Where Karnataka is heading? Development v/s guarantees

Congress is well ahead in planning advertisement campaigns. It is coining new phrases and catchy slogans in its colourful full page advertisements in all newspapers. In a recent advertisement on free electricity supply for 1.42 crore homes, they claim that it is 'inclusive and progressive socio economic development - Our governments motto…. '.It is attempting to work in this direction it seems.It's 2 months over. The Karnataka state government is now slowly  putting its mind on development of the state. If you take into consideration the pre election period it's almost since last 5 months there is no development activities in the state and it has resulted in decline of economic development of the state. It's a matter of concern. Fearing favoritism and misuse, the new government cancelled all payments due to the old contracts and was not eager to start new works. But now it has given a green signal to streamline the developmental work both old and new. With this, the new government has started giving all the benefits through the guarantees that has been provided in the election manifesto along with taking up of developmental works. The new SiddaKumar government  now steady with both implementing the guarantees as well as taking up the developmental works as provided in the 2023 - 24 budget.

Green signal given

Earlier this government has cancelled all the payments that was due to the contractors for the work done during the BJP regime. Recently it has issued an order to the effect to make payment for the earlier works done as well as taking up the new developmental activities enshrine in budget. This green signal will give impetus to the economic activities in this state. Now with this green signal, a normal working atmosphere has been created. Although the new government wanted to conduct many enquiry in to the previous BJP government contracts, the concerned ministers now has been authorised to continue the old works after considering all the issues involving it. The labourers hit hard  as all the works were stopped. Now the concerned MLA and ministers t authorised to restore to the pending works.

There were about 20000 contractors in the state in PWD alone. In the urban Development department there are about 12000 contractors and in rural development and Panchayat Raj department there are a book 15000 contractors. Totally there about 80000 contractors working on different projects. Now it is a big relief for these contractors and for 2.5 lakh labourers. Fortunately for this government , this year there were no floods in capital city of Bangalore. Even in the Northern part of Karnataka there is no much  flood situation like  last year. Otherwise government would have been busy in making relief and rehabilitation for the flood affected people. Now there is no such situation for the government. But the deficit rainfall in many districts may cause a drought like situation in the state. In many areas agriculture activities is rather slow due to the deficit rainfall and sowing   is yet to pick up.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar toeing the path of high command

Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar has no now denied his is won statement of nonavailability of funds for the development will work this year as all the resources resources have been pulled to provide pooled to provide if I guarantees the five guarantees announced by the Congress government. Earlier Deputy Chief Minister DK Shiv Kumar has made it clear during the m MLS meeting that there would be no funds available for MLA's for this year. But during the meeting with the high command in Delhi the Deputy Chief Minister has made a U turn and denied his own statement. He ensured sufficient funds are available for the development activities in the state. After all this new statement denying his earlier statement give way for the economic activities to continue in the state. Perhaps Shiva Kumar is now forced to toe the line of high command to stall all disputes regarding administration. This is a clear indication that the Deputy Chief Minister is  now following the chief ministers decisions.

It is to be noted that the Delhi meeting resolved to stick to the its developmental agenda and promote social sector schemes including 5 guarantees instead of getting drawn into war of words with the opposition on issues that trigger religious or communal sentiments.

Karnataka's aspiration to become trillion dollar economy

As the dust settled in Karnataka over what was seen by many as a foregone conclusion, it is now time to get down to the business of governance. Over a 35-year period, between August 1988 to May 2023, the State has had 18 different governments (many Chief Ministers more than once) and was under President’s Rule four times. So, it is 22 different configurations across a 35-year period, leading to a not-so-healthy average of 18 months per configuration. Karnataka is a synonym for instability if data is to be believed. One wonders what this augurs for the State with this kind of a history.

Karnataka aspires to become a trillion-dollar economy by 2032 and needs a 17%-18% Compound Annual Growth Rate in its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to make this happen over the next decade — the current CAGR is around 13% — thus, a steep task. During 2022-23, Karnataka’s per capita GSDP was around $4,000 which is almost twice that of India’s per capita GDP. Its GDP is around $250 billion, but the distribution is skewed, with the bulk of the contribution from the services sector. Of this, the roughly $60 billion digital economy is largely centered in and around Bengaluru, straining the infrastructure of a city which simply was not built for such explosive growth; therefore, building satellite technology and other clusters on the lines of Cyberabad, Mohali, Oragadam (Tamil Nadu), Navi Mumbai, and Naya Raipur (Chhattisgarh) is critical. Bengaluru has about two million knowledge professionals; a simple back-of-the-envelope calculation will reveal the staggering number of buses which deposit and bring back this workforce, in two shifts, from the four or five clusters within the city, almost bringing these places to a virtual halt. No other city faces this issue on such a large scale.

To make this possible the Karnataka state government has to tremendously improve the infrastructure facilities not only in capital Bengaluru City but also throughout the state. The roads in the rural areas have to be upgraded and energized. So as the irrigation facilities to agriculture,educational infrastructure, health facilities have to be improved. And lastly the unemployment problem has to be has to be solved.

( Dr Mysi Patil is the State Corredpondent)