Chandigarh
18th May:- Apex industry
body ASSOCHAM has mooted a proposal to the newly elected government of Punjab
for announcement of comprehensive industrial policy to bring back the glory
of ‘Sher-E-Punjab’ hub
for small medium enterprise (SMEs) and value addition to agriproducts.
In
a joint vision paper for the new government brought out by the ASSOCHAM and Thought
Arbitrage Research Institute (TARI) which was released by ASSOCHAM National
Secretary General D S Rawat and Kshama V Kaushik, Director, TARI at a press
conference here in Chandigarh.
D S
Rawat said that the policy should focus on activities relating top reservation,
farm products, horticulture, livestock products like milk and other dairy
items, cotton and textiles etc. which have strong backward and forward linkages
in the state’s economy. He added that according to the paper, Punjab needs to promote
less-water guzzling crops like pulses, oilseeds, cotton, maize, millet,
vegetables and fruits – by providing improved seeds and ensuring that farmers
get a fair price for these crops through a market support mechanism. The area
under paddy cultivation should be reduced and high value crops like cotton,
fruits, vegetables, canola, menthe, turmeric etc. should be grown to raise
their share of cropping area from 3.4%.
D S
Rawat said further that ad-hoc policies like ban on export of food grains,
limits on private stocking and tax on purchase of food grains (14.4%) should be
revisited and withdrawn wherever possible. The fertilizer subsidy policy needs
to be revisited to achieve balanced use of nutrients and subsidy should be
transferred directly to the farmers.
Incentivise
technology like direct seeding of paddy and drip irrigation which saves
30-50% of water. More investment needed in production and promotion of organic
manure, bio-pesticides to cut down use of chemical pesticides linked to the
spread of cancer. Also, Implement National Policy for Crop Residue 2014
which suggests suitable legislation, adoption of technical measures and
training on crop residue management to eliminate crop residue burning.
To
reduce farmers’ indebtedness, private moneylenders should be registered and
regulated and instead of debt waiver schemes, state should find ways to expand
institutional credit facilities; APMC Act should be amended to allow farmers to
sell directly to food processing industry while ensuring that no hoarding of
essential items take place. Punjab should join National Agriculture Market
which provides e-mandis across the country to ensure better price realisation
and soil testing facilities.
Photo By Parveen Kumar
Kshama
V Kaushik said that the financial incentives
like exemption or concessions in stamp duty, property tax etc. – should
be extended to existing units which are fighting for survival. Also bring
parity in tax structure and match financial incentives offered by rival states
like Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh to become more
competitive, adds paper.
She
further said that develop labour intensive technologies suitable for growth of
MSMEs and support with adequate infrastructure to overcome problems of poor
labour productivity and obsolete technologies. The state needs to take
advantage of natural resources to promote farm products, horticulture,
livestock products, manufacturing of textiles, machinery, motor vehicle, food
processing etc. since these have strong linkages with the state’s economy, noted
the ASSOCHAM study.
The
power policy should be reviewed. Octroi and cow cess should be withdrawn and
cheaper power available to new industries should be extended to the existing
ones. IT and ITeS industries should be developed in Amritsar, Jalandhar and
Ludhiana as proposed and fast-tracked.
A
petrochemical hub around Bhatinda’s refinery and bio-technology parks and
incubators in and outside Mohali should be developed as new growth
drivers. Single-window and IT-enabled mechanism should be set up for administrative
clearances, extending various services and availing various incentives, adds
the joint study.
Fiscal
Incentives for Industrial Promotion 2013 should be amended to provide
incentives to proposed ITeS hub in Jalandhar which has necessary infrastructure.
There is a huge potential for financial services -capital market services,
private banking to HNIs, brokerage and insurance etc. The state should take
help of financial institutions to spread financial literacy.
D S
Rawat informed that the state has no clear and defined health policy despite
the alarming level of cancer and drug addiction and high cost of
hospitalisation etc. The health expenditure needs to go up to Rs 5,000 per
capita by 2030 from current level of Rs 1,015 (2014-15). The public health
infrastructure needs drastic restructuring at sub-centre, PHC and CHC levels to
ensure adequate healthcare coverage, including treatment for cancer and drug
addiction.
IT
solutions should be developed to check rampant absenteeism of medical personnel
and to record and report health transactions. The curriculum and vocational
training programme for tourism should be developed at school level particularly
targeting high dropouts in districts of Pathankot, Muktsar Sahib, Fatehgarh,
Mansa and Sangrur.
The
state needs to set up skill development/training institutes either on its own
or with private participation since the current skilling programme has been
taken over by industries for in house training and is not benefitting general
labour force. A strategic road-map needed for skill development in districts
with low penetration of vocational education-Gurdaspur, Sangrur, Barnala,
Muktsar, Jalandhar and Mohali.
More
funds should be mobilised to set up commercial dairy farms, poultry farms etc.
and provide marketing infrastructure to help such farms garner maximum benefits
rather than middlemen. Proposed district haat centres in Amritsar, Jalandhar,
Ludhiana, Patiala, Ferozpur and Mohali should be completed on a priority basis.
No comments:
Post a Comment