HYDERABAD: The Union Government is planning to set up mega manufacturing and industrial zones across the country to encourage the manufacturing sector to establish more industries.As part of the new land policy being formulated by the central government, these zones will come up, as far as possible, on barren/non-agricultural lands so that there will be least environmental impact. Union minister for commerce and industry Anand Sharma told reporters after interacting with the industry bigwigs at a conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-Southern Region here on Saturday, “A proposal for development of industrial corridors in the South on the lines of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor is also under consideration but we are yet to decide on its location which will attract a large number of investors.” Although Sharma did not mention Karnataka, the state could also be a contender for the corridor. He said value-added manufacturing, infrastructure, agriculture, innovation and adaptation, and requirement of land were the priority issues for the government. “Only manufacturing sector can address the increasing problem of unemployment in India which has about 17 per cent of the world’s population.‘The Centre aims to create one million jobs in the manufacturing sector over the next 10 years’’, he said.He said that the Centre was unlikely to allow export of rice and wheat even if the stocks were double the quantity needed to meet domestic needs. “The Centre cannot take the risk of permitting export of rice and wheat as it is coming up with a national food security policy shortly and it has to keep adequate stocks to meet the requirements.’’ CII representatives explained the challenges the manufacturing sector was facing and sought support from the government. The CII will soon enter into an understanding with the state governments and work in coordination for accelerating growth.
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