Agreeing that Karnataka was lagging behind Bihar in growth, Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda attributed this slow rate of growth to the severe drought and the global meltdown.
Referring to data available with the department of statistics that Karnataka had fallen behind Bihar in growth, the CM said: “In agriculture, we have lost out badly due to drought. To add to our problems, there was the global meltdown. Our major exports are from the IT sector. The meltdown has affected our exports. This year too, the trend may continue due to the fall in the Rupee value and because the US and European countries are witnessing zero percent growth rate,” he said.
“Exports, especially to western countries, play a major role in our growth. Till now, western countries were the main destination for exports. But now, we have started concentrating on countries to our east like Taiwan and Singapore. Western countries will need at least 2 years to stabilize their economies,” Mr Gowda said. He said that in order to strengthen the agriculture sector, the government has started organizing the GIM. “Cold storage and food processing facilities will be given importance so that perishable products can be preserved. Farmers can store their produce when the market prices fall and bring them to the market when the prices are attractive enough,” he said and added that keeping this in mind, the government was setting up agriculture corridors.
To strengthen the industrial sector, the state wil be focusing on automobile growth during the forthcoming GIM in addition to the IT sector. “Growth may not happen all of a sudden. But we can reap the result in 2-3 years,” the CM said. He said the state government was keen on implementing the Sarojini Mahishi report under which about 80 per cent of jobs in industries have to be given to local youth.