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ANNUAL PLAN WEST BENGAL 1997-98 Volume I DEVELOPMENT AND PLANNING DEPARTMENT GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL ANNUAL PLAN WEST BENGAL 1997-98 VOLUME I CONTENTS Page Foreword (V) Review of the Eighth Plan 1992-97 (xix) SECTORAL PROGRAMMES I—Agriculture and Allied Activities 1.1 Crop Husbandry 3 1.2 Soil and Water Conservation 43 1.3 Animal Husbandry 45 1.4 Dairy Development 48 1.5 Fisheries 48 1.6 Plantations 56 1.7 • Food, Storage and Warehousing 56 1.8 Agricultural Research and Education 57 1.9 Agricultural Financial Institutions 58 1.10 Other Agricultural Programmes 59 i . n Co-operation 60 II—Rural Development 2.1 Special Programme for Rural Development 67 2.2 Rural Wage Employment Programme 70 2.3 Area Development Programme 75 2.4 Land Reforms 76 2.5 Other Rural Development Programme 80 III—Special Area Programmes 3.1 Hill Areas 87 3.2 Other Special Area Programmes 89 IV— Irrigation and Flood Control 4.1 Major and Medium Irrigation 103 4.2 Minor Irrigation 109 4.3 Command Area Development 113 4.4 Flood Control 114 V— Energy 5.1 Power . 121 5.2 Non-Conventional Sources of Energy 131 5.3 Integrated Rural Energy Programme (IREP) 134 (iii) Page VI— Industry and Minerals 6.1 Village and Small Industries 139 6.2 Industries (Other than Village and Small Industries) 152 6.3 M ining 163 VII—Transport 7.1 Civil Aviation 167 7.2 Roads and Bridges 167 7.3 Road Transport 174 7.4 Inland Water Transport 178 VIII— Communications IX— Science, Technololgy & Environment 9.1 Scientific Research (Including S&T) 185 9.2 Ecology and Environment 187 X—General Economic Services 10.1 Secretariat Economic Services 193 10.2 Tourism 195 10.3 Surveys and Statistics 197 10.4 Civil Supplies 198 10.5 Other General Economic Services 200 XI—Social Services 11.1 General Education 205 11.2 Technical Education 209 11.3 Sports & Youth Services 212 11.4 Art & Culture 215 11.5 Medical & Public Health 220 11.6 Water Supply & Sanitation 230 11.7 Housing (Including Police Housing) 235 11.8 Urban Development (Including State Capital Projects) 243 11.9 Information & Publicity 253 11.10 Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes 257 11.11 Labour and Employment 259 11.12 Social Welfare 264 11.13 Nutrition 269 11.14 Other Social Services 269 XII— General Services 12.1 Jails 275 12.2 Stationery & Printing 276 12.3 Public Works 276 12.4 Other Administrative Services 283 XIII—Forestry & Wild Life 13.1 Forestry & Wild Life 289 (iv) FOREWORD The proposals for the Annual Plan (1997-98) have been prepared on the basis of a perspective. The main social direction and objective behind this perspective has been to assist, within the limited powers of the State Government, the increase in employment generation as far as possible, through efficient enhancement in levels of production in various sectors of the State economy. This requires that, in the spheres of infrastructure and social services, characterised by economic externalities and properties of public goods, there should be social action that is feasible in the State. This social action can be initiated by the State Government, the Panchayats or municipalities, and in some cases, even by organised group efforts of local people in coordination with the planning objective and process. At the same time there should be in the relevant spheres in the State, a persistent move towards equal competition. 2. In the context of social action, as mentioned above, the issue of decentralisation in planning in the State becomes relevant. The process of participatory decentralisation, through increasing devolution of financial and decision-making powers to the elected Panchayats and municipalities in the districts has been seriously pursued in the State over the last nineteen years or so. Keeping the social direction and objective, and the recommendations of the State Finance Commission in view, this process‘of decentrahsation will now be made more comprehensive and taken to a greater length in the current year. Not only will the decentralisation be effected for district (and below)-level schemes of all the departments much more exhaustively through the District and Block Planning Committees to the level of each village under the Gram Panchayats in rural areas, and to the level of each ward under the municipalities in urban areas, but the participation of people will also be more systematically ensured through the mandatory open mass meetings at the level of each village and through the beneficiary committees in relation to the plan schemes. It is through this participation of the people that the efficiency and accountability of the planning process will be upheld. We do not want only decentralisation, but that participatory decentralisation which is efficient and accountable. (V) 3. Keeping the