Govt launches project to ready vision document for state

The state government on Monday launched a public aspiration gathering excercise which will serve as a precursor while preparing the Congress party’s manifesto for the 2018 Assembly elections.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched the project named “Nava Karnataka Namma Karnataka 2025” to prepare a vision document to provide a governance strategy for Karnataka over the next seven years by taking into account the aspirations of the people and various stakeholders.

“People’s opinion, their suggestions on various sectors including rural development, agriculture, industrial development, employment will be collected by conducting consultation meetings, seminars and workshops. All 30 districts will be covered. We intend to capture the expectations of every stakeholder in the state’s development blueprint,” Siddaramaiah said.

The vision document will be prepared by December end. “Inputs from the document will be used when the party (Congress) prepares its manifesto for the next polls,” the chief minister said.

IAS Officer Renuka Chidambaram has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer for the vision 2025 project. Top bureaucracy has also been involved.

Political circles view the project as a counter to the BJP’s 75-day Nava Karnataka Nirmana Parivarthan rally, which is likely to be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 2. As Siddaramaiah himself said, “They (apparently BJP) talk about Nava Karnataka, but we are actually involving the people about the Karnataka they perceive in the long term.”

The chief minster also presented a report card highlighting the achievements of his government during the last four-and-a-half-years. He said Karnataka had already become “hunger-free” following the implementation of Anna Bhagya scheme and was on the path of becoming “slum free”. Karnataka will also be declared Open Defecation Free state by October 2 next year.