Jharkhand on path to be eastern India's business hub

RANCHI/DEOGHAR: After years of political instability and corruption cases against top leaders, Jharkhand is finally on the path to realise its potential as an investment-friendly business destination in eastern India.

In the 14 months since "Momentum Jharkhand: Global Investors' Summit" last February, the state has organised four ceremonies to lay the foundations of various projects across the state. On Friday, chief minister Raghubar Das laid the foundation of 151 industrial projects worth Rs 2,700 crore at Kumaitha Sports Complex in Deoghar. With similar events held earlier in Ranchi, Jamshedpur and Bokaro, the state government has now launched 351 projects, which promise to bring investment worth Rs 8,969 crore into the state.

During Friday's event in the temple town, the CM said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would visit Jharkhand on May 25 for the ground-breaking ceremony of projects worth Rs 52,700 crore. Some of the projects were being closely watched by the business community in Jharkhand and the country. These included the first phase of the Rs 15,000 crore thermal power plant of the Adani Group in Godda, the Rs 2,000 crore pig-iron and ductile pipe plant of the Vedanta Group in Manoharpur in West Singbhum, the first phase of the 4,000 MW thermal power plant at Patratu in Ramgarh and the Rs 5,000 crore revival project of the fertilizer plant at Sindri in Dhanbad.

In an exclusive interview with TOI, Das said: "The recent comment of NITI Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant ("The eastern part of India — particularly states like Bihar, UP, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan —- is keeping the country backward, especially on social indicators") does not include Jharkhand. This shows the state has progressed swiftly. We have erased the backward tag associated with us."

Das, who took over as the CM in December 2014, said: "We have immense natural resources, including forests, and we have started tapping these. Our development initiatives coupled with effective policing have also helped us curb Maoist violence in the state. Skill development is a priority for us in our mission to end unemployment and, for this, we want to draw more investments and create job opportunities."

Though the state has already bagged a few big-ticket projects such as Vedanta's and Adani's, the CM said his government was paying more attention to smaller projects so more people could be employed in a shorter span. "A small project worth Rs 1 crore can give jobs to 70 people. Such projects also give people control over production and the means of production. We have employed more than one lakh people in the government sector alone and another 50,000 jobs will be given by July," he said.

The state has also been doing well on the social front. "Jharkhand is the first state in the country to set up a fast-track court and convict people accused in a lynching case. We are grateful to the PM for giving us a strong law to curb incidents of rape. To tackle human trafficking, we have laid adequate emphasis on skill development of rural youth," the CM said.