha Dutt: It's perceived that the CMD of Air India and you don't see eye to eye on aviation?
Praful Patel: No, not at all, I don't... why you bringing a CMD with a minister, I have a larger responsibility, he has a responsibility to run Air India and I am sure he is doing what is necessary.
Barkha Dutt: Is privatisation an option for Air India?
Praful Patel: I personally cannot comment on this because it is a larger decision making process of the government.
Barkha Dutt: What do you personally feel?
Praful Patel: Personally I feel that little bit of injection of private equity, not talking about privatisation, but certainly by way of an IPO, bringing in more stake holders, bringing in more participation of others besides the government will certainly help Air India in the long run. It is desired, but at the moment I don't think the time is right, we have to do lot of home work to reach that stage but that's exactly what I'm saying is my intend, that I intend to do much more microscopically about Air India than I did in the past. Now that does not mean detractors keep coming and saying that as I said earlier that you are ignoring the interest of Air India for the private sector. Now this debate will go on if you have an industry where private sector and public sector compete with watch other the minister is in a very difficult position then to be told to do this and to do that. I mean look at telecom, look at media, your own channel, every other sector of the economy - power, roads, everywhere now private sector is coming. There used to be only government, but now with competition things change. Why we talk more about aviation, because it is service sector. It affects you and me every day. So the moment you interface with the service sector it becomes more in the public news, that's the only difference, otherwise the same applies for the other service where the government was the lone provider earlier.
Barkha Dutt: What would be your first priority when you turn your attention to Air India? You tried to revamp the board, you tried to get credible... well there are now credible people but do you think that one of the option is to get a really prominent aviation professional and handover the management of Air India to someone outside of government?
Praful Patel: No, they have already got a CEO from overseas, that's not the issue. I mean I'm happy they are experimenting with few things but as I said that is not enough. We need to take it little further and few things I tell you if Air India can get its on-time performance, certain standards of cleanliness, I would say little interface with people which is more friendlier. Not that they are unable to do it, not that they have people to do it, but as I said everything, you may have a great experience on flying and suddenly something like baggage may get lost or some small thing which may spoil the entire party, as you say, so that kind of situation still exists with Air India. That's what I meant when I said that the left hand and the right hand... everybody worked in sync, the passenger experience of Air India can really be still very great
Barkha Dutt: One last question, I know that you perennially asked about whether the merger was a bad idea. The Parliamentary Aviation Committee has its own judgment on it being erroneous. Is demerger an option at all?
Praful Patel: Certainly not, and otherwise as I said earlier, the merger is done with good intentions, the merger has been done thoughtfully. It's not Praful Patel alone, committee of secretaries, government decisions don't just get taken overnight. Committee of secretaries, full group of ministers, there was a leading consulting company Accenture which gave a presentation and did everything to give everybody a confidence that it is a good decision and after then only this decision was taken. Number two, is this the first time the merger of two companies has taking place? The Air India and Indian Airlines were themselves merger of various airlines in the past. Kingfisher and Deccan merged, Jet and Sahara merged, internationally many airlines in the world have merged, major airlines in the world have merged. KLM North West and so on, I can keep on reading a list. In India Public sector Banks have merged, Insurance companies have merged, so what is the big issue, the issue is... it's not about why is everybody questioning the intend of merger and what is so sacrosanct if two airlines were to merge, was it something wrong, fundamentally wrong? Has anybody lost his job?
Barkha Dutt: They are saying that profits have been much better, that's what aviation committee and Parliament says.
Praful Patel: Well anyway, I respect everybody's views on a particular subject, but let there be a healthy debate, not just the one side debate without knowing and aviation is a complex business, I can assure you sitting on this chair it may sound very glamorous or very glittery outside, but the fact is there is lot more meaning to aviation then looking on a plane or a fancy flight, so there is lot more.
Barkha Dutt: One of your other big battle is the Navi Mumbai airport. Are you confident that now every obstacle is out of the way because it was a conditional clearance from the Environment Ministry?
Praful Patel: No I don't think it is the conditional clearance. I mean of course, you have to do one two three but that is all what is possible and has been agreed upon. In fact, Navi Mumbai airport should have been up and running by now because the fact is the Mumbai airport is now one of the busiest and now most constraint airport I would say. The main runway now for nine months is virtually closed from 9AM to 6PM and look at the impact that will have on Mumbai's economy. Already Mumbai's economy in terms of tourism in terms of business, all will get affected, employment, all these issues are linked to aviation. You see nobody understand the larger picture the multiplier effect the aviation has.
Barkha Dutt: You are hopeful for a new timeline to be set for Navi Mumbai airport or not yet?
