By V.S. Karnic
Bangalore, Nov 5 (IANS) Karnataka turned 51 on Nov 1 with the state politics and administration in a state of paralysis. But all other aspects of life are on track, some even on fast track.
Unperturbed by the mid-life crisis that has hit the state’s political parties and placed the administration in a limbo, Airbus president and chief executive Thomas Enders and Cisco chairman and CEO John Chambers were in the IT hub announcing major plans for India and its IT capital Bangalore.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) held its quality summit with ICICI chief K.V. Kamath narrating success stories of India Inc.
The much-criticised Bangalore City Corporation announced acquisition of mechanical sweepers to keep the city’s prestigious roads spick and span.
And, 21 kids and youngsters between five and 14 years skated 530 km in three days from Belgaum in north Karnataka to Bangalore to cheer up the mood on state formation day Nov 1.
These brighter and better aspects of life lessened the sense of despair over the collapse of the administration for almost two months now with the three main political parties engaged in a bitter fight for power.
The political crisis following the fall of the Janata Dal-Secular-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition on Oct 8 over power transfer shows no signs of an early end.
The state is under President’s rule and the assembly under suspended animation pending a decision by Governor Rameshwar Thakur on whether to recommend dissolution of the house or give a chance to the BJP-JD-S to form a government again.
Either way, Karnataka is unlikely to see political stability for a long time to come.
None of the three main parties, the BJP, the JD-S and the Congress is confident of getting a clear majority in the next assembly elections whenever they are held.
The assembly, which still has 19 months of term left, has seen the collapse of two coalitions. After three weeks of attacking each other, the BJP and the JD-S came together again and on Oct 27 staked claim to forming a government.
Former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and his father and JD-S president H.D. Deve Gowda initially said their support to the BJP was unconditional.
However, with Governor Thakur taking time to decide on the claim, Deve Gowda has now come up with 12 conditions for the coalition to be stable. The BJP is taking time to respond, so also is the central government on deciding the best course open to it to resolve the Karnataka crisis.
Against such gloomy backdrop, it is heartening when Cisco’s John Chambers says that his company’s Bangalore campus will serve as a global platform to roll out smart products and solutions applicable and affordable in developing countries for bridging the digital divide.
“The India centre will be at the heart of our globalisation vision and a platform to tap the potential in the emerging markets,” Chambers, who was here on Oct 31 to announce a tie-up with WIPRO, said.
Airbus chief Thomas Enders expects to sell 45 of its A380 jumbo aircraft to India over the next two decades.
“We are targeting overall annual sales of over $1 billion from India starting 2008,” Enders said at a press conference in Bangalore last week.
The company plans to invest about $600 million in India from now to 2020 for training, software, instructors and simulators, said Airbus country head Kiran Rao. Airbus has also identified five companies in Bangalore to be tier-1 suppliers to the A380 aircraft. Details were, however, not given as the deal is yet to be firmed up.
“India Inc is looking beyond the domestic market to expand its business through organic or acquisition route. Big-ticket firms are scouting for global opportunities to drive growth,” ICICI’s Kamath told the CII quality summit.
On Nov 1, the 21 skaters were the star attraction at the high tea hosted by Governor Thakur to celebrate the state formation day. “Exciting. It was great fun,” one of the skaters told Thakur on their experience.
Compared to the plans of Cisco, Airbus and the enthusiasm of the skaters, the Bangalore City Corporation’s efforts to keep at least some of the major roads clean is pretty minimal.
But given the dust, stink and potholes that have come to symbolise the inefficient and inadequate infrastructure of the city, it is a welcome change.
The four mechanical sweepers, each costing Rs.4.7 million, will clean six major roads including the well-known M.G. Road and the one to the airport, twice a day, according to Corporation commissioner S. Subramanya, who flagged them off on Nov 1.
“It is a relief to know that Bangalore still remains the happening city, in spite of its deteriorating infrastructure like lack of well-maintained roads. The political crisis is a dampener, though,” said S. Vijayalakshmi, an officer with a leading private sector bank, who takes an hour and more most days to reach her office in the city centre from her residence just 10 km away.
“But as long as Bangalore continues to count, one can live with it.”