Demand for Kittur Karnataka Development Board grows louder

Even as the Karnataka government passed a resolution seeking matching grant for Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB) from the Centre, on the Vidarbha Model, during the just-concluded Winter Session of the State legislature in Belagavi, a demand for a similar development board for Kittur Karnataka is now getting louder.

There are 56 Assembly constituencies in the Kittur Karnataka region and a petition with the demand for a board, with signatures of all the MLAs, barring the eight Ministers from the region, was submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during the Winter Session.

The petition demands formation of Kittur Karnataka Development Board and an annual grant of ₹5,000 crore for facilitating comprehensive development of the region.

Kittur Karnataka (earlier known as Bombay Karnataka) comprises the districts of Dharwad, Belagavi, Gadag, Haveri, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, and Uttara Kannada districts.

Legislators of Kittur Karnataka like Navalgund MLA N.H. Konaraddi, who has taken the initiative of mustering support for the demand, argues that this region requires special assistance.

Why the need

“Compared to other areas, Kittur Karnataka region figures low in terms of economic and human development indices. The average per capital income of this region is lower than that of the State. There is need for giving boost to industrial development and infrastructure here,” said Mr. Konaraddi.

As per the Economic Survey of Karnataka (2024-25), the per capita income of Belagavi division is ₹2,00457 and that of Kalaburagi ₹1,73,226, while it is ₹5,01,383 for Bengaluru region, and ₹3,59,177 for Mysuru region. The per capita income of Bengaluru region without Bengaluru Urban district is ₹2,71,519.

The KKRDB, which now exists, covers 42 Assembly constituencies (as per the recent restructuring of Assembly constituencies) in the districs of Bidar, Ballari, Kalaburagi, Koppal, Raichur, Yadigiri, and Vijayanagara.

The region being the second largest arid region in the country has already been given special status under Article 371-J of Indian Constitution and the board receives grants from the State government for taking up various developmental initiatives.

The State has allocated funds to the tune of ₹5,000 crore to KKRDB, and now wants the Centre to give matching grant on the lines of special grants given to Vidarbha in Maharashtra.

Measure of backwardness

The Dr. Nanjundappa-led committee on regional imbalance had used various indicators on five different sectors to arrive at Comprehensive Composite Development Index (CCDI) for 175 taluks of the State in 2002.

Based on CCDI, it had identified 114 taluks as backward, grouped into four categories of backwardness.

The Dharwad-based Centre for Multi Disciplinary Research, which carried out a critical analysis of Dr. Nanjundappa Committee Report and its implementation in 2014, brought down the number of backward taluks to 109.

According to the 2014 analysis, while majority of the taluks of Kalyana Karnataka region remain in the most backward category, there were some from Kittur Karnataka region also in the same category. The other taluks of Kittur Karnataka are distributed among the more backward and backward categories.

Report in January

The State-level Regional Imbalance Redressal Committee, headed by M. Govinda Rao, is likely to submit its report in January 2026 and its analysis and recommendations are likely decide the fate of the new demand for separate board.