Bengaluru: Months after Karnataka implemented the central government’s 10 per cent EWS quota in education and jobs, Karnataka’s Minister for Large and Medium Industries, Murugesh Nirani, is looking to emulate it to promote entrepreneurship among economically weaker general category people in the state.
Speaking to ThePrint, Nirani said he has sent a proposal to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to reserve land for aspiring entrepreneurs from the EWS category not covered under existing reservation.
“My proposal is to ensure that people from poor backgrounds rise to a position of employing others. I have proposed 10 per cent reservation of total land available in any industrial estate to those who hail from EWS families. We will also extend 75 per cent concession on land price for such aspirants. The proposal is pending clearance from the finance department and the chief minister’s office,” Nirani said.
He also said the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) — the authority that provides industrial infrastructural facilities in the state — intends to acquire 50,000 acres of land by November 2022 to set up industrial estates, ahead of the scheduled global investors’ meet ‘Invest Karnataka’.
Entrepreneurs to pay only 25% of total land cost
The KIADB has been mandated to reserve 22.65 per cent of total plots in each industrial estate formed after March 2009 for SC/ST entrepreneurs. It is also responsible for the acquisition of land for industrial and infrastructure purposes and allotment of land for industrial use. Now, Nirani wants to extend the benefits of reservation to entrepreneurs from non-SC/ST communities as well.
In April this year, the board enhanced land price concession for SC/ST entrepreneurs from 50 per cent to 75 per cent. This means an entrepreneur hailing from these communities is entitled to pay only 25 per cent of land cost. Of the 25 per cent, possession certificate will be issued to the applicant after payment of 10 per cent of the total price. The remaining 15 per cent is split into eight quarterly payments with interest.
Nirani has proposed to implement the same principle for entrepreneurs from non-SC/ST but EWS sections as well.
“The 75 per cent concession on land that we provide for SC/ST entrepreneurs is offset by funds that industries department receives under SCSP-TSP (Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan). For 10 per cent reservation under EWS quota, the government will have to provide separately,” Nirani said.
In 2013, the Karnataka government passed the Karnataka SCSP/TSP (Planning, Allocation and Utilisation of Financial Resources) Act as a social justice reform. The law mandates the state to spend 24.1 per cent of its annual budget on SC/ST welfare.
Nirani’s proposal identifies beneficiaries eligible to avail the 10 per cent reservation as those hailing from poor families and belonging to castes that are notified under Union government and state government’s EWS quota list; essentially forward castes or general category castes.
(Edited by Neha Mahajan)
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