State likely to hire advisors for about 30 depts to churn out biz proposals, ideas

KOLKATA: In a bid to churn out new business ideas, the state government is gearing up to appoint advisors in the rank of special secretaries for at least 30 departments.

The advisors belong to the corporate world.

The decision was taken after it was found that there were huge business opportunities in some departments.

However, the departments were unable to garner support from businessmen due to lack of concrete proposals.

Senior officials of the state government said apart from the Industry department, there are huge business opportunities in departments like Micro and Small Scale Industries, Animal Husbandry, Food, Agriculture and Agriculture Marketing, among others.

The departments need advice from the corporate world so that they can increase their efficiency as well as formulate certain policies, which can increase the productivity capacity. A senior official of the state government said: "In the last few years, the production of livestock and poultry has increased. But, due to lack of structured marketing policies, the farmers are not getting adequate revenue. Advisors will provide a structured marketing policy by which farmers can earn adequate revenue."

Another senior official of the state government said: "It was decided that the advisors will be given the rank of special secretaries and they will draw a salary of Rs 2 lakh per month. In each department, two advisors will be appointed who will help the government by giving it a comprehensive business proposal. The appointment will be made soon after the issue of a government order." Senior officials of the state government said modern government operates in a complex market of ideas, policies and factors. It requires thousands of decisions to be taken and acted upon each day. The information and communication technologies have not only increased sources of information and created new communities but have, at the same time, raised public expectations about government response times.

A key challenge to a successful government is the ability to make good decisions and communicate them in a timely manner, and as a result the state government has decided to appoint such advisors in various government

departments.