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States Alerted Again:HOPES NOW ON RABI CROP, by Insaf,5 November 2009 Print E-mail

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.

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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.

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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!

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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? 

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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.    

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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)

 

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