The Chief Minister of BJP-ruled state welcomed Centre's direct cash transfer scheme but suggested that it should be implemented only after adequate preparations including operationalisation of sufficient commercial banks in rural and Maoists-affected areas.
"It is being widely felt that there is a conscious and constant increase in the tendency of the central government to encroach upon the subject matters which have been traditionally in the domain of the state government.
"In the recent past we have protested on certain subjects like the Goods and Services Tax (GST), National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) issue vehemently. But there are many other fields in which this tendency is continuing," Chouhan said during a meeting of National Development Council (NDC) here.
The central government has brought out or is in the process of bringing out a slew of new legislations that militate against the federal structure of the nation, he alleged.
"These legislations seek to empower the Centre at the cost of the states even in matters that were in the list of state's subject of the constitution," he said adding that creation of NCTC, proposed amendments in BSF Act, RPF Act are some glaring examples of Centre's "unilateral decisions".
Chouhan said direct cash transfer to the beneficiaries on the basis of Aadhaar numbers is a highly welcome step. "However, there are certain important facts that must be kept in mind while implementing this".
"In an effort to make the regime of direct cash transfers successful it would be necessary to have adequate number of commercial banks; to provide Central Cooperative Banks (CCBs), Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and post offices with core banking facilities; to put in place nearly one million banking channels...," he said, adding that this would require an enormous amount of preparation.
"I would urge that adequate prior preparation must be done instead of rushing into this ambitious programme without adequate preparation. Additional care has to be taken to ensure the benefits of the scheme to reach the far flung and Left Wing Extremism affected areas," the CM said.(MORE)