Manmohan Singh was connected to Karnataka in many ways, said ‘people see India through the prism of Bengaluru’

During a visit to Karnataka in 2017, Dr Singh appreciated the development model adopted by the State Government, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. He said that Karnataka was the first State to implement the Food Security Act enacted by the UPA government.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who passed away on December 26, 2024, contributed to the growth of Karnataka in many ways, but what stands out is him saying that ‘people see India through the prism of Bengaluru’.

As prime minister in UPA-1, he provided debt relief to farmers through waiver of entire overdue interest and rescheduling of overdue loans as on June 30, 2006. He had waived off crop loans amounting to ₹72,000 crore during the UPA-I regime.

Under the Prime Minister’s Rehabilitation Package, Karnataka received ₹2,689.64 crore for providing relief to small farmers in Belagavi, Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Hassan, Kodagu and Shimoga districts. The package benefited many small farmers.

During his visit to Bengaluru, when Dharam Singh was leading a coalition government in Karnataka, Dr. Singh interacted with farmers in an auditorium of the Bangalore University. He provided several inputs to farmers and expressed his government’s commitment to the welfare of farmers and the poor.

Later, for development of agriculture, Dr Singh set up a National Commission on Farmers, headed by scientist M.S. Swaminathan, which recommended measures to boost the rural economy. This contributed to the revision of minimum support price.

Following the success of the Rural Development & Self Employment Training Institute (RUDSETI) set up in 1982 at Ujire in Dakshina Kannada district, by D. Veerendra Heggade with the support of Canara Bank and former Syndicate Bank, the Manmohan Singh government replicated the model at the all-India-level. He suggested that the Union Rural Development Ministry establish one Rural Self-Employment Training Institute (RSETI) in each district in 2008-09. RSETIs aim to train rural unemployed youth to take up self-employment ventures. Now, India has close to 600 RSETIs.

To monitor the work of RSETIs promoted by different banks, a National Centre for Excellence of RSETIs (NACER) was established in 2011 in Bengaluru. The Centre has bestowed on Dr Heggade the honour of being the co-chairman of the NACER Committee of RSETIs.