Ranchi: Jharkhand voted in its maiden majority-led government during 2014 and Chief Minister Raghubar Das has oft stated that politics for him is a medium to bring about change and put smiles back on the faces of more than 3 crore Jharkhandis who suffered to a considerable extent for about a decade owing to political instability, scams and other forms of graft. The vision of the Chief Minister and his team, to make the state rank among India’s prosperous ones, concretised with the Momentum Jharkhand Investors Summit 2017 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni was brand ambassador for the event that was nothing short of a platform to showcase the potential of a sleeping giant.
Prior to the two-day conference, Mr. Das and his officers visited the U.S.A., Singapore, China, among other nations besides conducting road shows in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
The gathering was attended by about a dozen Union ministers including Arun Jaitley (Finance), M. Venkaiah Naidu (Urban Development), Nitin Jairam Gadkari (Road, Transport &Highways), Smriti Zubin Irani (Textiles), Piyush Goyal (Power), Ravi Shankar Prasad(Law), Nirmala Sitharaman (Commerce), Ram Kripal Yadav (MoS for Rural Development), Sudarshan Bhagat (MoS for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare) and Jayant Sinha (MoS for Civil Aviation). The corporate sector was represented by Ratan Tata, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Naveen Jindal, Sashi Ruia, Anil Aggarwal and Rajesh Adani. The ambassadors of Japan, the Czech Republic, Tunisia and Mongolia were in attendance.
The state inked 210 M.o.U. with a potential of Rs. 3.10 lakh crore and the capacity to create direct and indirect employment opportunities for about 6 lakh people. Jharkhand, which possesses 40 % of the country’s mineral reserves, once again attracted maximum investment in the mines and geology sector – 121 M.o.U. exceeding Rs. 2.10 lakh cr. The sphere can engage 67,519 more persons directly and 1,37,064 indirectly. The I.T. category bagged 30 deals translating into Rs. 8,499 cr. and direct employment for 21,057 besides indirect work for 35,797. Urban Development and Housing witnessed 17 M.o.U. attracting Rs. 38,320 cr. and job creation for 51,300 directly and 96,444 indirectly. Corresponding figures for Higher and Technical Education were 16 agreements, Rs. 3,231 cr., 50,820 and 96,050. Energy saw 9 proposals, Tourism 8, Health and Family Welfare 6 while Transport and Agriculture got an M.o.U. each.
In the words of Ms. Sitharaman, “The flying baby elephant mascot symbolised the state’s silent strength.” She mentioned that work executed in the past couple of years was an indication that Jharkhand was ready to take off.
Assuring that his regime’s doors are open round the clock for capitalists, the Chief Minister said that of the 210 deals 172 projects will commence production within a span of two years creating 1.56 lakh direct jobs while the remainder comprises long-term ones that shall begin production in three years. Mr. Das expressed his government’s commitment to stamp out the scourge of poverty and added that his regime does not believe in catchy slogans but in framing policies and executing them. An elated Chief Minister said that his state managed to win investors’ confidence.
Chief Secretary Raj Bala Verma said that it was due to collaborative efforts that Momentum Jharkhand was such an enormous success. Responsibilities had been assigned to officers and tasks accomplished with proper planning, she averred, adding that it is essential to work with a strategy to realise these agreements on ground level.
I. & P.R.D. Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar said that Jharkhand has emerged as a brand among the investor community and the mentality towards the state altered. The Chief Minister’s focus is that industries should not be merely established, they must ensure development.
There is a sense of optimism among the populace that at least things are rolling and hopefully the ‘baby elephant’ would learn to fly by the time the state hosts the Summit's next edition in 2018-19.