What is the issue?
- Thirteen districts of north Karnataka recently raised a fresh cry for a separate State as the recent state budget was largely in favour of southern states.
- Notably, north Karnataka is underdeveloped by a big degree in comparison to the southern districts.
What is the state of divide within Karnataka?
- North Karnataka region (Bombay-Karnataka) is considerably backward due to the historic neglect in the pre-independence era.
- Further, apathy for the north after unification of Karnataka is said to have exacerbated this regional divide.
- This is divide is exemplified in the contrast between the ways in which projects on the rivers Cauvery and Krishna are handled.
- People of north Karnataka have always argued that Krishna River never gets the attention that the Cauvery in south Karnataka does.
- In recent times, the delay in solving the long-pending inter-State Mahadayi river row has been cited as another pointer to the apathy towards north.
What have been some government initiatives?
- The Constitution was amended to give special status to the Hyderabad Karnataka region under Article 371(J), to facilitate its faster development.
- In 2000, the S.M. Krishna-led Congress government constituted a high-powered committee (under Nanjundappa) for redress of regional imbalances.
- The committee, in its report in 2003, listed 39 taluks as the “most backward” of which most of them were from the North Karnataka.
- The committee recommended a special developmental plan of Rs. 16,000 crores across 8 years, for the backward regions to bridge the development gap.
- Further, the committee pleaded for an optimal 60:40 ratio in favour of the northern region as a basis for additional resource allocation.
- However, despite acknowledging the implementation of these recommendations, successive governments have not implemented them fully.
What is the context within North Karnataka?
- Northern Karnataka is constituted of two main regions namely – Hyderabad Karnataka and Bombay Karnataka.
- Among these, developmental lag is more severe in Hyderabad Karnataka, which was under the Hyderabad Nizams until 1947.
- Notably, two of the districts of the region – “Bidar and Kalaburagi”, were identified as the poorest districts in the country by 2005 NSSO survey.
- However, the Hyderabad-Karnataka grouping has discouraged employees from other regions to work there, and many government positions lie vacant.
- Development projects, particularly related to infrastructure and irrigation, often find lower or little allocation in comparison to other regions.
What is the way ahead?
- Lack of political will is often cited as the biggest reason for backwardness, though the region has sent five Chief Ministers so far.
- But some researchers point out that this regional imbalance is the product of plans, because plan makers have concentrated on overall development.
- Notably, in the holistic context, the focus is on the overall GDP and job growth rather than the equitable optimum growth of all regions.
- In this context, the report of the Nanjundappa committee in 2000 needs to be revived and taken forward with conviction.
Source: The Hindu
