16 SOCIAL SCIENTIST 4 The inclusion of location among other control points of the private sector was hailed even in the international circles. "The location of new undertaking has gained considerable importance in the context of industrial planning in the recent years. The IDRA, 1951, has conferred wide powers upon the licensing authorities to ensure that new schemes, apart from satisfying other conditions, also fit into the general framework of the plan of industrial development on a regional basis." ECAFE Industrial Development in Asia and the Far East, Vol II, United Nations, New York 1970, p 242. 5 Government of India, Industrial Policy Resolution^ 1956. 6 Ibid. 1 This assertion is strengthened by the fact that Industrial Licensing Policy Enquiry Committee (Dutt Committee) was asked by the government ^to examine to what extent the licences issued have been in consonance with the policy of the government as laid down in the Industrial Policy Resolution of 30th April, 1956, particularly in regard to the regional dispersal of industries, the growth of small scale and medium industries, and the policy of import substitution". Government of India, ILPEC (Main Report) p 4. (Emphasis added). « G Myrdal, Economic Theory and Under-developed Regions, Indian Edition, Bombay 1958, Ch. 3. 9 H W Richardson, Elements of Regional Economics., (1969) Penguin Modern Economics Text series 1969, Ch 3, p 70-87. T ° For example R K Hazari, in his report on Industrial Licensing and Industrial Planning observed, ^as for balanced regional development the more diffused availability of power and what are in effect postage stamp rates for steel, cement and coal, together with the setting up of new industrial centres, mostly around public sector projects have been a positive beneficial influence as against the rather negative bias which industrial licensing has".—(Final Report p 4, Emphasis added). The role of diffused power supply and transport rates in regional development cannot be underestimated. What is important at this point is that Hazari failed to see that industrial licensing could have been "used in a positive way. *l For instance Commerce (weekly) had declared in an editorial note that IDRA had completely lost its relevance in 1969. "Industrial Licensing Should Go" Commerce June 28, 1969, p 1280. 12 R K. Hazari, Industrial Planning and Licensing Policy, Final Report, Government of India, Planning Commission, New Delhi. 18 ILPEC Main Report, p 4. ^ f Ibid., p 6. is Ibid., p 33. ie Ibid.,ip 114. 17 This should not mean that the disparities in approved licences were small. One must not forget that advanced states got 70 per cent of a very high number of proposals, while backward states got 60 to 65 per cent of a very small number of proposals. Thus it created glaring disparities as far as approved licences are concerned. Probably