Mahmood Hassan
(The writer is Director, Char Areas Development, Assam.
He can be reached at mahmoodhassan61786@gmail.com)
The 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan' (ANBA) was announced along with the economic package by the Prime Minister of India to revive the pandemic-affected Indian economy. The call for self-reliance or atmanirbhar is not something new for the country or the state. There were instances when the slogan of Swabalambi hao ahok (let us be self-reliant) was popular among the student community during the period of the Assam Movement. This is in consonance with Mahatma Gandhi's vision of a Self-Reliant India and recognizing poverty as the worst form of violence. With a mission to revive the battered economy the AMBA has been launched to provide employment to those who have become jobless after the pandemic.
Despite implementation various scheme towards self-reliance over the years, Assam as a state is yet to become atmanirbhar or self-reliant in any kind of consumer products in general and food items in particular. The state is losing huge amount of money to other states for its import bill for which it is called a "money outflow state'. The economic progress of a state is determined by the amount of inflow of money to the state. In terms of generating revenue or money inflow the best states are Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh. These are surplus states in the matter of production of various commodities due to better infrastructure and support provided by their governments. Unfortunately in comparison to these states Assam till date does not have a proper roadmap, better money inflow, let alone direct investment by big firms.
According to various data available and surveys carried out by various agencies, Assam holds a dismally low status at the all-India level virtually in all sectors of the economy. A recent media report states that Assam imports eggs, meat, and dairy products worth roughly of Rs 1,650 crore. Despite the potentialities in these sectors of the economy the youths in the state migrate to mainly South Indian states to serve in low levels of unskilled works like security guards, packaging industries, or in construction works. Time has come to provide a proper road map for the youths who have returned to the state so that they can be involved in these sectors of the economy.
During the period of lockdown the state Animal Husbandry department took the initiative to provide home delivery of various products. This is indeed an encouraging aspect that a number of highly qualified youths took the initiative in Guwahati city to provide poultry and dairy products. Hence it is necessary to rejuvenate the 60 livestock farms across the state. Some of these farms did wonderful job during the lockdown period by selling their products to the consumers. For reviving the defunct farms the proposed "Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund' announced by the government can be spent for such purposes. Even in fishery the state has to depend upon Andhra Pradesh and Bihar till today. Despite potentialities the state has failed to attract the youths towards this sector. Fish production through eco hatcheries can provide huge employment opportunities in the state. This can be linked with the newly formulated PM Matsya Sampada Yojana.
Assam is also planning to launch "Atmanirbhar Assam" in the line of PM's vision to supplement the Centre's efforts to mitigate the woes of the poor people who lost their jobs. There will be equal interest subvention in case of loanees who are paying their installments. The Finance Minister of Assam has stated that 20 lakh youths who have taken MUDRA loan or KCC loan can avail the concessional rate through interest subvention. Farmers can avail working capital through NABARD for their relief. Micro Food Enterprises (MFE) can be set up with proper training and capacity building. This scheme is focusing on "Vocal for Local with Global Outreach". This scheme is supposedly going to help 2 lakh MFEs, farmers, as well as farming organizations across the country.
Agriculture forms the backbone of Assam's economy. Hence emphasis has to be laid in the sector that can provide maximum number of employment directly and indirectly. The agricultural package of Rs.1.63 lakh crore include farm-gate and aggregate point of infrastructure, fisheries, animal husbandries and others like animal vaccination and MFEs. During the pandemic many farmers made huge losses as they could not sell their products. Whereas a few of them benefitted through e-commerce and home delivery of the products to the consumers in the cities arranged by the district administration. Coordinated efforts through a supply chain management system can bring about changes among the farmers. In this context it may be pointed out that the government is planning to create a unified market in agricultural commodities, pushing investment in agriculture supply chain though the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, better price realization for farmers and bringing modern technology in agriculture. Today mechanization is limited to 'tractorization' but new machines for harvesting, tiling or ploughing should be promoted. Green house or polyhouse farming or drip irrigation is the need of the hour. More diversification is required in the sector to attract the youths to agriculture.
Despite promoting the idea of "Make in India" India continues to rely heavily on huge number of Chinese products whether it is electronic items and medical equipment. Even the ventilators, PPE kits and testing kits for COVID-19 have to be imported from that country. However, many companies in India have started manufacturing these medical items lately. In fact, India has become the second largest producer of PPE kits after China in March this year. Indigenous good quality products can be manufactured so that dependency on foreign firms can be reduced through the ANBA. Youths returning to the state can be trained thoroughly for skill development on various trades so that they can be self-dependent. The Skill Development department must take the initiative through the various ITI and polytechnics that need refurbishment. The success story of Luken Tamuly of Golaghat who has started a firm named Surujmukhi Company Home Services that provides all kinds of services from installation of Satellite dish to catering services through a pool of skilled youths in the district, needs to be replicated all across the state.
The CMIE, the Business Information Company has shown in its monthly report in March this year that unemployment rate rose alarmingly from 8.7% to 23.8% when the lockdown was enforced. So in these challenging times the ANBA can generate employment and eradicate poverty. Now the economic ministries of the government must ensure that the supply chain management is efficiently mobilized to boost agriculture, manufacturing units and the services sectors for revival of the devastated economy.