Karnataka launches rural BPO job project

Karnataka launches rural BPO job project

BS Reporter / Chennai/ Mysore August 08, 2009, 0:23 IST

Karnataka government launched today its ambitious project of providing a lakh jobs for youth by setting up BPO centres in rural areas across the state.

The first in the series of the rural BPO centres was inaugurated at Baburayana Koppal in Srirangapatna taluk, about 15 kms off Mysore.

Continuing their commanding position, IT and BPO sectors have provided jobs for over five lakh people in the state and Bangalore alone has employed over two lakh in IT and ITeS sectors. To promote jobs for locals and rural youth with minimum computer knowledge at taluk and hobli levels, the government has proposed BPO-based service centres in rural centres having less than a lakh population by offering incentives for those who come forward to set up such centres.

It provides a one-time financial assistance for capital investment up to Rs 20 lakh for a 100-seat or more BPO centre and Rs 10,000 for training an employee. On a regular basis, it will offer Rs 500 for an employee to have internet connectivity and meet premises rental on a monthly basis.

The government has set up an experts committee to identify entrepreneurs willing to set up the rural BPO centres. It proposes to create a lakh jobs over a five-year period in these rural centres. IT and BT minister Katta Subraanya Naidu who launched the project announced that the government would come out with a new information technology policy by month-end.

It will cover expansion of the IT sector in Tier II and III cities in the state and give priority to open rural BPO centres. Similarly, a hardware policy would be announced. Hardware was in great demand and covered only two per cent, while China had taken a long leap, he said saying that this sector needed to be taken forward with greater priority. Naidu also said the state government would come out with a policy on semi-conductors. The IT parks in Gulbarga, Belgaum and Shimoga were in addition to those in Mysore, Hubli and Mangalore and would be opened by September-end.

The State’s IT exports had touched Rs 71,000 crore this year from Rs 55,000 crore last year. Karnataka’s share in IT exports exceeded 50 per cent of the total IT exports of the country, the minister said. The government had plans to set up nearly 150 new industrial units in the next four years with over a lakh crore rupees investment and job opportunities for nearly 10 lakh, he added.

Second IT boom on cards

Second IT boom on cards

DH News Service - Subrahmanyan Viswanath,

Karnataka, which has been in the forefront of setting a model for other states in the new economy sectors, is all set to usher in a second IT revolution.

Bangalore: The move follows the State’s bid to give shape to an Information Technology Investment Regions (ITIRs) policy mooted by the Union Ministry of Information Technology & Communications.

The State government through its nodal agency—Karnataka Electronics Corporation (Keonics)—has identified five corridors for setting up the proposed ITIRs.

The ITIR policy is aimed at promoting investment in IT, ITeS and electronic hardware manufacturing (EHM) sectors. The corridors identified for ITIRs are Hubli-Dharwad-Belgaum, Bangalore-BIAL-Devanahalli, Mangalore-Surathkal-Udupi, Shimoga - Bhadravathi and Bangalore - Tumkur regions.

However, how far the new move would lure investors into ITIRs is debatable given that some of the IT parks in State’s Tier-II cities have elicited only muted response.

Official sources told Deccan Herald that each ITIR is expected to be in a 40-sq km area covering 10,000 acres in each region. The ITIRs would boast of excellent infrastructure so that prospective investors can reap the benefits of networking and greater efficiency through common infrastructure and support services. Such a complex would also help boost exports and generate employment.

Sources said Keonics had invited expression of interest (EoI) from consultants to prepare a techno-economic pre-feasibility report (TER), in the first phase, for the Hubli-Dharwar-Belgaum ITIR. Of the three consultants—PriceWaterhouse Coopers Pvt Ltd (PWC), IL&FS and Mott MacDonald—shortlisted for giving technical presentation, PWC and Mott MacDonald were chosen. The two would undertake necessary survey and submit a techno-feasibility report (TFR) which will go into the identification of government and private land available for acquisition, water availability and power. Since undertaking the TFR, to be submitted in 60 days, would cost over Rs 30 lakh to Rs 3 crore, the proposal has been set for financial clearance. The government is keen to take up an ITIR in the Bangalore-BIAL-Devanahalli region as well simultaneously, EoI has been invited from consultants for TFR.

The ITIRs would also host processing facilities where IT, ITeS and EHMs would be located and non-processing areas, which will include residential, commercial and other social and institutional infrastructure. The minimum processing area for ITIR will be about 40 per cent of the total designated area. The ITIRs may include SEZs, industrial parks, free trade and warehousing zones and export-oriented units. To be developed on public-private partnership, the centres will ensure external physical infrastructure linkages—roads, airports, and rail. Each ITIR will have large IT/ITeS/EHM units. While ITIRs will be built and managed by a developers, other facilities would be provided by the Centre and State government.

