BENGALURU: Economist and former National Finance Commission member Prof M Govinda Rao has called for spreading industrial growth beyond Karnataka’s established urban hubs, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hubballi and Mangaluru, to help address the state’s long-standing regional imbalances.
Acting on the recommendations of the Karnataka Regional Imbalances Redressal Committee, which Rao chaired, the state Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs 2,500 incentive for entrepreneurs generating employment in backward taluks. The move is part of an employment fund scheme covering 10 backward districts, Cabinet officials said.
The committee’s report, submitted after extensive fieldwork, argues that uneven development, rather than backwardness alone, is the real challenge and that closing the gap requires sustained, targeted intervention rather than one-time spending, with the government and private enterprise sharing the responsibility.
Beyond industrial incentives, the panel has proposed a multi-sectoral push, including stronger irrigation and crop diversification for agriculture, new residential schools and teacher recruitment in education, super-speciality hospitals for healthcare, and infrastructure investment in heritage towns such as Bidar, Vijayapura and Hampi to boost tourism-led growth.
It has also flagged poor road, rail and air connectivity in the Kalaburagi and Belagavi divisions as a major bottleneck. In total, the committee has recommended an additional Rs 43,914 crore in spending over five years, with greater allocation for the most backward taluks, along with tighter budgetary accounting and a strengthened State Planning Department to monitor implementation. The government’s latest Cabinet decision marks one of the first concrete steps towards acting on the committee’s recommendations.