“It is learnt that the Government of India is coming up with a proposal to amend the Electricity Act, 2003, which enables the Centre to double down on states not to offer free power to any segment of consumers.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has sought the Prime Minister’s intervention to ‘quickly address’ MSP, free power and crop insurance that have a ‘deep and immediate bearing’ on welfare of the farm sector, which if left unaddressed, would badly hit farmers.
The Chief Minister opposed the Centre’s reported move to do away with the free power supply scheme to the farm sector, saying it was ‘completely unjustified’. In a five-page letter on May 2, a copy of which was made available to the media here today, Naidu opposed the ‘unilaterally proposed amendment’ to the Electricity Act,2003, coupled with the specific terms of reference to the 15th Finance Commission, saying it would be detrimental to farmers’ interests and to the principles of cooperative federalism.
“It is learnt that the Government of India is coming up with a proposal to amend the Electricity Act, 2003, which enables the Centre to double down on states not to offer free power to any segment of consumers.
Also, Term 4 (viii) of the ToR of the Commission states that “the commission may consider proposing measurable performance-based incentives for states which control or lack of it in incurring expenditure on populist schemes”.
These proposals, if viewed together, probably imply the intentions of the Central government to classify free power as ‘populist’ and accordingly penalise the states for offering free power, Chandrababu said. The argument to do away with free power to consumers, including farmers, was ‘completely unjustified’ as it did not even consider the economic status of farmers as well as other subsidised category consumers, the chief minister said.
Since electricity was on the Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, the views of states need to be ascertained in the true spirit before deciding on any legislation, the Chief Minister added.
He requested the Centre to withdraw any proposal to amend the Electricity Act. Referring to crop insurance, Naidu said the Centre should make it mandatory for insurance companies to adopt technology from the ensuing Kharif season since there was a need for a robust process, backed by technology, to ensure timely settlement of genuine claims.
This was vital to double farmers income and for better risk management in agriculture. Any deviation would prove discouraging and affect farmers in the long run, he said.
“If issues in Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana are not addressed immediately, they could impact the governments official target of covering 50 percent of the gross cropped area under insurance by 2019,” he said.
Naidu requested the Centre to ‘broaden and deepen’ the market intervention in terms of number of commodities and quantity of commodities to be procured as agricultural production pattern underwent many changes in the recent past.
He requested that Minimum Support Price be fixed considering the model C2+50 percent of cost of production, which would be Rs 2,553 per quintal of paddy, to protect farmers’ interests and enable them to continue in agriculture. A similar method could be adopted in fixing MSP for other agricultural crops as well, he suggested.
