Raman Singh will have to tackle farmer resentment

As he completes two years in office in his third term as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Raman Singh needs to focus on the state's financial health

Hours after assuming office for his third term on December 12, 2013, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh summoned senior officials and instructed them to shoot off a letter to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

The letter was drafted the same day, addressed to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, urging him to raise the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy to Rs 2,100 a quintal. Before the state polls in 2013, Singh had promised each farmer Rs 2,100 for every quintal of paddy procured, besides a bonus of Rs 300 per quintal.

In two years, neither of the promises has been fulfilled. Farmers' resentment has started spilling out in the open and has caused fear in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government that it could become an issue in the 2018 Assembly polls. No political party can ignore the 3.4 million farmer families in Chhattisgarh. BJP members of Parliament from the state have urged the Centre to intervene.

To add to the government's worries, the state has been affected by its worst drought since inception, with 117 of 150 tehsils declared famine-hit. Though the state government had sought the Centre's help, it was quick to make a Budgetary provision of Rs 1,350 crore in the second supplementary Budget for 2015-16 to deal with the situation.

The financial health of the state has deteriorated in the past two years, forcing the government to take stringent measures that have gone against farmers. The quantity of paddy procured has been limited to 15 quintals an acre in spite of Singh's earlier commitment of purchasing the entire crop. The bonus issue was also put on hold as the state needed Rs 2,200 crore to pay it.

"The state is already carrying a debt of Rs 34,000 crore. Where will it get money to please farmers?" said Virendra Pandey, Chhattisgarh's former finance commission chairman. The state government's receipts are estimated at Rs 64,935 crore for 2015-16 and expenditure is pegged at Rs 65,013 crore.

The chief minister, however, believes he can put the things on the right track. "In 2016-17, we expect Rs 1,200 crore revenue from auctioned coal mines and by 2020 we will receive Rs 2,200 crore annually," he had said in an interview to Business Standard earlier. The government has planned to develop a 2,000-km road network through the annuity model and the coal auction revenue will be used to pay the annuity.

For the next three years, the state government has prioritised three areas. For farmers, the state government had designed model on crop diversion, Singh said. Industrial entrepreneur memoranda (IEMs) worth about Rs 53,000 crore have been signed in 2015-16. Since 2012-13, around 65 per cent of the IEMs filed in the state are for core sectors like iron and steel, coal, power, cement, oil and gas, and chemicals and fertilisers.

The government has set up 93 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs), residential schools for girls. In 2015-16 9,257 girls enrolled in these KGBVs. The 74 special hostels for girls studying in high schools had 5,312 inmates in 2015-16. In the Naxal affected Bastar region, 28 porta-cabins (special schools) had been set up in which 12,000 students were enrolled in 2015-16.

In November 2014, 13 women died following sterilisation surgeries in Bilaspur district. The judicial commission that probed the incident said in its report that "serious negligence" and use of "sub-standard" and "poison-laced" medicines were the cause.

THREE AIMS FOR REMAINING THREE YEARS

• Action plan in place to eradicate left wing extremism (LWE) and free the state from Naxalites that had been biggest obstacle for development
   
• Network of roads, worth Rs 25,000 crore, to be spread across the state besides 500-km new rail lines to be laid
   
• Over 10,000 villages in the state to be connected with internet to expand the communication network

PROPOSED PROJECTS

• Electronic Park, Naya Raipur
• Mega Food Park, Dhamtari
• Indus Mega Food Park, Raipur
• Engineering Park, Bhilai
• Textile Park, Tilda
• Plastic Park, Rajnandgaon
• IT Park, Naya Raipur
• Aluminium Park, Korba