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Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik raised the Special Category Status issue four days after pushing for it in view of the state’s vulnerability to natural calamities.
“As an interim measure, states hit by major natural calamities may be declared as Special Focus States and granted benefits of Special Category Status for a specific period,” the chief minister said. Patnaik had raised the same demand during a meeting with Modi on June 11.
Patnaik cited the instance of cyclone Fani that battered 14 districts, killed 64 people and caused a total loss of Rs 9,336.26 crore after making landfall at a wind speed of about 200 kmph near Puri on May 3.
With PTI inputs
States had asked government to review its guidelines for the National Disaster Relief Fund in which input subsidies are given. NITI Aayog will work with the home ministry and the agriculture ministry to revisit the guidelines.
Another request was for reviewing drip irrigation which will also be looked at, NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant said.
Financial devolution from Centre to States has doubled to Rs 41 lakh crore in the last 4 years. “Even the devolution in centre-sponsored schemes has doubled. That is a big thing.”
Kumar said that it was noted in the meeting that incidents of left wing extremism and disturbances in Jammu and Kashmir have reduced significantly.
“This is possible because of the increased shared intelligence among states. The Centre will stand by all states for this work. Its time to increase the facilitation of shared intelligence.”
Exports will play the biggest role in this.Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced forming a high-level task force for structural reforms in agriculture. They will look into production and market for farm products, Rajiv Kumar said.
The agenda of the meeting involved rain water harvesting, drought and relief measures, farm sector transformation and security-related items, NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said.
“It was nice to see all participants have a focussed discussion on these topics.”
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that NITI Aayog has not “played the much expected role of a facilitator” in the last four years and perhaps was not a substitute for the erstwhile Planning Commission.
Vijayan said that after doing away with the plans at the national level, states have lost the Gadgil formula and grants which they used to get as assistance earlier. Besides, states now have also to bear a higher share—40 percent instead of the earlier average 25 percent—in many centrally sponsored schemes, which result in shrinking fiscal space, he said.
He said transformation of the Planning Commission to NITI Aayog has adversely affected states like Kerala, which had lost a source of funding for its Five Year Plans. “I hope that my colleague Chief Ministers would agree with me that NITI Aayog in the present form has not played the much expected role of a facilitator in the last four years.”
He said the Centre has recently been spending on subjects in the State List, resulting in centralisation in design of welfare schemes, which by economic reasoning, could be effectively done by governments at the State and local level.
“For a strong nation, a strong Centre, strong states and vibrant local governments are essential pre-requisites,” he said adding the foremost aim to fulfill people’s aspirations was decentralisation of power to them as mandated in constitutional amendments.
With PTI inputs
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has sought enhanced assistance to the people affected by natural calamities like floods, which hit the state every year.
He stressed on the need for effective management of flood and erosion problems afflicting a large part of Assam every year, a state government release said.
Sonowal pointed out that the norms of relief and rehabilitation provided to the flood-affected people according to Disaster Relief Fund guidelines are low and sought its increase substantially.
He also raised key issues pertinent to the state’s development and underlined the future roadmap for state and central government’s partnership.
With PTI inputs
Since its inception in 2015, #NITIAayog is facilitating cooperative & competitive federalism, and providing fresh ideas and policy inputs for both Central & State governments: NITI VC @RajivKumar1, during his welcome address at the #FifthGCM pic.twitter.com/qkKsAf9oLp
— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) June 15, 2019
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