JOIN USAfter Dharam Singh, Kumaraswamy, Yeddyurappa and others, a single party rules Karnataka with a stable majority. Envious and greedy dissidents must be prevented from rocking the government boat. Siddaramaiah, an upright politician with no family baggage, is a good administrator.
As chief minister he must be supreme and the local Congress president should advise him only in private. In the year or less before his party loses power in Delhi, he must, unlike his predecessors, lobby in Delhi for benefits for the state.
The most urgent are the energy and water. Karnataka gets most of its fossil energy needs from outside. Karnataka needs extra allocations of electricity from the central pool. It must get another nuclear power plant. Environmentalists blocked coastal power plants using imported coal. Andhra added around 30,000 mw of new capacity in coastal power plants under construction, despite a powerful environmental movement. The GAIL gas pipeline must be completed soon. Though expensive, LNG can also be piped for domestic use and for transport. A gas terminal on Karnataka’s coast for LNG for power generation and fuel is needed. We need serious exploration of our coast line for oil and gas. All potential for wind power, bagasse and rice husk based co-generation, biogas, and other renewable energy, must be stimulated.
Privatisation of electricity distribution, proposed by the S M Krishna government and since forgotten, must be revived. It will improve distribution efficiencies and maintenance while thefts can be brought down. The misguided free power to agriculture without even metering, to small and large farmers, and without improving efficiencies of pump sets, must be rationalised, if not eliminated.
Water is scarce in most of the state, monsoon dependent, with Bangalore being expensive to supply. Rain water harvesting is compulsory but needs enforcement, with penalties for not introducing it. Bore wells must be ruthlessly pruned to match water basin availability, licenced and charged for water used. Water rates in Bangalore must cover at least operation and maintenance costs. Water storage must be encouraged in rural areas.
The Central government must be asked to upgrade the present rail and road networks to carry larger loads and more passengers. Land mafia with tentacle in government agencies, especially in Bangalore, its hinterland, and other urban areas, must be cleaned up. It should not be difficult to find another Jaikar Jerome to revive the BDA to identify and allot lands for people for house construction. The chief minister must move to clean up the Bangalore city corporation, now in the grip of real estate contractors. We must revive the proposals by A Ravindra and Samuel Paul, to reform the structure and governance of the corporation.
Road construction in Karnataka is beset with corruption. Poor roads and worse maintenance are not the result of lack of lack of funds. Large amounts spent each year on roads appear to be enriching contractors, bureaucrats and politicians, and not benefiting the state.
Priority attention
While old Mysore state continues to perform well, the parts that came from the Bombay Presidency and Hyderabad state, have languished. If we are to prevent a Telengana-type agitation from starting in karnataka, these regions need priority attention.
Karnataka is now said to be the most corrupt state in India. The Lokayukta should be given powers as suggested by former Lokayukta justice Santosh Hegde and become a watchdog over government officials and ministers.
Information technology industry is now receiving unwanted Central government attention, especially in tax matters, both as demands and as withdrawal of benefits. IT sector also needs government’s strong support in fighting the visa and immigration issues in the USA.
Mining can again be a large source of employment and revenues for the state, if honestly run. The mining districts had become personal fiefs for a few mine owners. Politicians and government servants were helpful to them, and benefited. It must be revived and regulated. The Posco and Mittal interest in steel making in Karnataka must be strongly encouraged. With Volvo and Toyota here, Karnataka could become another automotive and lorry making hub. We must relax labour laws so that our garment, leather and toy industries can scale up and use much more labour than they do in any unit today.
Tourism has great potential to accelerate employment, incomes and tax revenues. But ‘moral policing’ of pubs, restaurants, and night life, must be replaced by policing for law and order and safety. The chief minister did not shy away from proposing cheap and safe liquor for the lower income groups. Of course there must be designated places and policing so that order is not disturbed.
Garbage disposal in urban Karnataka, and especially Bangalore, is an unresolved issue. It is so because of the links between lorry and garbage contractors with the corporators. The chief minister must find a permanent solution (which the experts have worked out), and appoint a competent and honest officer to implement it.
The university system in the state has deteriorated badly. Part of the problem is the politicisation of their governance and the quality of vice-chancellors. Karnataka was known for the quality of its colleges and higher education. The problem is the people who have captured it. Education policy for schools also needs attention. Language has become a big issue with the rulers imposing solutions on the people that they do not follow for their own children. Little attention has been paid to skill development and this must be corrected.Karnataka must thank the BJP fo
r enabling a single party government again. The chief minister has a daunting task to restore the state to past glory. If anyone can do it, he can.