He claims that Chhattisgarh has been witnessing an unprecedented growth ever since he took over its reins in 2003. In this exclusive interaction with B&E’s Sray Agarwal, Chief Minister Raman Singh defends his claim apart from discussing what all is he doing to make Chhattisgarh the most developed state in India
B&E: It’s been over eight years since you took charge as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. How would you rate your governance when it comes to the economic development of the state?
Raman Singh (RS): There are certain norms to scale the growth of the state. You will be happy to know that we have been maintaining a double-digit growth rate for the last seven years. A remarkable growth rate was registered in FY2009-10. In that year, the Gross State Domestic Product Growth (GSDP) rate was 11.49%, which was the highest among all states. Even the average GSDP rate of the past seven years was around 11%. In FY2010-11, Chhattisgarh has again proved the strength of its vision, policies, programmes and schemes. Sustainable environment of development has increased the state’s GSDP rate in FY2010-11 over FY2009-10. In fact, as per a recently issued report, Chhattisgarh was among the three fastest growing states in the country – Bihar (14.79%), Tamil Nadu (11.74%) and Chhattisgarh (11.57%).
B&E: How is Chhattisgarh tackling the fiscal deficit?
RS: Initially, when the state came into being we faced the problem of fiscal deficit. But the whole scenario changed when I took over as Chief Minister. There has been a remarkable improvement in major financial indicators of the state. Our revenue deficit turned into revenue surplus. In compliance with the 12th Finance Commission recommendation, the state’s fiscal deficit has been within 3% of GSDP since FY2005-06. While plan expenditure has increased by around seven times, non-plan expenditure has risen less than three times. All targets mentioned in the FRBM Act have been achieved. In fact, Chhattisgarh has never resorted to ways and means advances (WMA) from RBI due to better financial management.
B&E: Chhattisgarh has been at the forefront when it comes to agriculture. How has it been possible?
RS: Right from the beginning we were clear that for the all-round development of Chhattisgarh condition of the farmers needs to be improved. We therefore took various practical measures to reduce the production cost. Firstly, we reduced the interest rate on farmers’ loan from 14-15% to just 1%. This automatically encouraged farmers to take loans. Earlier, farmers in the state used to avail loan worth Rs.100 crore in all. Now, our target is to distribute loan to the tune of Rs.1,700 crore. For the last 60 years, there were only 72,000 irrigation pump connections. Today the number has gone up to 2,90,000. In fact, we provide free electricity supply of 6,000 and 7,500 units for pumps up to 3 and 5 horsepower respectively. Farmers using these pumps are exempted from fix charges, meter rental and other fees. The paddy procurement at support price is also going on at large scale. Last year, we procured almost 60 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, and stood second in paddy procurement behind Punjab in the country.
B&E: About a decade ago, Chhattisgarh lacked quality roads and highways which are essential to development of any state. Even the power scenario wasn’t that good. What has your government done to improve the situation?
RS: Chhattisgarh has been a backward state for various historical and geographical reasons. We had crisis in electricity, road, drinking water, housing and other sectors. Breaking the deadlock of over two decades in the power sector, we established two thermal power plants of 500 MW capacity. Simultaneously, we decided to make Chhattisgarh a power hub. At the time of the state’s formation, the total power generation capacity was 1,360 MW, which went up to 1,925 MW by the end of 11th Five Year Plan. In fact, a couple of new power plants, with a collective capacity of 1,500 MW, are nearing completion. Moreover, some more power plants, having total capacity of 30,000 MW, would be installed during the 12th Five Year Plan. We have targeted to contribute more than 30% of the country’s total power generation by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan. The infrastructure is being developed accordingly for the distribution and transmission of the expected capacity of power generation. Through such initiatives, we have already become one of the few states in the country to have 24-hour power supply. Our per consumer electricity consumption has also gone up from 354 units to 1,547 units, which is the highest in the country. As far as roads are concerned, the situation is far better than what it was a decade ago. When the state was formed, the density of roads was 17.5 Kilometer per 100 sq. km., which has now increased to 21.40 km through various efforts. Apart from the general schemes, we have also launched special schemes for villages, which includes Chief Minister Gram Sadak Yojana for human habitats. This scheme does not come under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. About 4,100 km long roads have been proposed under this scheme an outlay of Rs.2,000 crore. We wish to touch the national average very soon in the area of road construction.
