Shri Patwa said in response to Members’ plea for strengthening the monitoring of utilization of funds that a suitable system should be devised without hurting the sensitivities of the State. He stressed on greater devolution of power down to the Panchayat level. The Minister said that the problem of depletion of water resources had arisen because of long neglect but was optimistic since people were more conscious now. He noted that during the recent drought, particularly in Gujarat, the Government, the administration and the people combined effectively to tackle the problem.

    The Minister recalled that the President in his Address to the Joint-Session of the Houses of Parliament in February, 2000 had observed that the current initiatives for development and conservation of land are loosely scattered and that it was now imperative to put in place an integrated mechanism capable of responding effectively to the challenges of managing our scarce land resources. He said in pursuance of this announcement, the modalities in regard to unification of programmes relating to soil and water conservation, being implemented by different Ministries and Departments through Watershed Development, are currently being worked out to come under the control of Department of Land Resources. A National Policy on the Management of Land Resources is also being formulated, he added.

    Shri Patwa informed the Committee that presently 947 blocks of 164 districts in 13 States are covered under the Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP). The Desert Development Programme (DDP) covers 227 blocks of 40 districts in 7 States. In the areas other than the DPAP/DDP areas, the Integrated Wastelands Development Programme (IWDP) is implemented in 216 districts in all the 25 States. As on 31^st March, 1999 the three Programmes, namely, IWDP, DPAP and DDP covered an area of 52 lakh hectares, he said. Shri Patwa added that during the financial year 1999-2000, new projects covering an area of 25.9 lakh hectares were sanctioned under these Programmes. Besides, an area of 63.50 lakh hectares was also taken up for development as part of the on-going watershed programme under the Employment Assurance Scheme, prior to 31^st March, 1999. Thus, at present, a total area of 141.40 lakh hectares is at various stages of treatment, he informed. For the new projects, sanctioned during the year 1999-2000, the Minister said 614 special projects (costing Rs.153.50 crore) were sanctioned to 10 Districts of Rajasthan to combat desertification.

    During the meeting, Shri Patwa also highlighted the task of capacity-building of watershed functionaries being given a renewed thrust. He said a National Committee for Watershed Training (NCWT) has also been constituted for strengthening the capacity building arrangements and to draw up and expedite the implementation of a time-bound programme. The Minister informed that based on the feedback received, several provisions have been made with a view to streamlining the guidelines. These provisions seek, among other objectives, to strengthen womens’ participation in the implementation process. The Watershed Committees would now have upto 1/3^rd of the total strength, women-members representing different user-groups, self-help groups and women-groups, he informed. The duration of the project has also been enhanced from 4 to 5 years without involving any additional administrative expenditure Upto 25% of forest lands, forming part of the watershed area, are also to be treated in the projects sanctioned under DPAP/DDP/IWDP, Shri Patwa said.

    Shri Patwa told the members that on a pilot basis, a programme aimed at on-line and real-time monitoring in three Districts, namely, Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, Solan in Himachal Pradesh and Mehboobnagar in Andhra Pradesh has been taken up. It is proposed to subsequently extend this to other areas.

    The members suggested ways to effectively monitor and interact with the State Governments to add value to on going interventions in various aspects of watershed development. A presentation about the genesis of the Department of Land Resources and its progammes was also made for the benefit of the members. It was pointed out that Rs.280.66 crore was released in 1999-2000 and the Budget allocation for programmes of this department in 2000-2001 has virtually trebled to Rs. 824 crore by including Rs.350 crore of Watershed component of Employment Assurance Scheme.

    Those who attended the meeting were S/Shri Chinmayanand Swami, P.S. Gadhavi, Mansinhohai Kalyanji Patel, Tajveer Singh, Raosaheb Patil Danve, Mansukhbhai Vasava, G. Mallikarjunappa, Adhi Sankar, T.M. Selvaganapathy, Raghuraj Singh Shakya, Samar Choudhary, Y.V. Rao, Shivaji Mane, Buta Singh, Medhab Rajbangshi, and A.F. Golam Osmani (all Lok Sabha), M.Venkaiah Naidu, O.L. Nongtdu and Manamohan Samal (all Rajya Sabha). The Minister of State, Shri Subhash Maharia and other senior officials were also present at the meeting.

MoU’s AN EFFECTIVE WAY TO IMPROVE PSU PERFORMANCE: MANOHAR JOSHI

JOSHI CALLS FOR CAREFUL AND GRADUAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DISINVESTMENT PROCESS IN THE PSE’s

    Shri Manohar Joshi exhorted the public enterprises to enrich their management competence, productivity, efficiency and profitability as the prime determinants of their functioning. Towards this the Government has granted them greater autonomy in management and decision making, Shri Joshi said. Affirming that public enterprise executives today have more autonomy and scope for decision making than managers in the private sector, Shri Joshi reminded that they have greater accountability too. There is now a concerted thrust on rationalisation of the portfolio of the public enterprises and with keen competition form private enterprises with the dismantling of all entry barriers, the Government undertakings may be expected to really emerge as global players.

    The Minister called for a careful and gradual implementation of the disinvestment process in the public sector enterprises on a case-to-case basis. The public sector has a crucial role to play as a countervailing force, to curb monopolistic practice, to control prices, promote self-reliance and industralise far-flung backward areas, the Minister said .He further added that a regulatory mechanism need to be devised to subserve the common good and check distortions that unbridled licence can give way to.

