Bhopal, November 15 (Pervez Bari): Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mr. Shivraj Singh Chouhan, while participating in a group discussion during the Indian Economic Summit at Mumbai on Monday, said that economic matters should be kept above politics. The schemes should be area specific and some developed land should also be given to the farmers whose lands are acquired. The Chief Minister raised various important issues and gave suggestions regarding development of the state and country and for welfare of farmers.
According to an official Press release Chief Minister Mr. Chouhan said that politics should not come in the way of economic issues. During the discussions on centre-state relations the Chief Minister said that at present uniform schemes are formulated by the centre for entire country. Every state has its own specific needs, circumstances and resources. There is need to frame schemes taking into account all these factors. For this, the central government should only provide funds and the states should be given the liberty to frame area-specific schemes as per their requirements.
Mr. Chouhan pointed out to the inordinate delay in environmental clearances from central government for development projects and schemes. This caused avoidable delay in their implementation. To solve this problem the state governments should also be given some powers in this regard, as they are equally concerned about protection and conservation of forests and environment. He said that Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover which benefits entire country in terms of environment. The state government has to spend a lot on maintenance of this vast forest area. It should be provided some compensation for this, he added.
During the discussions on land-acquisition the Chief Minister said that the farmers whose lands are acquired must be given some developed land that would provide them a permanent means of livelihood.
Prominent among those who participated in the group discussion included Kerala Chief Minister Mr. Oman Chandy, Maharashtra Chief Minister Mr. Prithviraj Chavan and Premier of British Columbia, Canada Mrs. Christy Clark. Eminent journalist Mr. Shekhar Gupta moderated the discussion.
On the issue of innovations, the Chief Minister said that Madhya Pradesh is adopting best practices from other states and other states are also replicating the innovative schemes of the state. In this context he said that Madhya Pradesh has adopted Samadhan Online from Gujarat and other states are adopting Madhya Pradesh’s schemes like Ladali Laxami, Public Services Delivery Guarantee Act, mobile bank service etc. When asked whether an innovation cell should be set up at the centre, he replied in affirmative, saying that this would facilitate exchange of good practices across the country.
When asked by Mr. Shekhar Gupta what hurts him most, Mr. Chouhan said false allegations hurt him to a cut.
The Chief Minister shared with the participants that as against the targetted growth rate of 7.6 per cent during XI Five Years Plan Madhya Pradesh is likely to achieve 10.06 per cent GDP growth. He said that the economy of Madhya Pradesh is mainly agrarian and, therefore, all out efforts have been made to turn it into a lucrative proposition. These efforts have led to three time increase in agriculture growth rate over last five years. The area under irrigation from canals has been increased from 21 lakh hectare to 28 lakh hectare. During the last Rabi season Madhya Pradesh had a record 90 lakh tonne wheat production. Madhya Pradesh is the first state in the country to provide bonus at the rate of Rs. 100 per quintal on procurement of wheat . Now Madhya Pradesh stands third after Punjab and Haryana in respect of wheat procurement. He said that co-operative loans are being extended to farmers at nominal one per cent interest rate. The amount of subsidy and procurement is being directly deposited in the bank accounts of farmers. Madhya Pradesh is the first state to do so. This year a sum of over Rs. 1000 crore has been deposited in farmers’ accounts, he added.
The Chief Minister said that Madhya Pradesh has considerably increased the power generation capacity as well as generation and an ambitious feeder separation project is being implemented on completion of which power cuts in households would be history by 2013. He said that 24-hour power supply is being made to industries in the state. He also dwelt on achievements in various other sectors including roads, investment, expansion of air services, urban renewal, health, education, skill development, women empowerment and the special schemes annunciated for the betterment of the weakest sections of society.
Referring to the measures for governance the Chief Minister made a special mention of the provisions of the Public Services Delivery Guarantee Act. He said that Madhya Pradesh is the first state to enact such legislation. He also spoke on e-tendering, single electronic registration of contractors, electronic payment etc.
Stressing the need for a strong federal system the Chief Minister said that there is a growing tendency on the part of the central government to frame laws that take away the fundamental functions of the state government. In this context, he referred to the communal violence Bill.
A number of foreigners, members of the World Economic Forum and other distinguished citizens were present on the occasion. The Chief Minister also answered queries from the audience.
Meanwhile Chief Minister Mr. Chouhan held one-to-one meetings with heads of industrial houses and executives of world-level companies taking part in India Economic Summit-2011. He discussed developmental issues and investment proposals with Federation of India Industries and Vice-Chairman of Tata Steels Mr. B. Muthuraman, Co-Chairman of Infosys Mr. S. Gopalakrishnan, Managing Director of Avial India Boeing International Mr. Sachin Taparia and CEO of Tata Consultancy Mr. O.P. Puran Malka.
Mr. Chouhan also held one-to-one meetings with Chairman of Procter & Gamble India Mr. R.A. Shah, Managing Director of John Deere Mr. Ranjit Nair, Managing Director of Ispat India Ltd. Mr. Vinod Mittal and Chairman of Videocon Industries Mr. V.N. Dhoot, the release added. (pervezbari@eth.net)