Visiting Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das made a high pitch for American investment in the state last week, calling especially upon NRIs from Jharkhand to be partners in the development of the state that has since its creation 15 years ago failed to realize its full potential thanks to political instability.
At an investment road show at the Taj Pierre Hotel in New York Sept 28, Das observed that while “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has talked about ‘Make In India’, the process started long ago in the state with ‘Make in Jharkhand’ by Jamshedji Tata in 1907 with the founding of the Tata Steel plant, which was the largest private sector investment in Asia at that time.”
Describing Jharkhand as the land of opportunity for investments in various sectors, the chief minister said that some of the areas where investments are being sought include agriculture, tourism, food processing, mining steel industry, power and automobile sector as well as health and medical sector and urban development.
“The NRIs have contributed to the development of America; now I urge some of you to come back and quickly put the state on the path of development. We will treat our success as your success,” Das said.
The chief minister, who was accompanied by a six-member official delegation, including state’s chief secretary Rajbala Verma and industry secretary Sunil Kumar Barnwal as well as business leaders from the state, was in New York on the last leg of his international road show that began with attending the ‘Mining Expo’ near in Las Vegas, Nevada, followed by meetings with prospective investors in San Francisco where he and his delegation had an interaction with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.
The New York luncheon meeting, “Investment Opportunities in Jharkhand”, hosted by USIBC and CII, was attended among others by industrialist Prakash Hinduja, and some NRI entrepreneurs from Jharkhand, a few of whom expressed interest in setting up solar projects in the state. Also at hand was Riva Ganguly Das, consul general of India in New York as well as deputy consul general Manoj Mohapatra.
The Jharkhand government will organize a “Global Investor Summit” at Ranchi 16-17 Feb., 2017, in partnership with CII to showcase the state’s immense investment potential and to attract investors to the state.
The chief minister reiterated his call two days late at an event in Edison, New Jersey, where the Bihar Jharkhand Association of North America in partnership with Consulate General of India in New York, arranged a community reception for Raghubar Das at Royal Albert’s Palace.
Over 600 members from BJANA families came from Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Ohio, and Massachusetts, besides New Jersey and New York City. Many high-ranking government officials from Jharkhand accompanied the chief minister. Consul General Ganguly Das was also present and briefly addressed the gathering.
In her welcome address, Anjali Prasad, president of BJANA, indicated the community’s willingness to partner with the Jharkhand government in its Swach Bharat program and also requested the government to set up NRI cells to facilitate transfer of knowledge in the light of the ongoing Smart City planning in the state.
Raghubar Das congratulated the diaspora for their success and invited them to collaborate with the Jharkhand government and support investments and social causes. He showed a keen interest in partnering with BJANA and with Smile Train, an international children’s charity, to solve the problem of cleft, a disease in which children are born with split lips and palates, in Jharkhand, and better health care and medical facilities in the state.
He also encouraged BJANA to adopt a village in Jharkhand under the Swach Bharat Program initiated by Prime Minister Modi to improve access and use of sanitation facilities in households and public places in the adopted village. He also promised to set up NRI cells in the state that would facilitate interaction with the dispora.
Ganguly Das congratulated BJANA for hosting the event and participating in cultural activities for many years.
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