Himalayan states need separate planning: Mein  

SHIMLA, Oct 05: Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, addressing inaugural day of two-day conclave of Himalayan states on ‘Well being of the next generation of Himalayan people’ here on Friday, highlighted agriculture potentials and issues faced by this Himalayan state similar to other mountain states of Himalayan region.

Advocating policy intervention to redress these issues, he requested Integrated Mountain Initiative, Himachal Pradesh Council for Science, Technology & Environment and Shoolini University, organizers of the event, to place it before the GoI for implementation.

He sought separate planning process/body for mountain state by Union Agriculture Ministry/Planning Commission and create a separate division to deal with agriculture planning, programming and implementation guidelines for all mountain states.    He also proposed financial incentives/ separate budget allocation for agricultural growth based on ecological-service, saying that Mountain states are the major carbon sink in India due to huge area under forests cover.

“GoI or world bodies should give financial incentives to Mountain states based on forest cover maintained by each state for providing alternate livelihood to farmers in place of shifting cultivation so that the current area under forest could be maintained or enhanced further,” he reasoned.

He advocated setting up of state farmer’s commission (SFC), saying that agriculture situation in mountain states differ from mainland and each mountain state may have SFC for in dept analysis of deficiency in planning for agriculture development, gaps between resource availability and utilization with mandate to recommend measures to address the identified issues.

He sought agriculture innovative fund as “a separate corpus fund may be created to take care of situation specific research and R&D intervention needed from time to time, local initiatives through indigenous traditional knowledge etc which are useful for addressing problems at local level besides involving state’s own research organizations, KVK etc at district, block and village level to evolve strategies at micro-level. Such funds may be earmarked from funds allocated for agriculture research and extension provided to ICAR

“If mountain agriculture is to develop, certain proposed autonomy of planning and finance to mountain states may be a prudent policy decision,” he argued.

Citing that connectivity and accessibility play major role in economic development of agri-allied sector, he called for immediate attention to provide market linkages. The PMGSY roads are vital links to rural villages and the farm land, he informed.

Stating that Arunachal Pradesh has long network of 6792.97-km PMGSY roads worth Rs 6176.17 crore built over the years, but due to no provision for maintenance by the GoI those roads have become turned big burden for states, like Arunachal by incurring huge expenditure in maintenance of state highways and roads due to hilly terrains damaged by frequent floods and landslides. Thus, he sought Rs 60-70 crore per year for  maintenance of state PMGSY roads from the GoI.

On panelists of hydropower projects in Himalayan states, he said that if GoI favors some special dispensations for various hydropower projects being developed in Arunachal, it can meet the power requirement of the nation to great extent. Development of state’s hydropower projects with installed capacity of around 47000-MW, already allotted, will contribute significantly in achieving India’s commitment for 33-35% reduction in carbon emission and help to meet the target to raise share of zero carbon emission of electricity generating capacity to 40% of the total by 2030.

However, to harness state’s 58,160-MW power potential, about 39% of country’s total assessed hydropower potential, necessary changes in GoI energy policy is need of the hour, he said and made a fervent plea to include it in the road map and pursue it through NITI Aayog. He suggested 11 points to be proposed to the GoI to achieve the gaol.

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Chief Ministers Trivendra Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand), Jai Ram Thakur (Himachal Pradesh), Union MoS (Home) Kiren Rijiju also spoke, besides ministers and MPs of Himalayan states. (PRO)

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