CMs justify farm subsidy
Tribune News Service and agencies

CHANDIGARH, Oct 30 — The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, and his Punjab counterpart, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, today strongly justified subsidy to the agriculture sectors, for 80 per cent of the country’s population living in the rural areas could not be ignored.

Mr Chautala and Mr Badal, however, fully appreciated the plea of the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal that to overcome power crisis in the country vast hydroelectric potentials in the hilly state should be exploited fully.

Mr Chautala, Mr Badal and Mr Dhumal were participating in an interactive session on economic issues of regional importance hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), northern region here.

This was the first time that the three chief ministers shared one platform to ventilate their viewpoints and listened to the industrialists’ views to overcome fiscal crisis that had enveloped the country, particularly Punjab, Haryana and Himachal in that order.

Mr Badal while addressing the session on economic issues of regional importance organised by the CII strongly pleaded for setting up a joint task force of the states in the region to review the incentive structure prevailing in the country and draft a common minimum incentive package for the whole region. He said such an endeavour would contribute towards regional cooperation in global economy besides eliminating unhealthy competition among the states.

Emphasising the need to rationalise the sales tax structure among the northern region states, Mr Badal said a joint action committee of finance ministers of the states concerned should be set up. Such committee should be mandated to come out with time-bound targets for rationalisation of this structure, keeping in mind the fiscal position of each member state. Apart from this, serious deliberations should be initiated with the Government of India for evolving a mechanism to adopt a value-added taxation system as an ultimate solution.

Mr Badal disclosed that his government would soon announce Punjab's Economic Policy - 2000 for developing linkages between different economic activities for speedy industrial growth. The proposed policy would envisage an institutional mechanism in the form of an economic development board for enhanced inter-departmental and inter-sectoral coordination.

Stressing the need of private participation in the developmental process, he said the Punjab Government had embarked upon various steps for enforcing fiscal discipline in the state by making disinvestment in loss-making public sector undertakings and by gradual reduction of subsidies.

Mr Badal sought the cooperation of the neighbouring states in developing inter-state roads and express highways, common freight terminals, agriculture and post-harvest infrastructure and even joint power plants.

Mr Chautala called for nationalisation of Himalayan snows and rivers for equitable distribution of waters among the states.This, he said, would help resolve long-pending inter-state disputes on sharing of the river waters. He laid stress on setting up thermal power plants in Bihar itself to cut cost of power generation.

The Chief Ministers were in one voice that the country lacked national character and basic education facilities at the primary level.

The Haryana Chief Minister supported strongly subsidy to the farm sector. He asked while there was reservation for the Scheduled Classes, Backward Classes and the like why should the farming community be discriminated against?

A former CII President, Mr Brijmohan Lal, National Council of Applied Economic Research Director-General Rakesh Mohan, the Feedback Strategic Consultancy Services (North) deputy chief executive officer, Mr Y. Balaji, at the outset expressed serious concern over the sluggish growth in industrial and other sectors in the northern states. They stressed adopting a radical approach for industrial growth for all-round development of the three states.