Jharkhand, which has 40 per cent of India’s mineral reserves, is fast diversifying to attract investment in information technology and services sectors. The government has laid a red carpet welcome by unveiling industry-specific policy to attract investment in non-core sectors and generate mass employment. Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das, a man on mission, shares his plans to attract maximum investment and provide electricity to all the 32,602 villages by 2018. Excerpts:

What are your future plans for attracting investment?

We had come to Mumbai and showcased business opportunities in Jharkhand when the Make in India programme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi some seven months back. This will be the last road show in India. We have done road shows in four places, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi and Kolkata.

After this, we will be headed to the US to attract investment in the IT sector. A team of officials will visit South Korea and Japan in October and November to get investments in the automobile sector. Similarly, roadshows and seminars will be held in Australia, Singapore and New Zealand by November. All this will culminate in Vibrant Gujarat-like global investors’ summit in Jharkhard in February next year.

What kind of response you have received?

We have received good response from all the States. Some of the companies have already started operations. In the last three years, there has been an investment of ₹23,000 crore in various sectors, including food processing, power, steel and an investment of ₹15,000 crore is expected in the power sector in the next one month.

With a lot of tribal areas, do you have issues in acquiring land?

No, we have no problem with land acquisition. We have set up a new corporation with 1.73 lakh acres of land bank available with the government. Investors have to come to the Corporation, submit their investment proposal, choose the land they want to buy and start work immediately. We have a single-window policy for all clearances. When we say single-window, we really mean it. It is not like the single window leading to many doors.

What are the incentives you offer for attracting investment?

We have the best of policies across sectors. More than incentives, investors like to invest only in States with best policies. Take Gujarat, for instance. They have attracted best of investments because they framed their policies right.

Without having any coal or mineral deposit, Gujarat can provide uninterrupted power supply through the day and attract investment. This was possible because it has the right policies. People will start looking away from Maharashtra and explore Jharkhand only if we assure them good governance. Our recently announced textile policy is the right example. My government will focus on industry friendly policies rather than showering incentives.

What are your plans for skill development?

We have tied up with all leading IT companies for training. We are not focussing on incremental training like other States. We want even the poorest of the poor uneducated in the state to be trained for a gainful employment because God has given brains equally to everyone. Poor people cannot get higher education because of poverty; that does not mean they have no brains.

Our textile policy is focussed on uneducated poor people. We are setting up training centres to generate employment in textiles. They will be employed in companies coming up at textile parks in Ranchi. India has wasted its time in promoting big companies. Now, it is time for small companies to make their mark. It is only these small companies generate employment for poor. When I was working in Tata Steel at Jharkhand, there were 32,000 employees.

The company invested thousands of crore in automation and most people were removed. In textile, an investment of ₹1,500 crore can generate employment to 15,000 people. We will be training 20 lakh people through six centres.

Almost 70 per cent of people will be employed in Jharkhand. We have taken assurance from the industry coming up in the state not to employ people from other state.

Do you still have maoist problem in Jharkhand?

There is no issue of maoist in the State. There was a time when maoist had some ideological difference. Today there are only goons demanding money for any development work. We are ready to debate with people with ideological difference against development.

We will deal the goons with police force. Starting October 2, each of the top government officials including me will camp in villages and discuss with gram panchayat leaders to make plans for next three years. We are making Gram Panchayat Sachivalaya, an office with computers and IT infrastructure for young village boys to get online work done for villagers. We have an elected sarpanch in village but he does not have a team to work with. All state welfare schemes like pension for widows and old age pension will be handled by Gram Panchayat Sachivalaya through online platform and money will be transferred directly to the beneficiary. This will also remove corruption.

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