Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Tuesday provided a road map for a developed West Bengal in keeping with his vision for a developed India in 2020.
Speaking at the 180th annual celebration of the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce, Kalam said a prosperous Bengal would economically empower the nation. The litmus test for Bengal’s development, according to the father of India’s missile technology, would be the fulfilment of the following criteria by 2020 — Bengal’s per capita income must treble from Rs 40,000 to Rs 120,000; the literacy rate has to rise from the current 75 per cent to 100 per cent; Bengal should become a polio, leprosy and tuberculosis-free state; unemployment in north Bengal and the Sunderbans should be minimised.
Bengal’s per capita income in 2010 stood at $1,077 (Rs 47,926 by the current conversion rate), according to the ministry of statistics, programming & implementation. According to the state school education department, literacy in Bengal now stands at 77.08 per cent.
“How do you attain these goals?” Kalam asked the gathering and went on to provide his answer: “Work on areas of Bengal’s core competence.”
In his book India 2020 — A Vision for the New Millennium, Kalam has talked about the India’s core competence areas, which he iterated on Tuesday as agriculture and food-processing, education and healthcare, information and communication technology, quality electric power including solar power, surface transport and infrastructure and lastly critical technologies and strategic industries. “The need of the hour is sustainable development of Bengal’s villages which would result in inclusive growth.”
For Bengal, he provided a specific actionable list. “For Bengal’s villages, you must provide physical, electrical and knowledge connectivity. This would lead to economic connectivity.” He explained a key component of his vision — the concept of providing urban amenities in rural areas, which he calls Pura. “Create delta Puras for the socio-economic development of the deltaic regions.” The enrolment rate at the primary school may be a healthy 98 per cent according to the state school education department but Kalam wants the school drop-out rate to come down to zero.
Education, he said, should be geared towards production of skilled manpower. For the healthcare sector, he suggested reinforcements through telemedicine and mobile medicine vans. He called for focus on production, processing and marketing of agro-food products.
Desilting of rivers and water bodies also figured on his list.
Noting that Calcutta has emerged as a key address of the IT industry, he set a target of $30 billion in IT exports by 2020. The 2010-11 figure is Rs 6937.87 crore ($1559 million by current conversion rates) for the software technology parks and special economic zones in Calcutta and Siliguri combined. He also urged for the transfer of information technology to knowledge products. “IT is not an end by itself. Also Calcutta must look to spread the benefits of IT to the tier II and III towns.” All-weather roads in rural areas are on his wish list as are “evolution of enlightened citizens”.
For the chambers of commerce, he spelt out a five-pronged initiative: analyse the power scenario —for example, the Sunderbans need solar power, he said — focus on business to create livelihood, form strategies for education-industry partnership, identify core competence sectors of the state be it tourism, agro food-processing or special craft and skills and study profile of skill in the youth.
Kalam addressed the Calcutta Management Association and the students of the Heritage School and the Heritage Institute of Technology later in the day.
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