Praful Patel: If it is not up and running by 20-15 which is just a very tight schedule I'm talking about, then I don't know what will be the larger impact on not only on Mumbai, but the economy of India.
Barkha Dutt: I'm glad that you brought it up because I want to talk about the big picture, the mood in the country right now. Looking at the UPA 2, there is a sense among many people that it's not able to resolve its internal contradictions on issues of ideology, specially when it comes to economic reforms, there is a huge debate over Lavasa, there is a debate on corporate India right now, all kinds of things. In a sense there is a part of UPA 2 that is socialist and there is a part that is pro-reform. Do you have to grip it first in your own ministry, these contradictions within the UPA 2?
Praful Patel: No, I don't want to talk about the contradictions within the UPA 2 but I can certainly say and want to point it out, I have a fair connection with corporate India because of my past business association. I can tell you that things are not very happy there, people do have little bit of questions here and there in their minds.
Barkha Dutt: There are some demoralised today, the PM has to speak about that as well...
Praful Patel: I wouldn't call it demoralization, but you were like on a high and everything was, I mean everybody was gung-ho and upbeat, I think that mood is little bit slowed down and that I think the government in its collective wisdom should try to address and make everybody feel like nothing is wrong and nothing has changed. You can go about doing your business and look at the 9% GDP and the India story is still very strong.
Barkha Dutt: One of the spectacles that we have seen in the recent weeks is of the business of a leaked phone conversation that involved corporate lobbyist and PR representative Neera Radia, as a matter of irony I would have to count in these in detail my conversations that have also been released into the public...
Praful Patel: You are not alone.
Barkha Dutt: That's what I was going to say, now you have surfaced in several of these conversations, we have seen those references in the Press, she clearly doesn't seem to like you very much but beyond that the principal reason for these conversations to be leaked out to public. You know the Supreme Court is now looking at it, the PM is now looking at it, some people are stating that this is in public interest, the people have right to know, why to brush it under the carpet?
Praful Patel: No, what is public interest, these conversations have been taped by agencies for a particular reason and if that reason is to be made public, I can understand but any and every conversation of lobbyists and their agent if it's going to be made public then I think it is a shameful thing, I just cannot understand that you know this debate about public interest goes on and on about everything, if we have to discuss and debate everything in the public then I don't know how decisions will be taken in the government, I'm not trying to say that government should not be responsible to public. I certainly don't mean to undermine that responsibility but the fact is let people work and then you can discuss and debate what the aftermath of that decision is, you can't pre-judge a decision and discuss and dissect in public.
Barkha Dutt: So you are disturbed by the leakage of these tapes?
Praful Patel: I'm not disturbed at all because she is a well-known lobbyist of Delhi. She came to my Ministry and to me personally many times in 2004 and 2005. I remember her wanting a license for herself in the name of Magic Air. She is a British citizen; our regulation, our laws do not allow foreign national to hold more than 40% acuity in an airline, so I said you cannot get it and she went here and there and lobbied many ministers and many bureaucrats and tried best to get a regulation to suit her. There is no way we can do it and there is no way one would want to do it and I'm sure since then most of the smear campaign or bad press and I'm sure lot of your beradari (people from your profession) had also contributed in helping her. So I'm not bothered about her and ultimately we live in Delhi, I have been here now 20 long years- also in parliament- so I know how the system works and I know these kind of interest groups keep spreading smear campaign and I think we got to learn to live with it, as long as our conscience is clear, as long as we know what we are doing is right and this seat of aviation is especially a hot spot because you know everybody wants to lobby for something or the other, and it's for us to handle it judiciously and that's what we have done.
Barkha Dutt: But you know when you have ministers, but not just you, a third person conversation that have described various ministers as either corrupt or compromised or incompetent all of these adjectives. Now these were the private conversations but they are coming out in the sections of the press. Do you believe that the Ministers involved should respond? Do you believe that they should ignore it because these are third person conversations, what should be the response? Is this the issue of public accountability?
Praful Patel: I don't think we should be bothered about these frivolous conversations after all, should we be wasting our time on answering these kind of questions, I think best is to ignore it.
Barkha Dutt: Even if the charges involve potential corruption charges?
Praful Patel: What is the question, ultimately two people are talking some nonsense and without any basis, should we be or should the country be wasting time and try to find the ghost where none exist.
Barkha Dutt: Do you believe that there is a sense of disquiet among many, now that the private conversations are out there in the public domain, how should this be handled because one view could be - and I would say this is the journalist that more information is a good thing - so for example when I was asked about my conversation I explained to my viewers what those conversations were and were not. Should politicians take the same cue and say this is what it is.
