The Andhra Pradesh Government may soon take a new initiative to stem rural-urban migration by making the rural people employable in their own environs.
This follows the AP Chapter of CII preparing a report on how to create employment in different rural regions of the State so that migration to cities could be checked. The report, which will be submitted to the State Government within a month, will recommend measures to create rural employment clusters in sectors such as agriculture, industry, textile and consumer durables, depending on the potential of the respective rural regions.
This emerged at the CII Andhra Pradesh annual session and AP Economic Summit, which was inaugurated by Dr J. Geeta Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Major Industries, Commerce and Food Processing, here on Friday.
“We have already held meetings at six regional levels in rural Andhra Pradesh. The report will also include recommendations on skill development of the rural people to make them employable,” Dr Ramachandra Galla, Chairman of CII Andhra Pradesh Taskforce on Non Migratory Jobs and Chairman of Amara Raja Group, told
Dr Geeta Reddy said the State was well on its way to economic growth. “We expect to end the current fiscal with a 8.39 per cent growth in the agriculture sector, 7.79 per cent in the industrial sector and 9.6 per cent in the services sector,” she pointed out.
Tractor unit
She said the Mahindra's tractor unit in Medak district would be launched soon, with the ground breaking ceremony scheduled for March 23. “The Government had cleared on a single day last month projects worth Rs 25,000 crore,” she said.
Dr Reuben Abraham, Executive Director, Centre for Emerging Market Solutions, Indian School of Business, put forth a new perspective on urbanisation, stating that only the cities can be the engine for economic growth. “Urbanisation is a process to be encouraged. If you are not urbanised, you will remain poor. Seventy per cent of the new jobs in the coming years will be created in urban areas. Seventy per cent of the world GDP will be from urban areas by 2025,” he said.
Mr T.T. Ashok, Managing Director of Taylor Rubber and Mr Shakti Sagar, Chairman of Andhra Pradesh chapter of CII, also spoke.