MAKING AMENDS: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee distributing land ownership deeds to landless farmers in Nandigram, East Midnapur in West Bengal on Tuesday. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee appealed to Opposition parties in Nandigram on Tuesday "to join hands [with the State Government] and work together for development in Nandigram which is only possible if there is peace' but cautioned against allowing Maoists to re-enter as they were bent on fomenting fresh unrest in the area. "I believe peace will gradually return but we must be cautious against the Maoists who have now fled from re-entering Nandigram. We have information that they are training in areas like Jharkhand and planning to return. They should not be allowed in under any circumstances. They are an army of killers,' Mr Bhattacharjee said. He was speaking on the occasion of the handing over of pattas [land ownership deeds] in the Nandigram area to landless peasants who included those from the scheduled castes and tribes and the Muslim community. Admitting that his government had failed to convince the people of Nandigram the need for setting up industries in the area "which is our misfortune' and referring to the violence spreading over 11 months last year, the Chief Minister said: "I have not come here to blame any party but to tell all including [supporters of] both the Communist Party of India [Marxist] and the Trinamool Congress to work towards peace and development. Time has come to forget what had happened over the past year,' he said. It was his second visit to Nandigram since hostilities between the BUPC and the CPI(M) ceased in November 2007. There has been sporadic violence over the past two days and security arrangements were elaborate in view of the Chief Minister's visit. "We have learnt our lesson [from the Nandigram experience] and industries will only be set up where the local people are agreeable,' Mr. Bhattacharjee said, denying reports attributed to the Trinamool Congress-led Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh [Resistance against Eviction from Land] Committee (BUPC) that the State Government will acquire land from peasants in Nandigram once the rural polls scheduled for May are over. "That will never happen,' he asserted. "We have made a mistake and will never go in for any acquisition of land in Nandigram. The chemical hub that was to have been set up here will come up at Nayachar instead and we hope will provide job opportunities even to those from here,' the Chief Minister said. "There can be no development in the State without setting up new industries. But we are also aware of taking the responsibility of those whose lands need to be acquired for the purpose. They will be provided jobs and other alternative means of earning a livelihood. Factories cannot come up with people shedding tears,' Mr Bhattacharjee said. Listing his plans for the Nandigram area, the Chief Minister said while agricultural development will be given priority, assistance will be provided to boost local trade and improve educational facilities. "The local panchayats have not been able to function during the past months of violence, development work has been held up and the people have suffered. Time has now come to work, work and work', Mr Bhattacharjee said.

Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot has challenged Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's allegation of the Centre discriminating against the State. The Central allocation to Rajasthan during the past four years had been more than at any time in the past, he said. "The State never had it so good,' Mr. Gehlot said reacting to reports that the Centre had rejected Ms. Raje's appeal to include frost and other cold weather conditions for compensation under the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF). "In fact, her approaching Home Minister Shivraj Patil with the demand was meaningless as the Finance Commission sets the norms for CRF,' he added. Local newspapers here had reported the Centre rejecting a demand from Ms. Raje for changes in the CRF norms with a suggestion that the State could place the matter before the 13th Finance Commission. The Chief Minister had made the demand in a letter written to Mr. Patil saying that farmers in 22 districts of the State had suffered a total loss of Rs.1,000 crore due to frost and extreme weather conditions. The treasury benches had also passed a resolution in the Assembly on the issue. "It is not due to dearth of money that relief is not reaching the affected farmers. The available funds are not utilised properly,' Mr. Gehlot said. Comparing the funds made available by the National Democratic Alliance government to the previous government headed by him , Mr. Gehlot said against a Central allocation of Rs.3,000 crore under rural development during the first four years, this government got Rs.9,000 crores under the same head so far. As for the CRF norms, Mr. Gehlot said there were clear-cut guidelines regarding the use of CRF and NCCF and there was no scope for any confusion.