main social objective and organisational direction in view, and on the basis of present trends, specific targets relating to increase in production and employment generation have been fixed in the State for the current year 1997-98. According to the latest available data, the State Domestic Product of West Bengal in 1995-96 had increased at a rate of 7.4 per cent, which was higher than the corresponding rate of growth of the Gross Domestic Product of 7.1 per cent at the national level. In the last year (1996-97), the rate of growth of the State Domestic Product of West Bengal had been estimated at 7.7 per cent, which was again notably higher than the corresponding rate of growth of the Gross Domestic Product of 6.8 per cent at the national level. Related to this overall rate of growth of the State Domestic Product in the last year, there were rates of growth of different sectors of the State economy, and corresponding to such growth of output in the sectors, there were also sectoral increases in employment, finally adding up to a total employment generation of about 5.59 lakhs in the last year. This total additional generation of employment in the last year was greater than the reported increase of about 1.36 lakhs of registered unemployed during the year, and was therefore helpful in redressing, to an extent, the problem of backlog of unemployment in the State. 4. On the basis of this recent trend in output growth and employment generation in the State, the target for rate of increase in the State Domestic Product in the current year has been placed at 8 per cent, which is much higher than the annual rate of growth of the Gross Domestic Product stipulated at 7 per cent at the national level for the entire Ninth Plan period (1997-2002). On the basis of this stipulated increase of the State Domestic Product and the estimated elasticity of employment generation with respect to output growth calculated on the immediately past data for each sector, it is possible to have the target for employment generation of 6 lakhs in the State in the current year. After stipulating the overall target for growth and employment generation, it is necessary now to disaggregate these targets for each important sector, with corresponding specification of plan outlays as well as relevant organisational steps towards competition and decentralisa­ tion in planning. 5. With this overall perspective and the specific targets in view, implementation of the policy in agriculture in the State begins with land reforms. It has to be noted here that efforts at land reforms amount to a move towards more equal access to land by vast majority of working (vi) farmers, and therefore, also towards more equal competition in agriculture. And, since the highest record of production as well as employment genera­ tion is obtained from the lands of small and marginal farmers, land reforms have provided the basis for increase in production and employment genera­ tion in agriculture in the State. In this sphere of land reforms, the State has occupied the foremost position in the entire country. Accoding to the National Sample Survey data, while for the country as a whole, the small and marginal farmers, comprising the significant section of the bottom 90 per cent of rural population hold around 29 per cent of total agricultural land, in West Bengal, due to land reforms, the small and marginal farmers have now come to own nearly 60 per cent of total agricultural land. If to this, the land under recorded sharecroppers is added, then the total land over which the farmers now have control in West Bengal, would be around 70 per cent. According to the latest data available for 1996-97, the total agricultural land vested due to land reforms has now amounted to 12.47 lakh acres, and out of the distribution of nearly 10.05 lakh acres, 23.54 lakh poor peasants have been benefited, with nearly 56 per cent of them belonging to the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes. This priority given to land reforms would continue firmly in the current year, with a preparation for vesting of at least 20 thousand acres of land. 6. Along with land reforms, a special emphasis has been given to the extension of irrigation facilities. As a result, it has been possible to increase in a steady manner the proportion of gross cropped areas under irrigation from less than 30 per cent in the first half of seventies to nearly 50 per cent in 1995-96, and this proportion has further increased to 52 per cent in the last year (1996-97). In the current year, keeping in view the objective of growth and employment generation in agriculture, about 2.25 lakh hectares will be brought under imgation, and this will raise the percentage of gross cropped area under irrigation to nearly 55 per cent.

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