Mayor, commissioner should get proactive

Mayor, Commissioner should get proactive

Times News Network - 2 August 2009, 09:11pm IST

Hubli-Dharwad figuring in the JNNURM list makes a happy tiding for the residents. Since project implementation is the responsibility of urban local
bodies the HDMC must complete the requisite formalities scrupulously to be eligible for the proposed Rs 600 crore Central funding. Apart from preparing project reports for various works the HDMC would do well to fulfill the basic reform agenda as required since the Central grant under the mission is not a free lunch. While the HDMC needs to change its good old mindset, the mayor and the acting commissioner should get more proactive in ensuring people-friendly civic governance now.
To improve accountability and transparency in administration the defunct citizen committees must be revived. Besides being financially strong the corporation must adopt modern accrual based double entry accounting system, introduce e-governance using IT applications like GIS and MIS for various services, reform property tax system with GIS application so that collection efficiency reaches at least 85% as needed under JnNURM mission mode scheme of urban renewal.
Funds received from the Centre and the state must be put to better and balanced use and avoid chances of resource leakage, misuse, misapplication and corruption etc. Priority be given to such projects as redevelopment of inner and old city areas, water supply, sewerage and solid waste management, construction and improvement of drains/storm water drains, urban transport including roads, highways, parking lots/spaces on a PPP basis, development of heritage sites, eradication of slums etc as envisaged under JnNURM.

Venkatesh N Muttur, Mayuri Estate, Hubli.


Hurdles in way of Ring Road proposal

The much required Ring Road proposal to decongest the traffic which has increased at unimagined proportions has another twist to it now. The concept conceded in 2001 has atleast five amendments to road alignment, even increasing the length of the road from the initial 9.5 km and not to mention the escalated costs into folds. The concurrence of the latest approved map which involves acquiring 202 acres of land at the fixed rate at Rs 1.5 lakh to 3 lakh per acre is debatable. This is because the land prices around Hubli have gone up substantially in recent times and the villagers may not agree to part with their land for less money further delaying the process. Under these circumstances it is difficult to imagine that how far the proposal will take shape.

Mohinder Singh Sublok, Arvind Nagar, Hubli

Fix time limit for truck movement

The monsoon has exposed the substandard quality of roads in Hubli. Potholes have come up on several roads in New Cotton Market area that were laid a few months back. Roads in this area were constructed after a gap of not less than a decade providing the much needed relief to the residents and shopkeepers here. One major reason for the roads here turning worse is movement of heavy trucks. The authorities should restrict the movement of monstrous trucks by allowing them into the city only during a fixed period of time.

Viswanath, New Cotton Market, Hubli

Veerendra Hegagde to set up Super Specialty Hospital in Dharwad

Veerendra Hegagde to set up Super Specialty Hospital in Dharwad

By Team Mangalorean Bangalore


BANGALORE, July 27, 2009: Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara (SDM) Education Society of Dharmasthala, Dakshina Kannada, headed by Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggade has proposed to set up a Super Speciality Hospital at Mummigatti village in Dharwad district.

The estimated cost of the hospital will be Rs. 125 crore. The Society, which runs 44 educational institutions in various parts of the State, would establish the hospital on 25 acres at Mummigatti Village on Dharwad-Belgaum Road. Padmabhushana awardee D. Veerendra Heggade has also constructed SDM Dental Hospital and SDM Medical Hospital in Dharwad and managing it for the past few years.

According to officials in the Commerce and Industries Department the State High Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC) meeting chaired by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa last approved the Society’s proposal.

The Super Specialty Hospital would have a post graduation centre, a research centre, and administrative and academic building. It would provide employment to 700 persons.

The SHLCC, which discussed the project in detail, resolved to recommend Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) to allot 25 acres of land at Mummigatti in Dharwad. The Hubli Electricity Supply Company (HESCOM) would supply 1000 KVA to the hospital while the KIADB would supply 50,000 litres of water per day subject to availability.

D. Surendra Kumar, vice-president of the Society appeared before the committee and briefed the details of the project.

The SDM Education Society, which runs hospitals in Dharmasthala, Chikmagalur, Hassan and Mangalore, would prepare a plan for development of human resources required for the project, train local people and comply with the Government policy on providing employment to local people, sources said.