The growing relevance of India's newly-minted "trillion-dollar economy' to the changing global economic order was emphasised at a seminar here on Monday in the context of Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's 2008-2009 budget. India's High Commissioner to Singapore S. Jaishankar said China, as "a political aside' in this emerging global story, "has now overtaken the United States as India's largest trading partner.' K. Venugopal, Joint Editor of The Hindu and The Hindu Business Line, traced some "fantastic aspects of India's growth story' but cautioned that the current trends of "a miserable show' in the power sector and project slippages in the overall infrastructure domain could still "stop ... the trillion-dollar economy from cantering' at a comfortable pace. KPMG India Executive Director Girish Vanvari said the Finance Minister had opted for "cautious' projections for the future, keeping in mind the current reality that "the Indian economy is on a roll.' Setting the tone for the seminar, organised by KPMG and the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry in association with The Hindu Business Line, Dr. Jaishankar said: "We are now, probably for the first year, talking about the budget of a trillion-dollar economy. We are talking about a country, where there is a 150 per cent increase in the net FDI flows, where the outward investments have actually also gone up almost seven times over what it used to be in 2003-2004, where the trade-to-GDP ratio has gone up very sharply. The [latest] budget, like any other happening in India, has a certain immediate context and a longer-term context in terms of reform.' Key factors Outlining the budget proposals in the context of what Mr. Chidambaram might have had on his mind, Mr. Venugopal spelt out an array of factors that served as the political and economic background. These were the possibility of general elections within the next 14 months; farm suicides; the drop in public investment in the agricultural sector; some indices of an economic slowdown; the appreciating rupee; the surge in foreign investment inflows; the ebb and flow of the stock market trends which, in the last six months, were "not bad' compared to the U.S. and Chinese markets; "the divergent worms' in regard to trade deficit; and the political sniping at "an economy on the downswing.' He summed up the "budget response' as follows: Rs. 60,000-crore debt waiver for small and marginal farmers; tax breaks for individuals, not companies; and excise duty reduction from 16 per cent Cenvat to 14 per cent, with no sops for exporters. Posing the question whether these proposals would work, Mr. Venugopal said: "Not everyone in the political world congratulates Mr. Chidambaram for the debt waiver. [Some] say he has not done enough. Why is India's agriculture on the rocks? One reason is that irrigation projects have failed to deliver in the last decade or so. The government's Economic Survey conceded as much. The weakening farm pulse [is such that] the only thing that has grown smartly is credit supply.' On income tax, he said the Finance Minister was "like India's spinners: flight the ball more and probably you will get the batsman out.' The growth of the economy "is delivering a lot more as tax revenues for the government.' Citing some "concerns,' including rising food prices, and turning the focus on "some very bright spots' such as the telecom and aviation sectors, Mr. Venugopal said, "The agenda is [still] pretty long' for the future. In addressing it, Mr. Chidambaram might also have to reckon with the "fragility of the coalition that he is part of.' Mr. Girish Vanvari gave an expert overview of the budget matrix of direct and indirect taxes. Vishal Sharma, KPMG Singapore Executive Director, presided.

GREETING: Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ocean Development Kapil Sibal with Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at his residence in Chennai on Monday. Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ocean Development Kapil Sibal called on Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at his Gopalapuram residence to seek a "large area in the seafront in Tamil Nadu to carry out research activities such as deep sea mining' and "coastal management.' "We want to carry on more activities in Tamil Nadu. So I requested the Chief Minister to look into a proposal by the Ministry to give a large area in the seafront in Tamil Nadu for carrying on research activities such as deep sea mining and others. As you know the Cabinet has in principle accorded approval to the setting up of a maritime university in Tamil Nadu and we hope that the setting up of the university and the grant of a seafront to us to carry out research and development would go hand in hand. This will enable us to invest more money in research activities in Tamil Nadu along the coast,' he said. Asked about the reaction of Mr. Karunanidhi, he said the Chief Minister told him that he would consider the issue very seriously. When it was brought to his notice that a parliamentary committee was looking into the issue of setting up of maritime university, he said that it was only concerned about the methodology and "how it is to be done.' Asked about the location of the university, he said: "We are setting up a maritime university. It will be located somewhere near the coast of some particular State.' Asked if there would be two maritime universities, he said he did not know about that. "It is not under my domain. I only know that in principle it has been agreed to. The location is yet to be decided and wherever it is, it has to be near the coast. And wherever it is, now with Information Technology you can do a lot of activities.' D. Rajasekhar, head of the Vessel Management Cell at the National Institute of Ocean Technology, said the area the Minister sought was for his institute, which is located in Pallikaranai. "We have to use Chennai Port for our berthing facilities

