Cabinet nod for plantation schemes soon, says official

Cabinet approval for development schemes as part of the 12th Five Year Plan for the plantation sector will come up in a month or two, a top official of the commerce ministry said here today.

Commodity boards and other stakeholders that are the implementing agencies, are keenly awaiting approvals as the country is already through half the 12th Plan period.

“The final schemes for the plantation sector have been sent for Cabinet approval, which is expected in a month or two,” Rajani Ranjan Rashmi, additional secretary, plantations, Ministry of Commerce, told reporters here.

Though the schemes were to be implemented from fiscal 2012-13, the inordinate delay in approving the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) by the previous UPA government has affected the planters’ plans to achieve the desired growth. The schemes include re-planting, upgrading quality, value-addition, skill development and mechanisation for higher yields, better returns and varieties to boost exports.

“As some of the schemes of the 11th Plan (2007-12) could not be fully implemented before the 12th Plan period commenced, they are continuing with additions, improvements and modifications,” Rashmi said on the sidelines of the 121st annual conference of the United Planters Association of Southern India (Upasi).

As the first two years of the 12th Plan period lapsed in March 2014 and the development schemes remained on paper, the ministry has decided to increase the budgetary allocation for them and change the norms for making up for lost time.“The development schemes of the 11th Plan will be continued during the 12th Plan to achieve the revised growth targets. Commodity boards have been implementing some of the schemes like re-planting as per the 11th Plan norms,” Rashmi said.

Plantation sector demands
Earlier, addressing the 121st annual general meeting of UPASI, outgoing president Peter Mathias said: “There is an urgent need to amend laws pertaining to the commodities plantation sector which plays a key role in the country’s economy.”

Land Reforms Act, Plantation Labour Act and Minimum Wage Act have to be drastically overhauled as they were framed many years ago when the socio-economic factors were different.

Mathias said, the recommendations of the previous (UPA) government to withdraw exemption granted to plantations from land ceiling provisions would sound the death-knell to the plantation sector.

“As commodity plantations are agro-based industries, limitation on the extent of their landholdings does not come under the purview of the land reforms laws of the states. Hence, the exemption should continue,” Mathias said. Noting that the original Land Reforms Act which exempted plantations from certain sections that were relevant when they were passed, he said their continuation was detrimental to the sector as they prevent the optimal use of the land.

Stating that the Minimum Wage Act was one of the most misused laws, Mathias told the heads of commodity boards and Union commerce ministry officials that planters were forced to pay provident fund (PF) to even temporary employees and migrant labour.

Due to acute shortage of labour, the planters employ migrant workers in large numbers, who do not stay in one place and move from one estate to another in short intervals.

“In case such a provision is not feasible, a special exemption should be granted to the migrant labour in our sector from the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Act under section 16 (2),” Mathias added.

The sector also sought budgetary allocation for sharing social costs incurred by planters on the workforce as part of its welfare measures.

Plantation crops are grown in south India under an area of 1.8 million hectares, which is 65 per cent of the total area and around two per cent of the total cropped area in the country.