Karnataka is a state constrained by erratic rainfall and large share of drought-prone areas. Agriculture and rural sector supports more than 60 per cent of Karnataka’s population. Naturally, any development initiative through budgetary process should on priority deal with agriculture and rural development to ameliorate the despair. Therefore, the rhetoric with which the Chief Minister started his budget speech remembering farmers’ contribution and providing prime attention to the sector is not surprising.
Over the years, it should have been the process through which the farmer should have been assimilated in the mainstream development of the state. The recent floods and droughts have made things very difficult for people and Karnataka’s plea with the Centre did not yield sufficient resources.
The state suffered a loss of Rs 35,160 crore due to floods and drought and the central government approved Rs 1,869.85 crore. Against this background, it was necessary to provide enough support to the agriculture sector including irrigation. Given the fact that the state is confronting precarious financial position, Rs 32,259 crore is allocated to the agriculture sector which is higher than the last year. Irrigation has been given priority and specifically, the Mahadayi project is allocated Rs 500 crore which is certainly higher than the Rs 400 crore set aside for the ambitious Twin Tower project to be implemented at the busy Anand Rao Circle, but does that indicate proper priority setting? In the same vein, warehousing in Karnataka gets an allocation of Rs 75 crore, whereas Rs 780 crore is allocated to Namma Grama Namma Raste as against huge allocations for the Ring Road and airport connectivity road in Bengaluru.
A large number of villages in Karnataka are not fortunate enough to have good motorable roads and the attention of the policy makers is largely on Bengaluru where BBMP fails to collect almost 30 per cent of the Rs 3,000 crore in taxes. The inefficiency in collection of taxes by BBMP and failure in management of affairs of the civic body, is a point that must worry the urban policy makers. Among irrigation projects, there are quite a few which are lingering for years for want of funds. In this budget, Rs 5,000 crore has been allocated for irrigation in the state and at the same time Rs 14,500 crore is earmarked for the road from Silk Board to Airport. In an overall analysis, it seems that the Chief Minister could not focus on growth, employment, development and amelioration of the stress as his agenda. He preferred to touch many aspects with small sums under various pressures.
R S Deshpande
Professor,and former director, Institute for Social and Economic Change