New deal for rural India

Budget to focus on 'sharing economy'.

President APJ Abdul Kalam today told Parliament that Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in his Budget speech on Monday, would unveil a new deal for rural India.

The deal, which will have a comprehensive package of measures for villages, will include steps to reverse the declining trend in investment in agriculture, step up credit flow to farmers, enhance public investment in micro-irrigation and wasteland development, increase funds for agricultural research and extension and create a "single market" for agricultural produce.

The deal, to be called Bharat Nirman, will also involve investments in rural healthcare and education, besides promoting rural electrification and rural roads, setting up a commodities futures markets and insuring against risk in farming and rural business.

In his address to both houses of Parliament before the Budget session, the president said rural India should be seen as a growth engine and public investment was required in the area of rural infrastructure to unleash its growth potential.

The Budget, he said, would outline a time-bound business plan for building rural infrastructure in the areas of irrigation, roads, housing, water supply, electrification and telecommunication.

Pointing out that the government was committed to a "caring polity and sharing economy", the president said specific sectors in industry that would get a fillip included, textiles and garments, automobiles and auto-components, leather and pharmaceuticals.

On textiles, he said the government proposed to focus on improving the condition of weavers through a new programme called "Two Years For The Weavers".

Under this programme, traditional looms will be replaced, design capability will be improved for value addition and weavers given access to new technology, credit and markets.

Professionals will be incentivised to connect Indian weavers to premium markets, where Indian handlooms still command upmarket attention. The biggest challenge in promoting the growth of the manufacturing sector was to promote Brand India, he said.

The president reiterated the government's plan to increase the tele-density from 8.4 per cent to over 20 per cent by 2008. The priority would be to provide both voice and data transmission connectivity in rural areas.

The priority, he said, would also be to increase the outlay for health from 0.9 per cent to 2 per cent of the gross domestic over the next five years, a policy to encourage investment in civil aviation, greater autonomy to the National Highways Authority of India, faster work on the Golden Quadrilateral and improvement of road and rail connectivity with the Northeast.

Kalam said the Indian economy required at least $150 billion investment in infrastructure over the next decade to catch up with its East Asian neighbours. He said the government's aim would be to see infrastructure was strengthened.

Regulatory and institutional mechanisms for the labour force in the informal sector also found mention. "While striving for improved social protection, we must also not lose sight of the need to augment employment opportunities through a judicious mix of incentives and regulation," the president said.