Praful Patel: Yeah, but we are not discussing ourselves, its the third person, you had to explain because you were in the conversation but as far as we are concerned what are we supposed to answer, because somebody has an view and somebody has a tainted view because of a personal prejudice of not getting a licence, why should I waste my time answering her.
Barkha Dutt: The PM today spoke about the fact that there is disquiet in corporate India that God knows how many phones are under tap, is there a sense of genuine worry you sense from people you know in corporate India?
Praful Patel: This kind of fear is very much in the mind of corporate India and many other people. I think its best to allay these fears and I'm happy that the PM has spoken, because at the end of the day nobody has the authority to tap the phones illegally and therefore if the system has got some certain protocol, I think only the PM and its good that he has spoken and only he can make sure that the protocol is followed in letter and spirit.
Barkha Dutt: As we end, can we look into the big picture, we had a Parliament session that hasn't worked and it hasn't worked as day's real work because of the logjam over the JPC. There is also a sense that Mr. Patel that many allies of the congress including the NCP would not oppose a JPC into the 2G scam. What is the NCP's position on this?
Praful Patel: We fully support the line the congress party has taken as part of the UPA, the reason is its not the question of a JPC or no JPC, the government has taken certain decisions and also look at it the other way Barkha how many times do you see a minister resigning, CM resigning, the government has ordered a CBI probe, the government has also agreed to Supreme Court monitored CBI probe , the government went to the extent of saying that the PAC should be further strengthened by allowing all the agencies reporting to them and giving them inputs, what more does a government need to do and other issues are also being handled by the other ministry. So the issue here is if the government would have done nothing, if the minister wouldn't have resigned or if the government has not agreed to further investigation or what are the other issues, I certainly would have conceived that the JPC would be necessary.
Barkha Dutt: But the parties like the Trinamool have said although they will go by the PM, the Congress decision on this, the Trinamool thinks there is no harm in a JPC.
Praful Patel: I have been a member of JPC earlier, the previous JPC on Ketan Parekh's scam, I was the member of that JPC but the fact is that JPC will take two years. Its not the question that I'm undermining the process but the fact is what are you set to achieve, you want to see that guilty are punished, you want to see that, if at all they are faulty they should be corrected, I'm sure the government is doing every possible thing to do that.
Barkha Dutt: Would NCP be opposed to JPC?
Praful Patel: No, we are not opposed to JPC, but the fact is, is it necessary? Let the government in its collective wisdom take that call.
Barkha Dutt: You don't think the government looks defensive in its consistent refusal to have a JPC?
Praful Patel: I don't want to go into that area but the fact is the government has been pro-active, its a dead wall if you are not moving here and there, then I can understand that the JPC demand is very valid but when the government has gone that much further and has tried to be as transparent and as open to the whole thing as possible then why should be so much on the demand of the JPC.
Barkha Dutt: Many people are looking at the government, looking at the people and saying this is the government in drift, it's a government that is distracted by one crisis another crisis, not able to take decisions not able to respond publicly, not able to take charge. Do you feel as being part of the government that UPA 2 has not gone as well so far as UPA 1.
Praful Patel: No I don't think that is true, but the fact is as I said its the same about my ministry what you did in UPA 1 is in continuity in UPA 2, every day you can't be coming up with 70,000 crore farmer relief or hike the NSP or NREGA or the important decisions which were taken in UPA 1, in fact UPA 1 took major decisions to be coming back as UPA 2. So I don't want to look at it that way but I certainly feel that the because of these issues which have come up like this 2G issue and various other like the CWG and many other things which came up have spoiled the mood to an extent and therefore put everybody slightly on the defensive, I think post whatever the actions has government taken and will take again in the future, I'm sure this defensiveness once shades away things will look positive as before.
Barkha Dutt: And what's your forecast for your own industry. You said somewhere that in 2050, at Global IATA conference I think, that there are going to be 12 airlines that will survive among them at least three would be Indian. What's your basis for that confidence?
Praful Patel: I said it to you earlier that India will become the third largest aviation market in the world after USA and China in the next ten years. So is not a forecast it's a fact which everybody will acknowledge. And I'm sure if that is the situation India as the third largest aviation market in the world will definitely occupy the third of the aviation space in the world, so that is certainly a confidence and I can assure you one more thing as I said earlier, the sunrise sector of India, next ten years aviation will see more than 100 billion dollars of investment either in planes or infrastructure, it will create so many millions of jobs for young Indians; like IT, telecom changed the face of young India Aviation is also one of those sectors which will change the face of young India for the next ten years.
Barkha Dutt: Well you got your hands full, we will look forward to see what you do Praful, Thank you so much.
Praful Patel: Thank You.