CII comes out with vision document for Uttarakhand@2022

Small units have been hit harder than the bigger units by the economic slowdown on all fronts — profitability, credit availability and longer payment cycles. This is the crux of a survey by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on the impact of the current economic crisis on the northern region. The downturn has also adversely impacted job creation.

The CII has come out with a new document “Vision 2022 Uttarakhand”. The document focusses on various other sectors in addition to SMEs in the hill state. The vision document for Uttarakhand is the result of a CII initiative ‘India@75: The Emerging Agenda’ and has been inspired by management guru CK Prahalad.

To capture the aspirations of people, the CII has reached out to about 250 people from a cross-section of the society and organised a series of workshops.

“The common aspirations that are reverberating in Uttarakhand include creation of world-class infrastructure, increased expenditure on health and education, universal access to basic amenities, improvement in the quality of life, inclusive growth, low-cost innovative technologies, green economy and green energy,” said Rakesh Oberai, chairman, Uttarakhand task force, a body that has been created for Uttarakhand@75 vision document by CII.

The hallmark of the vision document is that it focuses more on sectors like infrastructure, tourism and energy and less on industries.

The document states that Uttarakhand can be a role model for promoting a green economy by focusing on sectors where the state has a competitive advantage — information technology, agriculture, tourism and hydropower.

The CII has also recommended that the state should opt for 100 per cent waste management, waste treatment and recycling. He added 50 per cent of industries should use eco-friendly technologies for waste management and conservation.

The CII has also called for installation of green industries in the state to boost economy. The body has also suggested that there should be a framework for setting up industries in relatively green sectors like IT, agriculture, tourism and hydropower.

This is especially significant as in hydropower, the state can become a leading supplier of power to other states and ensure 100 per cent electrification. The state can also become a global tourism destination through leveraging its spiritual, cultural, natural and adventure tourism potential.

In agriculture sector, the focus should be on improving market linkages by creating a cold chain supply infrastructure. There has to be an improvement in yield and quality of agri-products through latest technological know-how.

Science and technology should also be used in exploring renewable energy options. A campaign should be launched to promote biotechnology, herbal medicines and processing industries.

The government should set up art and cultural centres at all major tourist destinations and organise events to promote and preserve the state’s art and culture ad also for promoting tourism.

In the infrastructure sector, CII said all villages should be connected with metalled roads and major cities should be connected to each other with multi-lane highways. Institutions of higher learning should also be set up with special focus on research intended to solve local problems.