Karnataka   

Kolar district may get job guarantee scheme soon

KOLAR: Kolar district may be included under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme soon, according to Union Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Yadav.

He reportedly assured a delegation of legislators from the district in New Delhi recently that the Centre would consider including Kolar and Chickaballapur districts under the scheme.

The delegation included M.C. Sudhakar (Chintamani), C. Krishna Byregowda (Vemgal) and N.H. Shivashankar Reddy (Gauribidanur),

Although Kolar district is drought-prone region, it has not been included under the scheme. Groundwater level in the region has dipped to 1,000 feet, compounding the problems of farmers.

Suicides by farmers is said to be one of the criterion for including a district under the scheme. It was absurd and insensitive, said Holur Shankar, a farmers’ leader in the district.

Only severity of the drought should be taken into account for selection, he added.

Although on paper the district has two major public sector undertakings — Bharat Gold Mines Ltd. (BGML) and Bharat Earth Movers Ltd. (BEML) — it has not been of much help to people.

The BGML was closed down seven years ago, rendering 4,000 people jobless. BEML is a skill-based public sector enterprise and does not provide job opportunities on a large scale.

Sericulture and dairying are two other major occupations in the district. The number of jobs provided by various industries, a large chunk of very small units, was put at 45,000. Bangarpet taluk, which houses BGML and BEML, alone accounts for 34,000 jobs.

These facts and figures reflect the pathetic agrarian crisis and unemployment situation in the district. Under such circumstances, people expected the NREG scheme in the district to provide some succour.

But it did not happen and many organisations, including Communist Party of India (Marxist), Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS), Democratic Youth Federation of India and Janawadi Mahila Sanghatane (JMS) organised agitations throughout the district demanding implementation of the scheme.

To express solidarity with the agitations, BEML employees undertook a postcard movement in this regard.

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