CHANGING BANGALORE Mr CM,please do not neglect our Bangalore Its Suicidal To Take Eyes Off States Growth Engine TNN Balmy Bangalore is turning cloudy and uncertain.Talk is that the freshlyminted chief minister,Siddaramaiah,feels the city should stop growing as fast as it has.He is thought to believe theres been too much attention on the capital city at the cost of the state.The CMs forecast: shift the focus from Bangalore to Karnataka. Yes,the states growth is skewed.Bangalore is the powerhouse that drives Karnataka.The city accounts for one-sixth of the states population and 0.4% of its area,but contributes 60% of its GDP and a big chunk of its taxes : 74% (stamps and registration),57% (excise ),60% (commercial),52% (motor vehicles).Almost all (98%) of Karnatakas most famous export software comes from Bangalore. In the past decade,instead of bolstering Brand Bangalore,there has been a quiet neglect of the city.Unsurprisingly,the headlines today talk about killer potholes and garbage piles than quality of life or jobs. The city fears its neglect may soon result in abandonment.While its imperative that economic hotspots must be built in the rest of the state,and access to health,education and livelihoods provided across Karnataka,that cannot come by neglecting the engine that drives the states growth and prosperity. The reality today is that despite the best efforts of successive governments,people and investors have failed to find non-Bangalore Karnataka attractive.Billion-dollar mining and steel investments proposed in North Karnataka have been abandoned due to protests over land acquisition.While tier-2 cities Mysore,Mangalore and Hubli-Dharwad are indeed growing,they do not have Bangalores cache.In fact,the state has only one city,Bangalore,with a million-plus population unlike its neighbouring states which have half a dozen,at least. Narendar Pani,professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies,argues that the high percentage of tax collected from Bangalore is an indication that the economic-earning capacity of other regions of the state has not been developed.Bangalores high share of tax revenue is evidence of the dire need for greater attention to other regions,rather than of any neglect of Karnatakas capital city.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 06:11:57 +0000
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