K’taka sees lowest per capita income growth in over 10 yrs

Bengaluru For the first time in over a decade, Karnataka has seen its lowest growth in the per capita income at 1

Bengaluru

HT Image

For the first time in over a decade, Karnataka has seen its lowest growth in the per capita income at 1.6% in 2020-21. The per capita income for the state for 2020-21 was estimated at ₹226,796 as against ₹223,175 a year ago, when the state had registered a growth of 8.49%, data shows.

Officials at the finance and other government departments in Karnataka attribute the contraction to the Covid-19 pandemic impact and de-growth in key sectors like industry and services, which recorded a negative growth of -5.1% and -3.1%, respectively, even though agriculture recorded an increase of 6.4%.

“All industries and sectors were hit due to the lockdown for at least two months in 2020. Though the IT industry is likely to have done well, it comes under the broader category of services like transport, trade and other businesses,” said a senior government official, who did not wish to be named.

The per capita drop is linked to the shrinking of the GSDP (gross state domestic product) by as much as 2.6% — the first decline in over a decade in the state, which is considered one of the most industrious in the country with thriving IT, startup, aerospace and defence, biotechnology and various other sectors.

But Bengaluru’s growth in these sectors has seen the divide between the capital city and the remaining districts of the calamity-prone state widen, data shows.

According to the 2020-21 economic survey, which shares the latest district-wise data on per capita income, Bengaluru has seen a jump of over 10% from ₹448,485 in 2017-18 to ₹496,208 in 2018-19.

Bengaluru’s per capita income was five times more than Yadgiri, ranked the lowest in the state, with just ₹97,353.

More striking is the regional imbalance in Karnataka where the ‘prosperous southern’ districts continue to grow at higher rates than their more backward northern regions.

According to division-wise per capita income, Bengaluru stands at ₹301,748 as against Kalaburagi division, which is home to six of the most backward districts in the country, at ₹114,133.

The per capita income of Mysuru division stands at ₹205,829, Belagavi at ₹128,761 and ₹156,729 in Bengaluru rural (not including Bengaluru city), according to data provided in the economic survey released along with the state budget.

Successive governments have done little to rectify the regional imbalances, which only seems to be growing with time as the technology and industrial ecosystem in Bengaluru attracts all the investments and jobs while the government continues to feed this by building better infrastructure, leaving little else for the rest of the state.

Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa has set aside ₹3,000 crore for the development of backward talukas and ₹1,500 crore for Kalayana Karnataka (formerly known as Hyderabad Karnataka).

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in the state said they have made enough allocations to help accelerate development in the region.

“It is not enough but we have taken a step in the right direction. There are projects like ₹5,600-crore irrigation works, railways, roads and others,” Umesh Katti, Karnataka’s food and civil supplies minister, said.

Katti is also a legislator from Hukkeri in Belagavi district.

However, analysts do not buy into this theory, stating that most governments, irrespective of party, have continued to ignore the northern parts.

“The budget remains centered around Bengaluru, Mysuru and other southern districts. The leadership in North Karnataka is weak and society is also docile,” said one political analyst, requesting not to be named. He added that most of the politicians in the north either own sugar mills or run educational institutions and hospitals, making them think of their own interests before that of the people in the region, which is home to the second most arid parts in the country after Rajashtan.

Priyank Kharge, the Congress legislator from Chittapur in Kalaburagi district and former minister for social welfare, said the trend in the last three years has been that the government gives funds for Kalyana Karnataka Regional Development Board (KKRDB) but rarely make other provisions to bridge the growing regional imbalance.

By amendment to the Constitution, Article 371(j) was created in 2013 and the KKRDB was set up on 6 November, the same year, which provides reservation for the people of the region in education, employment and other areas.

Kharge said the KKRDB should supplement the state government’s efforts to invest and develop the region, adding that the situation was working the other way around. “If this is the attitude, then we cannot bridge the gap,” he said.