No
industry preferred, sans local manpower
Sandesh Prabhudesai
20 February 2003
Promoting
labour-intensive industry only for the local manpower and
mechanising rest of the essential non-pollutant industry is
a new slogan now in Goa, vis-à-vis poor industrialisation
of the tourist state.
"It is better not to promote industry than having indiscriminate
and unplanned industrial growth", feels chief minister
Manohar Parrikar. He is now planning a vision paper on industrial
policy, only after which the industrialisation may take off.
In the last 40 years, Goa has set up 154 medium and large-scale
industries and 6950 small-scale industries. In addition, 33
new projects have been cleared in the last two years, though
only six among them have actually been commissioned so far.
The five-year income tax holiday and 15-year sales tax exemption
has always been a major attraction for many industries to
come down to Goa, besides availability of land, power and
water at a much subsidised rates.
However, Parrikar alleges that many industries duped the
state by swallowing subsidies and wasting the scarce land.
Records state that not less than 20 units have closed down
in last four years while 340 units have been declared sick,
making thousands jobless.
With introduction of VAT system since April this year compelling
the state to cancel the ST exemption, the state is yet to
announce new incentives for any industry to come down. "I
will announce it along with the industrial policy", states
Parrikar.
The industrial growth also came to a grinding halt since
May 1998, with the high court banning release of power to
any new industry, till December 1999. The indiscriminately
allowed ferro alloy units, which led to this crisis, are still
functioning in the state.
Though no major industry is coming to Goa since then, Parrikar
prefers to blame unplanned industrial growth mooted by the
erstwhile Congress governments rather than admitting his failure
to attract any new industry to Goa.
On the contrary, he prefers to bring industry only after
creating the local manpower rather than promoting any kind
of industry that would continue influx of outsiders, which
would ultimately exert social and other pressures on the state
resources.
'A job retained is a job gained' is a new slogan he has conceptualised
now, by planning to promote traditional occupations and agriculture
in the countryside while concentrating only on tourism, InfoTech,
Biotech and agriculture.
"I am not in a hurry to bring in any IT industry that
will provide employment for Bangalorians or other outsiders",
states Parrikar, but cannot state when the new qualified manpower
would be ready locally, to work in the industry he would bring
in.
To restore the traditional artisanship and other agro-based
occupations that have died out in the last two decades, he
claims that the BJP-led government has also identified around
20 such products, which will be supported with a sale network.
To discourage influx of migrant population in the tiny tourist
state, Parrikar also does not mind mechanising essential industry
like housing etc. by providing special incentives for such
efforts. So far, however, nothing has materialised even on
a paper.
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