Southern districts, once known as a laggard, seek to shed the bad image

As Tamil Nadu gears up for an election battle, the southern districts, once known as laggards in development, are trying to change the image that has stuck with them.

Although it is too early to draw a conclusion regarding the lasting positive impact of the process, the region has received much more attention in recent years than in the past. There have been two significant developments in the Thoothukudi district in the last eight months: the establishment of an electric vehicle manufacturing facility by VinFast and the commissioning of the first 660 MW supercritical thermal power plant installed by the Tamil Nadu Power Generation Corporation.

Docking of larger ships

Thoothukudi port, named after prominent freedom fighter VO Chidambaram Pillai, has initiated the tender process for the outer port project, whose implementation will allow larger ships to dock at the port and help reduce dependence on Colombo port for transshipment. In fact, Ramanathapuram, which was considered a condemned district in the past due to deployment of government officials, is one of the top 10 districts (ranked ninth) in paddy cultivation, accounting for 7% of the area covered and 4% of paddy production. Making only a modest contribution to this area, Tirunelveli records the state’s highest yield rate at 4.4 tonnes per hectare against the state’s average of 3.35 tonnes per hectare.

labor supply

“A third of the workforce in the information technology sector in Bengaluru or Chennai comes from southern regions,” says Ashwin Desai, former president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (Madurai Region), adding that Madurai is home to nearly 200 IT firms, including Honeywell Technology Solutions, which generates a combined revenue of $200 million and employs 18,000 people.

A section of people this journalist interacted with last week, during a visit coinciding with the election campaign of political party leaders, are of the view that peace has been maintained in the region since the 1990s witnessed caste clashes that left more than 300 people dead and properties destroyed. But the weaknesses of this fragile situation were revealed three years ago at Nanguneri in Tiruneveli by the XII. It came to light when a Scheduled Caste child studying in a class was hacked by his schoolmates belonging to Backward Classes. Rajapalayam-based social activist PS Chandraprabhu says the caste factor is still important in this region, adding that incidents like the one in Nanguneri are happening only to show the “hegemony” of some communities over the vulnerable sections.

“Let’s not forget that each region has its own disadvantages,” said Ahmed AR Buhari, President of the United Economic Forum, and pointed out that the availability of land in section rates is one of the important advantages of the region. The forum, along with others, has prepared a vision document called ‘Unnatha Tamizhagam’, which envisages that the State will have a $4 trillion economy by 2047 and each district will be worth $1 trillion.

‘Hoe industry’

Although Mr Desai and TR Thamilarsu, a Thoothukudi-based businessman, are happy that the Madurai airport has international status and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) project is coming up, they make it clear that the region desperately needs a “major anchor industry”. Mr Thamilarasu says an Indian Institute of Technology or Indian Institute of Management should be established. It calls on private institutions of higher education to establish their campuses in the south. S. Rethinavelu, a leading industry voice in the south, calls for a needs-based approach to agricultural and horticultural products and further improvement in water management. Mr. Rethinavelu suggests that the central government should set up a Pulses Board in Madurai or somewhere in the southern region.

Stating that the people of the region have been feeding forest chickens for a long time and have been neglected, the industrialist said, “It may seem strange to outsiders, but I can say that Madurai should be made the second capital.” He added that this would accelerate development in the southern districts.