KOCHI: Setting the road map for achieving zero unemployment in 10 years, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday announced a five-year subsidy scheme based on creation of new employment opportunities for new industries.
The industries registering in Kerala from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2025 will be eligible for the benefit. An industry launched on March 31, 2025 will get five years to implement the project and the subsidy scheme will end in five years.
“The scheme to achieve zero unemployment will ensure social security for 37 lakh families. We plan to give a substantial amount as subsidy for each job opportunity created during the five-year time frame. As part of women empowerment policy, each woman employee will fetch Rs 2,000 more than her male counterpart under the scheme,” he said while inaugurating ASCEND 2020, the second Global Investors Meet in Kochi
As a progressive state, the state will remove the restrictions on women to work during night hours. The industries can employ woman workers for night duty if they can ensure their security. The woman workers should be provided safe accommodation and travel facilities, said Pinarayi.
The government also plans to ease the restrictions on private land holdings to facilitate big industrial investment. The Land Reforms Act introduced by the state in 1963 had limited the maximum land holding by a private individual to 15 acres. However, this has posed hurdles in bringing big industries to the state. In view of the situation, the government will relax the restrictions for industries that invest more than Rs 250 crore and provide employment to more than 1,000 people, he said.
Assuring the investors all possible steps for development of the industrial sector in the state, Pinarayi said the government wants to make Kerala one among the top five investor-friendly states in the country. He said the government has identified 1,500 acres of land in Palakkad for development of industries under the Kochi-Coimbatore Industrial Corridor project.
The KSIDC has drawn a project to develop life science parks, a medical devices park, an electronics and hardware park and a light engineering park in the state. He said the government has plans to explore the possibilities of development in the tourism sector so that each resident in the state can host a tourist.
“All villages in the state have the potential to grow as tourism destinations. To facilitate the development, we have to improve basic amenities including hotels and homestays. The whole network will be brought under a centralised monitoring system,”he said.
Building curbs to go
'The government will promote establishment of industrial parks in the private sector and provide common facilities for such parks. To address the complaints of investors regarding non-cooperation of local bodies, the government will set a target of creating five employment opportunities per 1,000 population per year for each local body. The restrictions on construction of buildings with more than 18,000 sq m space along panchayat roads will be done away with.
He said the government will initiate steps to provide power connection to new business ventures within 30 days from the date of application. Industrial units will be allowed to source water from the nearest water body if they install rainwater harvesting units.
Environment approval for buildings with a built-up area of more than 20,000 sq m will be provided through a single-window system. The deposit amount for upgrading the power connection will be returned in instalments. The loan amount extended by KSIDC to industries will be raised to Rs 100 crore from the present Rs 35 crore, said Pinarayi.
Industries Minister E P Jayarajan, Chief Secretary Tom Jose, industrialists M A Yusuffali, B Ravi Pillai, principal secretaries K Elangovan and Sanjay Garg spoke on the occasion.
Investors meet for foreigners
Kerala will organise an exclusive Global Investors Meet for foreign investors interested in launching business establishments in the state, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Youngsters in the state pursuing management courses will be provided an opportunity to participate in the meet so that they can understand the business environment. Reiterating that the government wants to address the grievances of the 36 lakh unemployed youth in the state, he said Kerala-based industrialists should support the state in providing employment. “The state produces six lakh graduates every year and most of them are forced to migrate to other states and abroad in search of job. We should be able to tap the human resource potential of the state,” he said.