The Haryana government on Wednesday urged the Centre for a comprehensive policy for insurance coverage of all important food crops and livestock, a technology mission on farm mechanisation and National Food Security Mission cover for all districts of the state.
Haryana finance minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, who was speaking in a pre-budget meeting of states finance minister with Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi on Wednesday, said that methodology of calculating cost of cultivation needs to be revised and the Minimum Support Price (MSP) should be at least 50% higher than the cost of cultivation as suggested by working group on agriculture production.
Capt Yadav also stressed the need for a special package for conservation of soil and water. He said that Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme should also be made affordable and compensation for loss of crops due to natural calamities should be raised to at Rs 25,000 per hectare. He added that states should be allowed to use atleast 10% of these funds for the prevention of flood and drought.
He said that the introduction of a technology mission on farm mechanisation was needed to ensure resilience in agriculture through precision farming and reduce dependence on labour. All types machinery and equipment should be allowed to be imported without any import duty.
The state finance minister said that the efforts of the state in financial management have been well appreciated by the Planning Commission and various finance commissions. However, he added that major concerns of the states are not adequately addressed by Commission while finalising state?s Annual Plan. The Commission sanctions one time Central assistance consisting of 70% loan and 30% grant component. The resources gap should be fully bridged with 100% grant rather than the loan and grant components, because the loan portion is not being provided by the Center.
He said that a Haryana State Institute of Fiscal Policy is proposed to be set up in the next fiscal and sought one time grant for setting up this institute in the forthcoming budget.
The Haryana is implementing its own Rajiv Gandhi Bima Yojna instead of Aam Admi Bima Yojna (AABY) as it is more beneficial to the people of Haryana. He urged that the state may be allowed to avail the benefit of the Central scheme by converging the two schemes.
Yadav said the loans raised by the state for procuring foodgrains on behalf of Food Corporation of India being a special purpose loan with no linkage with the expenditure incurred by the state for its own purpose, he suggested that it should not be included while arriving at the figures of fiscal deficit. As ways and means of advances have remained almost unchanged since April 1,2004, these facilities should be revised immediately and linked with the CPI to be revised automatically twice a year.