Ranchi: Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Sunday attended the meeting of the Governing Body of NITI Aayog which was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during which he sought a special package to tackle the situation of drought in Jharkhand.
Speaking during the meeting Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that due to a lack of irrigation facilities the state has had to face drought every three to four years. This year as well, 50 percent less rainfall has been observed than normal and less than 20 percent of the land has been planted with paddy.
The Chief Minister said that in the present situation, Jharkhand is moving towards drought and urged the central government to approve a special package for the state of Jharkhand, so that drought can be dealt with. He further said that for the last two years, the economic and social development of a backward state like Jharkhand has been adversely affected due to Covid-19.
He informed that in the last two and a half years, Jharkhand has taken various steps in the field of economic, social development and social justice. Work is being done to strengthen the basic infrastructure of the state. He further demanded the cooperation of the Central Government and said it should be given to all the states, especially the backward and tribal-dominated states like Jharkhand. Soren further informed that out of 38 lakh farmers till 2019, only 13 lakh farmers were able to get KCC.
In the last two years, due to the efforts of the government, five lakh new farmers have received the benefit of KCC, but still more than 10 lakh applications are pending in various banks. He further urged the NITI Aayog to give necessary instructions to all the banks for the approval of KCC.
Till now no specific action plan has been worked in the direction of diversifying crops in Jharkhand. “We have reached 4 to 8 lakh tonnes of paddy procurement in two years but still special cooperation of the central government and FCI is needed to move ahead in this area,” he added.
The Chief Minister informed that there is an acute shortage of irrigation facilities in the state and irrigation facilities are available on only 20 percent of the land. He demanded a special package be approved to increase irrigation facilities through minor irrigation projects in the state of Jharkhand.
Talking of the Birsa Harit Gram Yojana being implemented for the expansion in the field of horticulture he said that with the implementation of the scheme the poor farmer families of the state are being given permanent livelihood opportunities, better management and utilization of the land in a large area is being ensured.
Hemant Soren further said that approval has been given by the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly to establish the first Pandit Raghunath Murmu Tribal University to open new doors of higher education for tribals. Apart from this, the establishment of Skill University in the state is also under process, which will create new dimensions of vocational higher education in the state.
Guruji Credit Card Scheme will be implemented soon to provide loans at a low-interest rate to the students for pursuing higher education in the state. This will benefit 2 to 3 lakh students.
He further talked of schemes started by the state government, under which a plan has been prepared to develop 80 schools of excellence at the district level, 325 model schools at the block level and 4036 schools at the panchayat level as model schools.
The Chief Minister further informed the Prime Minister that all the companies that tried to set up mining and industries have exploited the water, forest and land here but no attempt has been made by any mining company to reclaim the land by mining. There has never been a proper effort to solve the problem of displaced people, he said “ I feel that a state like Jharkhand should get the maximum share of the income from the mining of mineral wealth, but the policy changes that have taken place in the last few years have proved to be just the opposite. For example, Jharkhand has suffered a lot due to the implementation of GST, but efforts have not been made to compensate for it properly,” he added.
Soren further said that his government has raised this issue in various meetings and have also corresponded in this regard but all the efforts have been fruitless so far. The Central Government should direct these mining companies to pay these dues to Jharkhand so that this amount can be used for the all-round development of the people of the state, he demanded.
Soren added that about 30 percent of the area of Jharkhand is covered by forest land and most of the mineral wealth is located in the forest area for which there is a need to divert the forest land. In recent times, new rules have been made under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, in which the provision of the consent of the Gram Sabha before the stage two clearance for forest land disposal has been abolished, which in my opinion is in the interests of tribal and backward classes.