Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje discussed various issues related Agriculture, PDS, Education, reforms in MNREGA and the issues pending at the centre level during her meeting with Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog Shri Arvind Panagariya and member of CM Advisory Council Shri Manish Sabarwal on Wednesday at Chief Minister’s office.

Smt. Raje informed Shri Panagariya that efforts are going on to attach Bhamashah card with all kind of cash and non-cash transaction and PDS is also being attached with this card. She said the state government’s initiative to convert 5000 Fair Price Shops as Annapurna Bhandars and signing of MoU with Future Group regarding this will bring drastic changes in the PDS system. Shri Panagariya had all praise for this initiative. He said the move will certainly impact the aspirations of poor people. He also admired the the reforms initiated by the state government in various sectors.

The Chief Minister said flexibility should be given to the states to take up any kind of work prescribed by the state government based on the requirements and conditions of the particular state under MNREGA. She said ratio of the material & labour component should be decided at district level in MNREGA. She said reforms in MNREGA should be taken up in the manner that the assets of permanent nature could be created under the scheme.

Smt. Raje also laid emphasis on dry farming and promotion of poultry, fisheries, dairy along with encouraging cultivation of fruits and flowers.

Chief Secretary Shri C. S. Rajan informed about the restructuring and digitization work of land record in the state. He said works done by the states like Haryana and Gujarat are being studied regarding this. Shri Panagariya said if restructuring and re-survey of land records is being taken up by the private agencies and proposal regarding this is being sent to NITI Aayog Aayog can provide financial assistance for this. He applauded the digitization work of land record and said this initiative will provide benefit to the farmers.

Officials of the state government informed that Rajasthan is one among the few states that have enacted the model Act for Agriculture Marketing prepared by the Govt. of India. He also informed that farmers have been given total exemption from Mandi tax for fruits and vegetables. The suggestion provided by NITI Aayog to open Kisaan Mandis in cities and towns so that farmers can sell their produce directly to the consumers is also being implemented in the state, informed officials of Agriculture department.

It was informed during the meeting that there were 592 Acts in the state and keeping in view the problems being faced by the common man due to large number of Acts, the state government has taken initiative to repeal the irrelevant Acts.

Issues related to tourism were also discussed in the meeting. Shri Panagariya assured that the state will get full cooperation from NITI Aayog regarding issues related to the state.

Jaipur, 26 August 2015