After nearly a decade, the Siddaramaiah government held a Cabinet meeting in Kalaburagi on September 17 this year, and announced a slew of 46 projects worth Rs 12,697 crore for the development of Kalyana Karnataka. The region comprises Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Raichur, Koppal, Vijayanagar and Ballari districts.
The CM also announced that the expert committee constituted under the chairmanship of eminent economist Govind Rao would evaluate the implementation of the Dr DN Nanjundappa Committee recommendations, on addressing regional imbalance. The Rao Committee, which is due to give its report within six months, will also suggest measures to address regional imbalance.
The New Indian Express takes a look at the situation on the ground, challenges and developments in the region since the implementation of the Nanjundappa Committee recommendations in 2002, and after the amendment made to Article 371J for redressal of regional imbalance in Kalyana Karnataka in 2013.
HEALTHCARE
CM Siddaramaiah admitted that malnutrition is a major issue among women and children in Kalyana Karnataka districts, and an innovation programme has been developed to improve health in this area. The infant death ratio is also high.
In the past two decades, the government has established many hospitals in all districts of Kalyana Karnataka region, including Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, and Cancer Hospital and Trauma Care Centre in Kalaburagi. Besides these, many Public Health Centres, CHCs and taluk hospitals have come up in all seven districts, with the Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB) spending Rs 915.50 crore in the past 10 years on the health sector.
Though hospitals have come up, the government has not recruited sufficient staff on a permanent basis, and some of the hospitals and PHCs lack necessary equipment. There are many instances of government hospitals sending back patients due to non-availability of medicine.
Former director of Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology and Bengaluru Rural MP Dr CN Manjunath said that simply constructing hospitals is not enough, the government should ensure sufficient staff and necessary equipment and medicines, and only then will the health sector see improvement. Children should be given nutritious food and health authorities should monitor whether nutritious food is reaching the real beneficiaries, he added.
Karnataka State Child Rights Commission member Shashidhar Kosambe said many Commission members and some region judges have also noticed a lack of proper management of Anganwadis and nutrition not being distributed properly to children and pregnant women.
EDUCATION
Though successive governments kept saying they would improve the education sector in Kalyana Karnataka region, Bidar, Kalaburagi, Yadgir and Raichur districts are lagging behind in SSLC and PU results, and have been in the 25th to 31st position for many years. Yadgir district has a dubious record of remaining in the bottom position for the past few years. This is because of the shortage of teachers. Even today, there are schools in the region with no teachers, and the department makes arrangements to send teachers of neighbouring schools to these schools.
Many schools also lack subject teachers. The government made arrangements for guest teachers at the last moment, which could not serve any purpose. Even Gulbarga University faces a severe staff crunch, with 90 per cent of posts of teaching staff falling vacant, and now the University depends mostly on guest teachers.
KKRDB president Dr Ajay Singh said he could not talk about the past, but after he assumed charge about a year ago, he launched Akshar Avishkara and Akshara Mitra schemes through which KKRDB has started distributing books and appointing teachers on a contract basis. We cannot expect improvement all of a sudden, it may take another 2-3 years to see good results, he added.
EMPLOYMENT/ INVESTMENTS
Till date, no big industries have come up in any part of the region, and most of the government departments used to get staff only on outsourced basis and where it was necessary. This is the main reason for the region lagging behind in most of the sectors.
Sources claim that 1,09,416 posts were lying vacant in various departments 10 years ago in the Kalyana Karnataka region. Till date, 79,985 posts have been filled up and about 30,000 posts are still vacant. It is not clear how many of these posts were filled on a permanent basis and how many on an outsourced basis. The Cabinet meeting held a few days ago decided to fill up 17,430 posts of the region phase-wise, though many say the decision is not clear. Due to the unemployment problem of this region, many rural people migrated to big cities, say experts.
Politicians blame local businessmen for not coming forward to invest and set up industries, while the people blame the government for not taking the initiative to attract investments from outside.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Though the capital of KK region, Kalaburagi, has an airport and most of the districts have rail connectivity, some villages still lack road connectivity. Roads are so bad in some parts that women have delivered babies in ambulances. Schools and Anganwadis in many villages are in bad condition and during the rainy season, either they shut their doors or make arrangements in other places. Government sources say that funds are allocated on the recommendations of MLAs, and works taken up as per their choice.
AGRICULTURE/ IRRIGATION
Red gram is the major crop of Kalaburagi and Bidar districts, while it is paddy and cotton in Yadgir and Raichur districts. Most of the time, farmers of the region face either excess and untimely rainfall or even drought. Due to the unscientific fixing of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for red gram, and a delay in procuring red gram by opening procurement centres, farmers face severe problems and sell their product at a lower rate.
Most of the irrigation projects remained incomplete, and the tail-end farmers were deprived of water for irrigation.
The main demand of organisations and the people is implementation of decisions taken by the Cabinet, implementation of Article 371J, and recommendations made by the Nanjundappa Committee in a time-bound manner and in good spirit.
