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Govt says, FMCG cluster park will generate one lakh jobs
The number of people who have sought refuge in MNREGA too has nearly doubled in the last five years, data shows.
Raising hopes of the unemployed youth, Karnataka chief minister (CM) Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said that the new fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) cluster park will provide over one lakh jobs.
“The work on Dharwad FMCG cluster, which has a potential to provide employment for one lakh people, would be started this year itself. The state government is offering special concessions for the project,” the chief minister said.
The hope for the park and the potential employment comes at a time when the Bommai-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka has been accused of deflecting issues like unemployment, price rise and lack of development or welfare schemes.
Lack of employment opportunities, urban distress, dipping agricultural income and pressure on small holdings among other factors are forcing more and more people to take up jobs under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), a Union-government backed programme which assures at least 100 days of jobs, HT had reported previously.
While Karnataka and other states pride in the rise of big-ticket investments that would help create multiple jobs, mostly white-collar, it is schemes like MNREGA that have become a source of daily bread for millions in the state, HT reported on April 11. The number of person days created in Karnataka has increased from 8.58 crore in 2017-18 to 16.28 crore in 2021-22, according to official data from the rural development and panchayat raj (RDPR) department.
The number of people who have sought refuge in MNREGA too has nearly doubled in the last five years, data shows.
From 38.91 lakh persons taking up MNREGA jobs in 2017-18, the number has ballooned to 63.92 lakhs in 2021-22, data shows.
“Karnataka and Bengaluru are at the top in attracting direct foreign investment in the country. International level jobs are being created in Bengaluru,” Bommai said.
Karnataka, under successive governments, has tried to follow the cluster-based approach to boost industrial activity and generate jobs.
In October 2020, the then chief minister B.S.Yediyurappa had said that the proposed toys cluster in Koppala, about 351 km from Bengaluru, has the potential to create 40,000 jobs and attract over ₹ 5,000 crore investments.
However, barring one or two big names, few have shown interest in these projects.