Delivering the Third Sumitra Chishti Memorial Lecture here on Monday, The Hindu Rural Affairs Editor, P. Sainath, methodically demolished the "historical and unprecedented' Union budgetary farmer loan waiver stating that the worst affected farmers were rendered ineligible as they possessed more than the stipulated two hectare land holdings. "In Vidharbha, over 50 per cent of land holdings are over 7.5 acres [around 3 hectares] and of the remaining 50 per cent, 25 per cent have restricted access to banks. There is nothing in the budget that increases the income of farmers or stabilises prices,' he said. Agrarian crisis Speaking on the agrarian crisis, the Magsaysay Award winner said over 1.5 lakh farmers had committed suicide in the past five years. A farmer killed himself every 30 minutes and the number of such suicides had increased from 15,000 a year between 1997 and 2001 to 17,000 a year in the 2002-06 period. "Just like each case of child labour has a personal history behind it, every farmer suicide had a multiplicity of causes. But the larger canvas or backdrop that leads to such suicides is common and stems from certain undeniable causes.' Enumerating these causative factors, Mr. Sainath said there had been a transfer of funds from the poor to the rich, an unprecedented growth of the corporate sector and gross undermining of local sovereignty and governance. "Farming has been rendered so unviable at the small-scale level that there are not many takers for it and the relentless drive towards corporate farming has just hastened the demise of the small farm not just in India but the world over,' said the eminent journalist.

The 2007 report of the United Nations (UNCTAD) emphasises regional cooperation between developing countries TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT REPORT, 2007

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher will undertake a two-day visit here from Tuesday during which the two sides are expected to review progress on implementation of the civil nuclear deal. Mr. Boucher, who is in charge of South Asia, will hold talks with his counterpart, Gayatri Kumar, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, and is expected to meet Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, sources told PTI on Sunday. The civil nuclear agreement issue is likely to dominate the discussions and the Indian side is expected to provide an update on its talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the safeguards agreement. After the fifth round of negotiations between India and IAEA that concluded in Vienna last Thursday, the two sides reported "considerable progress' and moved closer to the agreed text of the agreement. Finalisation of the safeguards agreement with the IAEA is a key step towards operationalisation of the India-U.S. nuclear deal. This has to be followed by the waiver by the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) to allow India to have civil nuclear cooperation with the international community. The government is expected to spell out its plans on the issue in Parliament on Monday when External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee makes a statement. The sources said that Mr. Mukherjee, who would be making the statement on

