India to facilitate the first-ever focused working group discussions on Antarctic tourism
New Delhi, The Centre today directed the Union Finance Ministry to release grants recommended for Punjab by the 13th Finance Commission and which have been pending since long.According to a spokesman for the state government, directions for the release of Rs 362-crore grants were given by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during his meeting with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.On the second consecutive day of meetings with Union ministers, Badal urged Jaitley to release the grants immediately. He also urged latter’s personal intervention while considering recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission regarding the state.Badal also pitched for the release of Rs 867-crore compensation due to the state on account of the CST reduction from 2010 to 2015. He urged for interest relief from 10.5 per cent to 9 per cent on small saving loans of Rs 703 crore, as recommended by the 13th Finance Commission.
Flagging agriculture and other issues, the Chief Minister batted for determination of the minimum support price (MSP) for crops as per recommendations made in the Swaminathan report (National Commission on Farmers) which espoused for cost-plus-50 per cent profit to the farmers.Badal told Jaitley that the BJP-NDA manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections also contained a commitment made to the farmers on the Swaminathan formula.He also advocated for “Agriculture Diversification” programme as an alternative to the present “Crop Diversification” plan. The proposed programme should include dairy farming, fisheries and poultry farming.His other demands included reintroduction of income tax exemption for state and Central cooperative banks (which was withdrawn in 2007), capital infusion of Rs 150 crore to state cooperative banks, interest-free short-term loans to small and marginal farmers and agriculture investment credit at 6 per cent.In his meeting with Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma, Badal urged for special financial assistance of Rs 275 crore for the upcoming heritage and tourism projects, including Shri Valmiki Tirath and War Heroes Museum at Amritsar and Jang-e-Azaadi Memorial near Jalandhar.During his meeting with Rural Development Minister Birender Singh, his wish-list included separate Rs 267-crore fund to install water purification systems in rural areas.
