363 - State govts responsible for not achieving agriculture growth: Montek Singh

"The smart card can in fact be linked to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number", Ahluwalia said.


Planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today held state governments responsible for the failure to achieve four per cent agriculture growth in the 11th Plan, which runs till 2012.

"The state governments are not according the priority that they should to agriculture which is the main constraint in achieving the targeted agriculture growth. They have to be much more proactive," Ahluwalia said at an interactive session organised by the Karnataka Planning Board here.

The country's average farm growth in the first three years of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12) is only 2.2%, while the target is 4% for the entire period.

Citing an example, Ahluwalia said in Karnataka, farm growth had remained stagnant at 0.1% in 2009-10 and the contribution of agriculture to state GDP was 17%.

Food security, which was a major problem today because of the rise in global food prices could not be tackled merely by ensuring equitable distribution. Production is an integral part of food security and in fact India's food problem could be solved through "production oriented solutions".

"Agricultural productivity per hectare has to go up."

Not only has the wheat production to go up from the present two per cent but also production of pulses, he said.

"The food inflation is not so much because of cereals as because of pulses. The pulse production in India has remained stagnant in the last ten years as when we were on the growth track people could not afford the pulses and now when we are growing, the demand for pulses is also increasing. We need a revolution here," he said.

Compared to other countries in the world where pulse consumption was almost negligible, in India pulse consumption was the most.

With diversification of food that is consumed, increase in food production needed to be much more broad based. Milk production, a mere 6%, also need to be stepped up.

Bringing in the Food Security Act was one of the initiatives Centre was contemplating to tackle the problem. The government was working on the Act, he said.

On the public distribution system, Ahluwalia said "moving on to a smart card system, a smart card which is usable for any food item, would make the system much more efficient and reduce stealing".

"If there can be a consensus on this (smart card system), it will be a major reform in the PDS," he said.

The smart card can in fact be linked to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number, Ahluwalia said.
To remove the "differences of opinion" that may prevail among the state governments as to who are the poor who will be entitled for the smart cards, scientific methods can be devised at the national level to determine the beneficiaries and "states be given the freedom to whom they wish to give it to", he said.

In view of the food inflation, a strong PDS system was necessary to make sure the poor can afford the high prices of food."PDS reform is most important and I think we will be able to persuade the states", Ahluwalia said.