B&E: It’s been over eight years since you took charge as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. How would you rate your governance when it comes to the economic development of the state?
Raman Singh (RS): There are certain norms to scale the growth of the state. You will be happy to know that we have been maintaining a double-digit growth rate for the last seven years. A remarkable growth rate was registered in FY2009-10. In that year, the Gross State Domestic Product Growth (GSDP) rate was 11.49%, which was the highest among all states. Even the average GSDP rate of the past seven years was around 11%. In FY2010-11, Chhattisgarh has again proved the strength of its vision, policies, programmes and schemes. Sustainable environment of development has increased the state’s GSDP rate in FY2010-11 over FY2009-10. In fact, as per a recently issued report, Chhattisgarh was among the three fastest growing states in the country – Bihar (14.79%), Tamil Nadu (11.74%) and Chhattisgarh (11.57%).
B&E: How is Chhattisgarh tackling the fiscal deficit?
RS: Initially, when the state came into being we faced the problem of fiscal deficit. But the whole scenario changed when I took over as Chief Minister. There has been a remarkable improvement in major financial indicators of the state. Our revenue deficit turned into revenue surplus. In compliance with the 12th Finance Commission recommendation, the state’s fiscal deficit has been within 3% of GSDP since FY2005-06. While plan expenditure has increased by around seven times, non-plan expenditure has risen less than three times. All targets mentioned in the FRBM Act have been achieved. In fact, Chhattisgarh has never resorted to ways and means advances (WMA) from RBI due to better financial management.
B&E: Chhattisgarh has been at the forefront when it comes to agriculture. How has it been possible?
RS: Right from the beginning we were clear that for the all-round development of Chhattisgarh condition of the farmers needs to be improved. We therefore took various practical measures to reduce the production cost. Firstly, we reduced the interest rate on farmers’ loan from 14-15% to just 1%. This automatically encouraged farmers to take loans. Earlier, farmers in the state used to avail loan worth Rs.100 crore in all. Now, our target is to distribute loan to the tune of Rs.1,700 crore. For the last 60 years, there were only 72,000 irrigation pump connections. Today the number has gone up to 2,90,000. In fact, we provide free electricity supply of 6,000 and 7,500 units for pumps up to 3 and 5 horsepower respectively. Farmers using these pumps are exempted from fix charges, meter rental and other fees. The paddy procurement at support price is also going on at large scale. Last year, we procured almost 60 lakh metric tonnes of paddy, and stood second in paddy procurement behind Punjab in the country.
B&E: About a decade ago, Chhattisgarh lacked quality roads and highways which are essential to development of any state. Even the power scenario wasn’t that good. What has your government done to improve the situation?
RS: Chhattisgarh has been a backward state for various historical and geographical reasons. We had crisis in electricity, road, drinking water, housing and other sectors. Breaking the deadlock of over two decades in the power sector, we established two thermal power plants of 500 MW capacity. Simultaneously, we decided to make Chhattisgarh a power hub. At the time of the state’s formation, the total power generation capacity was 1,360 MW, which went up to 1,925 MW by the end of 11th Five Year Plan. In fact, a couple of new power plants, with a collective capacity of 1,500 MW, are nearing completion. Moreover, some more power plants, having total capacity of 30,000 MW, would be installed during the 12th Five Year Plan. We have targeted to contribute more than 30% of the country’s total power generation by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan. The infrastructure is being developed accordingly for the distribution and transmission of the expected capacity of power generation. Through such initiatives, we have already become one of the few states in the country to have 24-hour power supply. Our per consumer electricity consumption has also gone up from 354 units to 1,547 units, which is the highest in the country. As far as roads are concerned, the situation is far better than what it was a decade ago. When the state was formed, the density of roads was 17.5 Kilometer per 100 sq. km., which has now increased to 21.40 km through various efforts. Apart from the general schemes, we have also launched special schemes for villages, which includes Chief Minister Gram Sadak Yojana for human habitats. This scheme does not come under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. About 4,100 km long roads have been proposed under this scheme an outlay of Rs.2,000 crore. We wish to touch the national average very soon in the area of road construction.
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