Mangalore will turn into a “ghost town” unless jobs are generated, said T. V. Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education and chief patron of the Vishwa Konkani Student Scholarship Fund, which awarded scholarships worth Rs. 2.5 crore in the city on Monday.
Speaking at a press meet, he slammed MLAs and MPs of Mangalore for not putting job creation on the agenda and criticised Mangaloreans for their complacency over the region’s issues.
The country is facing a serious job crisis and a grave economic situation with no savings. From 1991 to 2001, every year, 2 crore young adults join the workforce. “Where are the jobs?” he said.
While world over, presidents and prime ministers are concerned with job creation, here, they are concerned with subsidies and reservations. “People want jobs. Today’s problem is jobs, not rice,” he said. He said Mangalore has no industry and attracts no jobs because Mangaloreans never told industry to create jobs and kept going to Mumbai and Bangalore. He said, “Where are the jobs? Twenty thousand people graduate in Mangalore and they all go to the Gulf. You want all your children to go out? Why don’t you ask all these questions? Everyone is laidback here. We want them to be proactive. We are trying to push from Bangalore. But we have limited energy. We want Mangaloreans to demand and push…”.
Mr. Pai, with Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry and corporate representatives of Mangalore, had, in February, drawn up “Vision 2020” for Mangalore, targeted at creating 100 start-ups in IT sector by 2020. The 10 points included setting up an incubation centre, angel funds, creating patents. “The plan is lying in the dustbin. None of your MLAs and MPs took it up…. You must have a vision…50,000 jobs by 2020. (Otherwise), “this (Mangalore) will become a ghost town in 25 years,” he said.
Mangaloreans do not talk about the city’s bad connectivity, tourism. “Democracy is about competitive lobbying. Where’s the (Mangalore) lobby?” he said.