    Explaining the Government’s initiatives on the action for restructuring the public sector enterprises to enable them to perform efficiently in the global economic environment, Shri Joshi informed that many of these PSEs are already on the path of restructuring and revival. There would not have been a better time for organising the training programme on these issues, Shri Joshi said and expressed the hope that this would provide inflow of new ideas and options in this endeavour.

    Shri Shanmugam further said that all the statutory vacancies in the Coal Companies will be filled up as early as possible. Coal contributes to over 64% of indigenous commercial energy production. This is projected to go up in the coming years as the rising population, expanding economy and quest for improved quality of life would require raising the demand of coal manifold. Substantial increase in coal production envisaged in the future mainly through mechanization would be coming from deeper workings and through deployment of higher sized Heavy Earth Moving Machinery (HEMM). This poses safety hazards of a different nature and would require concerted efforts by all concerned for avoidance of accidents, the Minister added.

    In the last meeting of the Committee, it was observed that casual accidents are taking place in open-cast mines and that attitudinal change in the mindset of workers, supervisors and operators is necessary. This would require re-orientation in the training programmes such that these aspects are given more thrust. Open-cast operations are generally safer than underground operations as is evident by the data available in respect of other countries. We have to arrest this trend and all concerned have to make efforts in right earnest, Shri Shanmugam added.

    The 9^th Conference on Safety in Mines held in February, 2000 had given certain recommendations relating to provisioning of separate lane, properly fenced off from the haul road for pedestrians and two wheelers in certain category of open-cast mines. Training of persons engaged in surface operations specially of contractors workers to minimise accidents was also emphasised upon. The 9^th Conference had also recommended introduction of technique of Risk Management in mines for achieving significant reduction in accidents. The Minister expressed the hope that the coal companies would have taken initiative towards implementation of these recommendations.

    Enforcement of strict discipline, the other action areas identified and the recommendations of the 9^th safety conference when implemented with all sincerity, seriousness and determination would certainly bring improvement in safety in our mines, the Minister added.

    Referring to exports, Shri Maran announced that all Export Promotion Councils and Commodity Boards would prepare a 5-year Medium Term Plan (2000-2005) for achieving medium term export targets. Shri Maran expressed confidence that the export target of 18 per cent growth during the current financial year would be achieved, but felt that given the potential and the need for accelerating exports, the aim should be to attain even higher levels of growth. Shri Omar Abdullah and Dr. Raman Singh, Ministers of State for Commerce and Industry, along with Shri Prabir Sengupta, Secretary (Commerce) and Shri Ajit Kumar, Secretary (IPP) were also present at the Meeting. Members present at the meeting were S/Shri U. V. Krishnam Raju, Bali Ram Kashyap, M. Master Mathan, Swadesh Chakraborty, Shamsher Singh, Mahesh Chandra Sharma, Kapil Sibal, R.S. Gavai and Begum Noor Bano.

    Shri Maran also said that the government would soon introduce a new Bill to replace the Industrial (Development & Regulation) Act 1951 to bring it in line with the liberalised economy where industrial licensing has virtually been abolished and to give a thrust to industrial growth.

    Referring to the setting up of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) announced in the Exim Policy, Shri Maran informed that approval had been granted for SEZs in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh and said that the SEZ scheme would take off soon with the notification of the required guidelines. "There is a possibility of creating world class facilities in the Zones so that investments are attracted, both from home and abroad for unleashing massive economic activity and employment and for achieving a quantum jump in exports", the Minister said. Highlighting the continuing efforts to simplify export procedures, Shri Maran announced that 29 out of 32 DGFT offices had been fully computerised and the balance would be covered shortly. "Electronic filing of applications is no longer a utopia but a reality", Shri Maran said.

    Responding to a point raised by Shri Swadesh Chakraborty regarding the adverse effect of the campaign by PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) on India's leather exports, the Minister said that the government had taken suitable action to counter such campaigns by ensuring proper enforcement of the existing laws pertaining to prevention of cruelty to animals. He also assured Shri Chakraborty, who had raised the issue of domestic umbrella manufacturers being adversely affected by imports, that action was being taken by DGFT in this regard. In response to Dr. M.C. Sharma's query on QRs, Shri Maran pointed out that India had been autonomously removing the import controls ever since 1980s and the process gathered momentum with the improvement in the BOP position. In reply to Shri Master Mathan, who expressed concern over the impact of tea imports especially on the southern tea industry, the Minister informed that the government was looking into the possibility of increasing the amount of subsidy to the small tea growers. Shri Maran agreed with Shri Kapil Sibal on the urgent need to have in place a competition law so that anti-competition practices of multinational corporations could be averted in order to safeguard the interests of the domestic industry. Shri Sibal also urged that India should explore the possibility of joining some important regional economic groupings in Asia, besides SAARC, so as to enhance the country's trade advantages as was being effectively done by the countries of the NAFTA and the EU. He also spoke about the need for vigilance to safeguard the interests of Indian agriculture and observed that freeing of the economy from within should be concomitant with freeing of the economy from without. Shri Bali Ram Kashyap referred to the adverse impact of the entry of MNCs on the industrial sector in general and the cement industry in particular, which had shown a decline in production. Shri Maran, while noting that forecasts of economic growth were optimistic, said that the basic challenge of economic reform was to eradicate poverty.

    Another victim of the crash, Shri GR Singhal’s body was also consigned to the flames at the same Crematorium.