CHENNAI: Abandoning the traditional populist planks, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has taken the development route for the state. In the Vision 2023 document unveiled in Chennai last week, Rs 15 lakh crore has been allocated to bring the state to ‘numero uno’ position among Indian states.
The document has all the ingredients, which includes a growth rate of 11 per cent per annum, about 20 per cent more than the expected growth rate of India’s GDP over the same period, besides increasing the per capita income of the state to Rs 4.5 lakh or $10,000 by 2023 in line with per capita income of upper middle income countries.
The biggest challenge lies in the availability of funds to realise the vision. But Jayalalithaa, who is aware that state government alone cannot meet the resource requirements, feels it can be mobilised through non-governmental sources, including private sector organisations, banks and foreign direct investment. The government is expected to play the central role of a procurer of infrastructure services on behalf of the people of the state and will facilitate private investment and service delivery in the infrastructure sector. “Under the public private participation mode, the government will play the role of a change agent and will originate infrastructure projects in line with Vision 2023 and will also focus on the important functions of regulation and overall governance,” Jayalalithaa said.
Interestingly, the private sector funding for infrastructure is only 15 per cent and by 2023 it is expected to cross 42 per cent. Similarly, the state’s contribution, which is 60 per cent is expected to come down to 28 per cent.
Jayalalithaa is optimistic about realising the dream Vision 2023. She said in 2005-06, the state clocked an impressive growth rate of 13.95 per cent and the manufacturing sector registered an all time high growth of 15.10 per cent. “Although this growth momentum decelerated in subsequent years, there is no reason to believe that we cannot reclaim the high growth path,” she said.
The document also focuses on making the state one of the top three destinations for investment in Asia. Jayalalithaa, said that attaining one of the top three positions will be tantamount to benchmarking the state with countries such as South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia, which are ranked 8, 17 and 18 respectively in the world by the International Finance Corporation in its study on ‘Ease of doing Business’. “Several countries in Asia have grown at around seven per cent to 10 per cent per annum for more than 20 years during 1980s and later. Considering the fact that several Asian nations have grown at 10 per cent, the aspiration for Tamil Nadu to achieve 11 per cent growth is achievable,” Jayalalithaa added.
In order to achieve the numero uno position the focus will be on energy, security, agriculture, infrastructure, inclusive growth, eradication of poverty and training and equipping 20 million youths with skills in next 11 years. The vision is also to create 10 world class cities, 25 lakh affordable homes for poor besides establishing 10 or more top of the league institutions as ‘Centres of Excellence’ in various fields that will attract the best talents from across the globe. “Tamil Nadu Vision 2023 places substantial emphasis on inclusive growth by channeling considerable resources to the lowest income groups and ensuring Tamil Nadu becomes poverty free,” she said.
Providing piped and pressurised water to all citizens and ensuring 100 per cent access to safe sanitation before the end of 2023 and building 20,000 MW of additional power generation capacity in the next 10 years are also some of the goals envisaged by the state government.
Interestingly, agriculture remains a key priority as state plans substantial improvement in agricultural productivity by introducing scientific agricultural methods and building an institutional network to support the continued adoption of the same. As questions arise how feasible the dream is when the tenure of a government lasts for five years, Jayalalthaa words echo, “Where there is no vision, there is no hope.”