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's initiative is a major step in recognising the country's debt to farm families but much more needs to be done. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's budget 2008-09 has aroused widespread interest in methods of saving our small and marginal farming families from indebtedness and acute economic distress, which lead to occasional suicides. The steps proposed in the budget will give relief to nearly four crore farmers, at an estimated outlay of Rs.60,000 crore. As stressed by Mr. Chidambaram, this is a major step in recognising the indebtedness of the country to farm families who, th rough their toil in sun and rain, are safeguarding national food security and sovereignty. The question arises whether this step will mark the end of farmers' dependence on moneylenders and traders for their credit needs. Some of the following issues need consideration: First, the definition of small and marginal farmers has to be different for irrigated and dry farming areas. The present definition classifies marginal farmers as those owning up to 1 hectare and small farmers as those owning 1-2 hectares. Farmers cultivating crops in rainfed, arid, and semi-arid areas may own 4-5 hectares but their income is uncertain and their agricultural destiny is bound closely to the behaviour of the monsoon. A large number of farming families affected by the agrarian crisis in Vidharbha fall under this category. They will not be eligible for debt waiver and debt relief under the present scheme. A second problem relates to the source from which loans have been taken. The programme announced in the budget covers farmers who have taken loans from scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks, and cooperative credit institutions. It does not cover farmers indebted to moneylenders and traders. According to the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), 48.6 per cent of the farm households surveyed were indebted; of these 61 per cent had operational holdings below 1 hectare. Of the total outstanding debt, 41.6 per cent was taken for purposes other than farm-related activities, such as healthcare and domestic needs; 57.7 per cent of the outstanding amount was sourced from institutional channels and 42.3 per cent from moneylenders, traders, relatives, and friends. It has been estimated that in 2003, non-institutional debt accounted for Rs.48,000 crore; and out of this, Rs.18,000 crore was at an interest of 30 per cent per annum or more (NSSO 59th Round cited by the Economic Survey 2007-08). The Expert Group on Agriculture Indebtedness chaired by Professor R. Radhakrishna has recommended, in its report of July 2007, the inclusion of the financially excluded, particularly the small borrower households, and the adoption of risk-mitigating measures for agriculture. The concept of financial inclusion is in its early stages of operationalisation. Loan waiver is the price we have to pay for the neglect of rural India during the past several decades, as reflected in a gradual decline in investment in key sectors like irrigation, post-harvest technology (even today, farmers dry the harvested paddy on roads), market, and communication. The four crore farmers who are to be relieved of their debt burden before the end of June 2008 will become eligible once again for institutional credit for their cultivation expenses during kharif 2008. The challenge now is to prevent them from getting into the debt trap again. For this purpose, both Central and State governments should set up immediately an Indebted Farmers' Support Consortium at the district level. This should comprise farm scientists, panchayati raj leaders, input supply agencies, representatives of relevant government departments and financial institutions, rural and women's universities and home science colleges, private sector and media representatives, and others relevant to assisting the farmers relieved of their past debt in improving the productivity and profitability of their farms in an environmentally sustainable manner. This is essential for enabling them to have a higher marketable surplus and thereby more cash income. The smaller the farm, the greater is the need for marketable surplus to avoid indebtedness. Such an Indebted Farmers' Support Consortium should get the four crore farmers the benefits of all the government schemes such as the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, the National Food Security Mission, the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, the National Horticulture Mission, Rural Godown and Warehousing Schemes, and the National Rural Health Mission. If this is done, every farm family released from the debt trap should be able to produce at least an additional half tonne per hectare of food grains or other farm produce. This should help increase food production by about 20 million tonnes during 2008-10. At a time when global and national food stocks are dwindling and prices are rising, this will be an extremely timely gain for our national food and nutrition security system and for the control of inflation. We should ensure that the outcome of debt waiver is enhanced farmers' income and production. The prevailing gap between potential and actual yields in the crops of rainfed areas such as jowar, bajra, millets, pulses, and oilseeds is over 200 per cent even with the technologies on the shelf. The restarting of the agricultural career of four crore resource-poor farmers through loan waiver could mark a new dawn in both agrarian prosperity and national food sovereignty

Buoyed by the popular reaction to the farm debt waiver and debt relief scheme announced in the budget, the Congress has planned a series of rallies in State capitals and district headquarters. It will begin with a massive show of strength on the Ramlila grounds here on March 9. At the same time, Congress president Sonia Gandhi will meet State-wise all-party MPs from March 3 to 5 in the Parliament House. In a bid to pull out all stops to cash in on the popular sentiment, Ms. Gandhi's meetings with MPs will generally carry the message that the momentum and high ground gained by the party on the farmers' indebtedness issue, should be maintained throughout the year when six States go to the polls, and till the Lok Sabha polls next year. The States going to the polls this year are the ones where farmers would benefit the most from the Rs.60,000-crore debt waiver scheme. These are Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chaattisgarh, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. A senior party leader said that the mood in the party is upbeat and the leadership wants it to be sustained. Central to Ms. Gandhi's meetings with MPs would be the message that the programmes launched by the Congress-led UPA government should be "properly explained' to the people. In particular, the Congress would like to take the credit for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme and now the farm debt relief issue, the sources explained. On Monday, Ms. Gandhi will meet MPs from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. On Tuesday, she is to meet MPs from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. On Wednesday, the Congress president will meet MPs from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa, Dadar Haveli, Daman and Diu, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar. The AICC has planned the rallies keeping in mind the hundreds of Congressmen who want to "thank' the Congress president for the decision on the debt relief scheme.