The chief minister began with calling out the Centre for its stepchild-like treatment by quoting Bhishma’s philosophy, “The cow that yields abundant milk requires proper care and that if it becomes weak, the entire cowherd suffers,” equating it to Karnataka’s plight. While the tax devolution math in a federal system is complex for reasons like nation building, despite marginal improvements in the 16th Finance Commission structure, how much of this is our own doing is anyone’s guess.
The headline-grabbing “11G Economic Model” could be a neat way to articulate a static filled, meandering proposal for us common folks and early adopters of 4G or 5G in the telecom sphere. It rings a bell, but does not mean it connects. Can you hear me now?
Filling vacancies should not be a number-based exercise; lack of focus on practical skill development is palpable, and, unfortunately, we continue to recruit for recruitment sake, qualified candidates or not. Nearly 56,000 vacancies will take an eternity to fill with warm bodies.
The state’s growth seems to rely heavily on FDI inflows, which, given the current global scenario, could nosedive to nothing very quickly. We don’t seem prepared for it and have failed to forecast anything. Expect volatility, forget certainty.
Farming, sericulture, animal husbandry, fisheries, etc. get their notional measure of programmes and upgrade announcements for a “three-year period”, with no specifics and nothing revenue accretive. The long-pending digitalisation of APMC is promising with an ERP system, but we have heard that proposal before.
Education is yet to take a leap into the 21st century; We have the same tinkering of buildings and announcements, and one can only hope an age limit for access to social media is enforceable in these times.
Systemic reforms and a vision for education and skilling is lacking despite the K-QUEST initiative, reflecting the leadership perhaps?
Urban development and infrastructure saw its traditional fair share, nothing far sighted. While the age of AI is upon us and we attract more multinationals, the civic infrastructure has a decadal deficit that seems will never be bridged with such menial allocations.
There were previously announced projects pending from the prior fiscal, and the Greater Bengaluru Authority has yet to have its SPV function at full capacity and convert some of these from paper (DPR) to reality. There was little in terms of planning reform, environment and future readiness for the ordinary Bengaluru denizen to rejoice.
The notion of balanced development for bringing long-neglected regions to the fore finally resonates. With “Beyond Bengaluru” and a focus on other tiers and towns, we should see a thriving state in the coming decades, if the programmes are implemented as planned and the Prof M Govinda Rao committee report is wholly adopted.
Specialised care focus in healthcare is a start, along with a number of access decentralisation initiatives at established and proven institutions from Bengaluru to deliver their services across the state.
Then there is the clear “welfare focus”, with a number of schemes and allocations which we hope will help the common man thrive in an uncommon world, help grow out of poverty and dependencies like habit forming freebies. This is one “G” we cannot seem to progress without until something creative comes along for vote bank politics or should I say “vote back” politics.
All in all, a planning exercise that once again failed to impress with vision and foresight for the coming decade, like a broken record attempting to defend itself forever blaming its parent, while in a break-fix mode and hurtling towards a ballooning deficit, i.e. going for broke.