Girls' education gets Rs 1,064 cr, kharif MSP fixed

NEW DELHI: Persisting with its election mood, the government has cleared a number of social sector projects involving a total outlay of more than Rs.1,700 crore. Approved at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today, these projects relate to education, health, environment and forests. These approvals come close on the heels of reduction in interest rate for farmers, a package for sugarcane growers and a special insurance scheme meant to benefit senior citizens.
The CCEA also approved the MSP for kharif crop season 2003-04. The support prices for various crops will be announced in Parliament on Friday. The agriculture ministry had recommended at the end of June that the MSP for paddy be fixed at Rs 550 and Rs 580 per quintal for different varieties.
While the projects cleared by the CCEA relate to key sectors that need all the attention, the timing is likely to encourage the opposition to allege that the decisions are influenced by the impending assembly elections and the possibility of snap Lok Sabha polls early next year. The largest chunk of the CCEA approval is towards education of the girl child — a priority area for social sector development. An official spokesperson said that the Committee had approved implementation of a national programme of education of girls at the elementary level at a cost of Rs 1,064 crore. The decision marks a modification to the Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyan which has an outlay of Rs 17,000 crore for the 10th Plan period.
The focus will be on backward areas and efforts would be made to take all girl children in the age group of 6-14 to school. Special attention would be given to areas populated by scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Another key clearance from CCEA pertains to cleaning up of the most-polluted part of Yamuna — the Haryana-Delhi-UP stretch. The Centre has allocated Rs 530 crore for this purpose under Phase II of the Yamuna Action Plan. Haryana, Delhi and UP will contribute another Rs 94 crore for this project which is part of the National River Conservation Plan.
The spokesperson said CCEA also cleared a new scheme for conservation of forests, combining two existing projects. The plan aims at preventing forest fires which led to a loss of Rs 500 crore every year. Illicit felling of trees, resulting in a loss of Rs 100 crore per annum, would also be addressed by the scheme. The other aims of the plan are to prevent encroachment of forests and preserve biodiversity.
The committee approved Rs 190 core outlay for a comprehensive national mental health programme to be implemented during the Tenth Plan period. The project aims at providing community-bases solutions to those suffering from mental health problems rather than the conventional system of looking at hospital-based solutions.