From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Jul 15: “Udayavagali Namma Chelluva Kannada Nadu,’’ is the song of poets to mark Karnataka’s Rajyothsava. But the hard reality is that disparities still persist in the State.

This stark truth was admitted by none other than Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the State Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

In his reply to the debate in the Legislative Assembly on allocation and expenditures incurred for eradicating regional imbalances, the chief minister confessed that regional imbalances still persist in the State despite spending a whopping Rs 14,635 crore under the Special Development Plan (SDP) for eradicating regional imbalances during 2007-14.

Siddaramaiah announced a massive allocation of Rs 12,000 crore for the next four financial years from 2016 to 2020 for correcting situation.

The Chief Minister said the State Government would continue the SDP as recommended by the D M Najundappa Committee on regional imbalances and allocated Rs 2,300 crore in 2015-16.

In 2002, the committee said that were 114 backward taluks in the State and recommended spending Rs 31,000 crore under the SDP for the eight-year period.

A sum of Rs 3,000 crore each would be allocated during the next four financial years.

Comprehensive new action plans would be prepared after obtaining an evaluation report on utilisation of funds during the eight-year period from the Centre for Multi-Disciplinary Development Research (CMDR), Dharwad, which was expected to submit the report by July end, he said.

The action plans would also be prepared based on human development index (HDI) reports of all districts.

Reports from Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru, have also been sought, the Chief Minister said.

Despite spending Rs 14,635 crore since 2007-08, nine taluks in the Kalaburagi division were remained "very poor" against one taluk in the Bengaluru division and four in the Belagavi division, he explained.

While 24 taluks fall under the category of relatively "good and better" performing, he said 64 taluks come under the "moderate" category.

A total of 74 taluks come under the category of "poor" performing taluks, he said.

In terms of literacy rate, the Kalaburagi division still remained backward with just 64.4 per cent of literacy against the State’s average of 75.4 per cent. Women’s literacy in the Kalaburagi division was just 54 per cent, he mentioned.

Out of 1.68 lakh dropouts in primary schools, more than a lakh were from Kalaburagi and Belagavi divisions, he said.