Round The States
New Delhi, 5 November 2009
States Alerted
Again
HOPES NOW ON RABI
CROP
By Insaf
The States are being engaged and alerted constantly by the
Centre on the basis of the first advance estimates now available to the Union
Agriculture Ministry to go all out in augmenting Rabi production so as to
off-set the losses in Kharif. The Centre has set itself an additional target of
8.5 million tones of foodgrains and 1.5 m tonnes of oil seeds, according to
what Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told a conference of Economic
Editors in New Delhi
on Wednesday last. The year 2008-09 recorded an all-time high production of
233.3 m tonnes of foodgrains comprising 117.70 m tonnes of Kharif and 116.18 m
tonnes of Rabi. The advance estimates indicate a shortfall of around 15 m tonnes
in rice, 5.5 m tonnes in coarse cereals, 21 m tonnes in food grains and 2.5
million tones in oil seeds. Most of this shortfall in Kharif is likely to occur
in UP, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar,
Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
The States are being reminded about their renewed commitment
to increase the area under Rabi as follows: (1) Acreage under wheat to be
increased by 0.5 m hectares, resulting in increased production of 2 m tones;
(2) Acreage under rice to be increased by 1.2 to 1.5 m hectares in states like
West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and UP. This is expected
to result in additional production of 1 m tonnes, (3) Area under Rabi pulses to
increase by 1.5 m hectares due to improved soil moisture on account of late
monsoon. This is expected to result in additional production of 1 m tonne.
Similarly, additional area under oil seeds would bring in about 1.2 m tones of
extra production (4) Rabi maize and sorghum and summer bajra too would bring in
1.5m tones of additional production. Importantly, the Centre has taken upon
itself the responsibility to ensure that the states do not face any problem in the
clearance of schemes and there is sufficient availability of inputs like seeds
and fertilizers.
* * * *
Kisan Credit Ahoy
Two other points need to be made. First, investment plays a
key role in achieving higher growth rate. The plan outlay for agriculture and
allied sector has been increased substantially. Among other things, the
allocation under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana has been stepped up from Rs.3165
crores last year to Rs.4100 crores this year. Second, the availability of
agricultural credit, has been stepped up from Rs.18,045 crores in 2005-06 to
Rs.2,87,149 crores in 2008-09. A target of Rs.3,25,000 crore has been kept for
disbursement of loans this year. An interest subvention of 2 per cent is being
provided by the Government for short-term agricultural credit. In addition, a 1
per cent interest subvention for prompt repayments has also been announced. The
effective rate of interest for short-term credit to farmers will be 6 per cent.
Up to July 2009, 8.53 crore Kisan Credit Cards have been issued to enable
farmers to access credit easily from banks.
* * * *
Jharkhand
Spotlights Corruption
Jharkhand has clearly spotlighted the ugly side of politics.
This past week, its former Chief Minister Madhu Koda and now an Independent MP,
has been hogging the headlines for alleged money laundering, diversion of State
funds and making huge illegal investments abroad -- to the tune of over Rs 2000
crore! From a man of modest means-- a labour contractor, Koda’s assets snow-balled
from Rs 35 lakh in 2004 to over Rs 30 crore in 2009. Worse, investigations by
the Enforcement Directorate so far reveal that Koda and his associates are
involved in hawala transactions worth Rs 560 crore, illegal investments of Rs
1,500 crore and own 70 alleged properties in Delhi,
Lucknow and
Mumbai among others. Sadly, this great wealth was amassed by Koda when he was
Chief Minister and Minister of Mines for nearly two years. Apparently, the
Mines department under him had recommended to the Centre grant of lease of coal
and iron ore mines to nearly two dozen-odd companies after striking underhand
deals, each running into crores. Gross misuse of authority. Will the buck stop
here? Koda has no party to back him!
* * * *
J&K Gets Rude Shock
Jammu & Kashmir is seething with anger. A week after
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flagged the first-ever train service in Kashmir to “improve connectivity”, his Home Minister P
Chidambaram did just the opposite. From November 1, his Ministry has banned
pre-paid mobile connections in the State. The reason? Security concerns as
proper identity verification was not being done by service providers while
giving the connections. The impact: 39 lakhs of the 45 lakh subscribers will
get affected, about 10,000 telephone operators will lose jobs and, worse, the
“unwise and ham-handed move” negates the PM’s assertion that “the era of
violence is coming to an end.” The big
question: Can’t identity requirements be tightened? Not just that. The State received
another rude shock when the Services team of the Defence forces (which also
claim that the situation is improving) failed to show up for the Ranji Trophy
match against the J&K team in Srinagar.
The no-show was apparently because of security concerns. Time for the Centre to make up its mind
whether Kashmir is moving towards normalcy or
not?
* * * *
Battle Royale In UP
The Samajwadi Party in UP should be on edge today. The
byelections to 12 seats in the State are a crucial challenge for its chief
Mulayam Singh Yadav. More so in three strongholds-- Ferozabad Lok Sabha seat,
and Etawah and Bharthana Assembly seats, where both rivals, the Congress and
the BSP are leaving no stone unturned to upset his OBC applecart. All eyes,
however, are on the Ferozabad seat, where Singh has fielded none other than his
daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav. But the going could be tough as other than the
BSP, the SP has had to contend with an aggressive Congress. The latter not only
has put up former SP MP and film star Raj Babbar, but has had Rahul Gandhi
making a rare bypoll campaign with AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh
camping there. Interestingly, the BSP chief Mayawati, whose stakes too are very
high, has not campaigned “to ensure that there is no consolidation of anti-BSP
votes behind any single candidate”. This happened in the Lok Sabha poll to her
great cost.
* * * *
Poll Crorepatis!
The recent State Assembly elections have thrown up a new
mantra: the more money you have the better your chances of winning elections.
This is a bizarre but distressing message that comes out loud and clear. According
to an analysis by National Election Watch (NEW) a staggering 50 per cent of
MLAs elected are reportedly crorepatis!
Worse, the numbers are increasing with every election. In Maharashtra,
the number is 184 MLAs as against 108 in 2004, a rise of 63.89 per cent. In
Haryana the figures are up from 47 in 2004 to 66 now or 72.22 per cent and in
Arunachal the number is up from 17 to 35 or 58.33 per cent. As against this,
only 0.98 per cent of candidates who declared assets less than Rs 10 lakh got
elected in Maharashtra and a mere 2.34 per cent in Haryana. Sadly, money power
is flourishing and getting more and more powerful! The much-celebrated Aam
Aadmi will need to worry and watch out! ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
|