Kerala CM demanded that legislation on subjects in the concurrent list should be initiated only after adequate consultations with the state governments…reports Asian Lite News
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday asked the Centre to address the challenges of cooperative federalism.
In his address at the seventh Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he demanded that legislation on subjects in the concurrent list should be initiated only after adequate consultations with the state governments and that Central government should desist from legislation on items on the state list.
Vijayan also sought urgent initiatives from the Centre to enhance necessary legal remedies in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment on eco-sensitive zones, as this was necessary to alleviate the hardships of the marginalised section of people living in the affected areas.
He also drew the attention of the Council to the issue of GST and demanded the review of imposition of GST on essential items and continuing the compensation to the states for another five years.
The Chief Minister also said that Kerala was in the forefront of the decentralisation initiatives where all the functions in the Constitution’s 11th and 12th Schedules have been devolved to the local self-government, and that this important achievement needs to be addressed while distributing the consolidated funds to the state.
He also said that the central share of assistance under PMAY Urban and Rural needs to be revised considering the upward cost of construction materials.
Vijayan said that to move towards more eco-friendly transport system and alleviate accidents, the state seeks support from the centre for early clearance of the state’s pending rail and air traffic proposals.
He said that Kerala has a 590 km coastal belt and that it was vulnerable to soil erosion, especially during extreme rainfall, and thus requires technological and financial support.
Noting that the Centre has reduced the quota of kerosene or the state recently and this has affected the fishermen folk badly, he sought that the allotment be reinstated.
This was the first meeting of NITI Aayog after the new Vice Chairperson Suman Berry and CEO Parameswaran Ayyar assumed office.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal and Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari were also present, along with other Chief Ministers.
MSP as legal guarantee
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday espoused the case of food growers by underlining the need for making minimum support price (MSP) a legal guarantee and ensuring foolproof marketing system for alternative crops.
The Chief Minister, while addressing the national Council meeting of NITIO Aayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here, recalled that at the time when country was starving for food, the hard-working and resilient farmers of the state had made country self-reliant in food production.
However, he said as agriculture is no longer a profitable venture so the farmers are facing a serious crisis. “All-out efforts must be made to bail out the farmers from this situation for which the Union government must step in.”
The Chief Minister underscored the need for making MSP on the crops a legal guarantee. He said it is the need of hour so that interests of farmers can be safeguarded.
Likewise, Mann said the MSP must be remunerative as the input cost of agriculture have enhanced manifolds and farmers are not getting right price of their harvest.
Outrightly rejecting the committee on MSP constituted by the Centre, he demanded that it should be reconstituted with “real farmers” as its members.
He said the committee is dominated by those armchair economists who don’t have any knowledge about agriculture, and experts of agriculture, along with all stakeholders, must be made members of this committee.
Expressing concern over the import of pulses in country on exorbitant prices, the Chief Minister said this drain of country’s wealth needs to be checked and Punjab can play an important role in it.
He said the farmers of the state are ready to make country self-relevant in production of pulses. The Union government must announce MSP for pulses and assured marketing system for it.
Likewise, the Chief Minister said that diversification of crops is urgently needed to take farmers out of rut of the wheat-paddy cycle on one hand and to save the depleting groundwater level on the other.
The Chief Minister also apprised the Niti Aayog that the state government is making efforts to revamp the education structure in state.
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