Govt to spend Rs 1740 bn on 'Bharat Nirman' in four years

NEW DELHI, Aug 24 (UNI): Exuding confidence that 'Bharat Nirman' conceived during the current year would be an effective instrument for building infrastructure, the government today said it would spend Rs 174,000 crore during the next four years for giving an impetus to irrigation, roads and rural electrification and telecom connectivity.

Replying to a short duration discussion on the state of agriculture, poverty and unemployment in the country, Minister of State for Planning M V Rajasekharan said 'Bharat Nirman' had specific targets for completion within four years.

The two other components of this ambitious plan were water supply and housing, he said.

The Minister, however, differed with CPM member Sitaram Yechuri's contention that water tariifs should not be increased.

Rather states should set up water regulators for periodically revising water tariffs and also water ssers' associations (WUAs) to manage distribution of water and collect the tariff, he said.

"I would like to point out that without this, it would not be possible to carry proper operations and maintenance of irrigation works nor will it be possible to pass on the responsibility of irrigation to WUAs," the Minister said.

Pointing out that agriculture development was not only about irrigation and direct investment in agriculture, he said success in this area depended critically upon the growth of other essential infratsructure in rural areas, including development of transport linkages, rural electrification and suitable handling facilities at airports for exports.

He said it had been proposed to provide assured irrigation to an additional one crore hectare area, which would give a big boost to agriculture.

Asserting that the Tenth Plan had substantial provisions for launching an effective assault on povertry and giving a fillip to growth impulses, Rajasekharan said planning in the country had always focussed on removal of poverty, unemployment and raising the growth in agricultural production as core concerns.

Talking about the Mid Term Appraisal (MTA), he said priorities had been laid for completion of ongoing irrigation projects and rehabilitation of the existing irrigation systems.

He said agriculture, land reforms, watershed development, removal of regional disparities through development of backward regions had been accorded topmost priority in the Tenth Plan.

Identifying unemployment as a major cause of poverty, he said the government had launched a number of schemes, including Swarn Jayanti Swarojgar Yojana and Sampoorna Grameen Rojgar Yojana to provide gainful employment to the people.

"In addition to the revival of agricultural growth, the MTA aims at attaining rapid growth in sectors which have a large employment potential such as construction, toursim, transport, small-scale industry, modern retailing and IT-enabled services, which need to be promoted through supportive policies." Recognised that poverty and unemployment exhibited regional concentration, he said efforts were being made to reduce inter-regional disparities through greater focus on growth in backward states and regions.

These included special plans for Bihar and Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput districts of Orissa.