‘Tamil Nadu’s dismal economy will make next 3 years tough’

Tamil Nadu celebrated its new year on April 14, but the state’s people have a series of woes in store.

According to a leading economist MR Venkatesh, ''The next three years are going to be the severest in terms of prices of essential commodities, power supply and water availability in Tamil Nadu.''

A research paper on the state’s economy, worked out by Venkatesh, has found that the state’s Gross Domestic Product fell from 11.89 % in March 2006 to 4.55 % in March 2009. “Investors will shy away now. There is severe shortage of power, water, food and infrastructure,” Venkatesh said.

He said the agriculture sector showed negative growth figures.
Venkatesh’s observations were seconded by S Ranganathan, general secretary of Cauvery Delta Farmers Association. “Every month Tamil Nadu has to get 1.5 lakh tonnes of rice from the central pool or other states to ensure that all people eat two square meals a day. This is in contrast to the days when we used to feed other states,” he said.

Ranganathan said 35% of Tamil Nadu’s food security depended on the three districts of Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam, the core area of Cauvery Delta. “Because of water shortage, paddy is cultivated in just 12 lakh acres in these districts where as the entire delta accounted for 16 lakh acres of arable land,” he said.
He said most of the cultivable lands in Cauvery Delta were being swallowed by real estate developers and educational institutions.

“Anyone can start an engineering college with 100 acres. One has lost count of the engineering colleges in the state,” he said.
Though farmers are given free power, the truth is that there is 50 % power cut in Tamil Nadu, charges RV Giri, general secretary, Consortium of Indian Farmers Association. “It is better for us to sell the land and relax. There is no water, power and labourers,” Giri said.