Montek Ahluwalia committee report a potent weapon to finish Congress in Punjab

 

 

Montek Ahluwalia committee report a potent weapon to finish Congress in Punjab

Ground Zero

 

Punjab is virtually a theater of the absurd.

This is the state where the same narrative gets repeated over time.

The latest is the report submitted by Congress’s second top economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia recommending broad-based measures to revive the sagging economy of Punjab. Nothing new in it as its seeds can be traced to Raja J Chelliah report in the 90’s.

At the political level, these recommendations have the potential to finish Congress in Punjab that even the army attack on Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) code-named Operation Bluestar in June 1984 could not do. The Congress presently has 80 seats in a House of 117 after winning the bye-elections, the highest ever.

Ahluwalia is known to subscribe to the World Bank approach on the economy.

It may be mentioned that the health and education in the public sector were severely damaged under this very approach of the World Bank. Both health and education are now out of the reach of the common person.

The Covid pandemic has brought the focus back on the revival of health in public sector.

Ahluwalia committee has recommended revocation of free power, reduction in pay scales of the government employees and abolishing thousands of posts. Another recommendation is hike in excise duty on liquor at the time when more than 100 persons have died due to spurious liquor. There are several other suggestions.

There is nothing unusual or new about the recommendation to withdraw free power and go in for crop diversification by reducing area particularly under paddy.

It is too well known to everybody that the free power has played havoc in the long run including with the environment. The use of canal water has gone down. Punjab has been engaged in a bitter long duel with the neighbouring states on the issue of apportionment of river waters. Farmers in many areas in Punjab have levelled the water courses to bring the land under cultivation.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had approached Ahluwalia to suggest measures to revive Punjab’s economy.

The crop diversification has been part of the narrative since 1986 when the Akali Dal government headed by Surjit Singh Barnala appointed a committee under farm economist Sardara Singh Johal. Capt Amarinder Singh was the agriculture minister in that government.

No progress has been made on this front. The farmers at their own have experimented but have returned to wheat-paddy rotation. As any farmer and he would tell the government how to go about crop diversification. The government need not consult any wizard for that. Many of the ministers are themselves farmers.

Basic to diversification is assured price and market. Punjab, or for that matter any state, has failed to provide assured market and price  even for maize, the crop that is covered under the minimum support price regime. Farmers in Punjab have tried sunflower at large scale, especially in Doaba. It is a short duration crop.

So far as free power is concerned, the issue is that of providing subsidy. Haryana has incentivised the farmers by providing direct cash transfer to divert land from under paddy. Basic to subsidy regime is efficiency.

Moreover, consensus needs to be evolved to finalise some minimum basic issues to revive the economy. Free power has turned inefficient in the long run but at the political level, it is a hot potato.

It may be recalled that Capt Amarinder Singh had experimented with withdrawal of free power during his first term beginning 2002 but had to revert to the same system. The Congress lost the election in 2007 despite that.

Baddi on the Punjab border in Himachal Pradesh has developed into a pharmaceutical hub. Punjab has failed over the years to come up with any such plan for revival of industry.

The youth see no future in Punjab. The students are going abroad. Earlier, the Punjab NRIs used to send money here. Now the system has reversed.

Despite being the farm economy, this state has failed to invite investment in food processing sector.

The political class needs just folk sense to revive economy, not panel of experts.