CHENNAI: Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Thursday announced a slew of measures for agriculture sector, which included unveiling an exclusive food processing policy, switching over to the revenue sharing price fixation model from the current season for sugarcane farmers and direct procurement of red gram, black gram and green gram from farmers. In all, Rs 8,916.25 crore has been allocated in the Budget for 2018-2019.
Setting up of an ultra mega food park on 450 acres at Pelakuppam near Tindivanam and mega food parks in 10 districts, enactment of Contract Farming Act, launch of Integrated Farming System during 2018-2019 for promoting mixed farming practices, an exclusive mobile application ‘Uzhavan’ for the use of farmers are some other key announcements in the Budget.
OPS said with the aim of creating a conducive environment for healthy growth of food industry, an exclusive Food Processing Policy would be unveiled in 2018-2019.
“Contract Farming Act will be enacted soon to sustain agricultural production and promote agro-processing industries. Further, as a major initiative, it is proposed to set up an ultra mega food park on an extent of about 450 acres at Pelakuppam village near Tindivanam. In addition, mega food parks will be set up in Theni, Virudhunagar, Thoothukudi, Erode, Cuddalore, Salem, Dindigul, Tirunelveli, Tiruvannamalai and Krishnagiri districts,” Panneerselvam said.
He said these composite parks would evolve as hubs for food processing in fruits and vegetables, fisheries, dairy, poultry and meat by encouraging private investment and are expected to generate substantial employment in rural areas.
The Deputy CM said to resolve issues relating to timely payment for sugarcane farmers, the State would switch over to revenue sharing price fixation model from the current season, under which farmers would be assured of Fair Remunerative Price (FRP) and would also receive a share in the profits over and above the FRP.
“In order to facilitate this transition, the State government will protect the interests of farmers by assuring them of the present State Advised Price of Rs `2,750 per tonne, excluding transportation cost of Rs `100, by paying the difference between the present SAP and the price received under a new revenue sharing formula as transitional production incentive directly to farmers. The sugar industries shall however continue to bear the transportation costs. A total of Rs 200 crore is provided in the Budget towards the transitional production incentive,” the Deputy Chief Minister said.
He said during 2018-2019, a special scheme would be formulated and implemented in consultation with sugar mills to cover 55,000 acres by adopting Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative to improve sugarcane productivity and sugar recovery.
The president of South Indian Sugar Mills Association, Palani G Periyasamy, in a statement on Thursday thanked the State government for introducing a ‘stable cane pricing policy’.
“This is a giant step taken by State government to support the cane farmers and also towards bringing stability to the industry which has been passing through a traumatic period due to vagaries of monsoon and extreme volatility in the market,”the statement added.
In another innovative initiative, Integrated Farming System would be launched during 2018-2019 for promoting mixed farming practices by integrating farming with allied sector activities such as animal husbandry, agro-forestry and aquaculture. The programme would be implemented on a pilot basis in five blocks, each covering 1,000 farmers. This scheme would be implemented at an estimated cost of Rs 50 crore.
During 2018-2019, steps would be taken to introduce computerisation of the process of crop insurance for better transparency in the enrolment of farmers for crop insurance and Rs 632 crore has been provided towards the State’s share of premium subsidy under this scheme.
Third phase of wide area network soon
Chennai: The third phase of Tamil Nadu State Wide Area Network (TNSWAN) project will commence soon at an estimated cost of Rs 443.64 crore to strengthen the IT network from state headquarters to blocks, the State government announced on Thursday.
A total of D158.11 crore was allocated in the Budget for the IT sector. Last year, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had announced that the TNSWAN initiative would benefit government departments and the public at large. He had added that the project cost would be incurred by Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV (TACTV) under its CSR initiative along with other departments. The move would help in promoting learning through e-classrooms in rural areas, providing tele-medicine and delivery of public services using the internet.
In a bid to provide reliable and high-speed connectivity to people in rural areas, the government said it would implement the Bharat Net Scheme to connect villages with block headquarters through optical fibre network at an estimated cost of D1,230 crore through Tamil Nadu Fibre Net Corporation. Further, the state headquarters would be connected with district headquarters and block headquarters through optical fibre network under the Tamilnet project in PPP mode. The government highlighted that eight IT parks had been established in Tamil Nadu, of which new IT parks at Salem and Hosur were inaugurated recently by the Chief Minister.
4,593
buses, which are 10-year-old, to be replaced soon
3,000 new buses for Rs 600 crore
Chennai: The state Transport department will be replacing 4,593 buses, which are 10-year-old in the transport fleet. The Tamil Nadu government will infuse a share capital of Rs 600 crore into the transport units for purchasing and inducting 3,000 new buses.
It has already sanctioned funds for purchasing 2000 buses for 2017-18 and the buses are being built at body-building units. While presenting the budget for 2018-19, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Thursday said the existing debts of transport corporations to the tune of Rs 3,001.47 crore will be converted into share capital assistance in the financial year 2017-18. As a one-time measure, the government is also providing an advance of Rs 900 crore to transport units to settle their pending liabilities to financial institutions and staff commitments.
Amma Maternity kits to reduce anaemia
Chennai: From the assistance provided under Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit Scheme, D4,000 will be used for providing Amma Maternity Nutrition Kit, Deputy CM O Panneerselvam said, while presenting the State Budget on Thursday. The nutrition kits will comprise iron tonic and nutrition supplements to reduce anaemia among pregnant women and to improve the birth weights of infants.
“The State government has already enhanced the assistance from Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000 per beneficiary,” he said. A sum of Rs 1,001.33 crore has been allocated for the flagship scheme, Panneerselvam said, adding that the government will continue to implement the Amma Baby Care Kit. In addition, the State government has allocated Rs 60.58 crore for implementation of sanitary napkin distribution scheme under the Menstrual Hygiene Programme.