Karnataka has approved Rs 3.5-lakh crore investments for 1,958 projects: Governor

Bengaluru, Feb 6 (IANS) Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala on Wednesday said that his government had approved 1,958 projects with an investment of Rs 3.5 lakh crore which have the potential to create jobs for over 10 lakh people.

"Karnataka continues to be first in the country in fiscal 2018-19 in attracting investments. To give impetus to the industrial development across the state, 1,958 projects worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore have been approved to create jobs for over 10 lakh people across the state," Vala said in his address to the joint session of the state legislature here.

Though the opposition BJP disrupted the Governor's address, forcing Vala to cut short his speech in Hindi, a copy was tabled in the House as read by Assembly Speaker K. R. Ramesh Kumar.

"My JDS-Congress government is also implementing 'the compete with China' scheme to develop nine industrial clusters across the state," said Vala.

Outlining the coalition government's plans and programmes for the ensuing fiscal (2019-20) on the first day of the 10-day budget session, the Governor said 2.5 lakh youth would be trained in the latest technologies through vocational institutions to enable them to get jobs at the earliest.

"As a leader in IT and biotechnology, Karnataka has been rated top in the start-up ranking by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), with Bengaluru start-up ecosystem valued at about $19 billion," said Vala.

As the number of start-ups in the state is expected to touch 20,000 by 2025, the state government is collaborating with the world's leading start-up ecosystems in Britain, France, Israel, Japan and the US.

"We have also set up 58 K-Tech (Karnataka Technology) innovation centres in tier 1 and tier 2 cities across the state to incubate start-ups in thousands," Vala told the lawmakers of the Assembly and the Council.

In view of the competitive environment in every sphere of activity, especially in education and employment, the Governor said the coalition government was committed to start English medium in state-run schools across Karnataka so that bright minds from the poorer sections of society are not at a disadvantage due to a lack of the knowledge of English.

"The primacy of Kannada will not be compromised. Rs 450 crore has been sanctioned and released for upgrading the infrastructure in state-run schools across the state," he said.

The state government is also providing loans to street vendors and small vendors towards working capital to run and grow their daily business under the "Badavaru Bandu" (economically poor friends) scheme through district cooperative, central and urban cooperative banks.