A map of the districts that comprise Kalyana Karnataka.
DH Illustration
Kalyana Karnataka continues to lag behind in human development index with high rate of poverty and income inequalities, despite five Cabinet meetings being held here since the one under R Gundu Rao as chief minister in 1981. The last such Cabinet meeting was held in 2014.
Leaders from the region have continued to seek redress for regional imbalance as implementation of the decisions taken at these meetings is far from satisfactory.
Yet, the Cabinet meeting convened here on September 17 assumes significance in the wake of the region completing a decade of being accorded special status under Article 371(J) of the Constitution.
The special status has helped thousands of students from the region get admissions to professional courses.
But the region has continued to remain backward in all sectors, including irrigation and industrial development.
Leaders argue that filling of around 50,000 vacant posts has been pending as circulars issued by the government regarding recruitment and promotions lack clarity.
Experts have stressed the need for long-term sustainable strategies to redress regional disparity.
Migration, malnutrition and poor education infrastructure continue to haunt the people here, despite many politicians from the region - like former chief ministers the late Veerendra Patil, the late Dharam Singh and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge making it big in state and national politics.
“Our expectations about development are belied due to the lack of will among the authorities. We have managed to secure only 9% of the total government jobs in the state, though we constitute 19.5% of the total population,” said Kalyana Karnataka Horata Samiti president Laxman Dasti.
Leaders argue that approval from the finance department is not required to fill vacant posts in the region, as it enjoys special status.
Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting here comes in the aftermath of the Congress making a clean sweep of all five Lok Sabha constituencies in Kalyana Karnataka.
“The government has become conscious about development of the region, which has been politically neglected. It plans to focus on infrastructure growth in this region. Attention should also be given to launch welfare schemes for SCs and STs, who form a large chunk of the population,” political analyst and Raichur university vice-chancellor Harish Ramaswamy said.