Additional central assistance for District level planning:Sen

Bhubaneswar, Aug 24 (UNI) Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen today said the new additional central assistance to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore will be available only when the states prepared the district level agricultural planning.

Mr Sen hoped that by the end of the next year all the districts in the country will have the district level planning which has become a constitutional necessity for the state and become a basic requirement for a state plan.

Addressing the first regional workshop for eastern region on Comprehensive District Agriculture Plan(C-DAP)organised by the KIIT School of Rural Management in collaboration with NABARD, Mr Sen said by next year the Agricultural Technology Management Agency(ATMA) and the Krishi Vigyan Kendra would be set up in all the districts to carry out the plan.

He said the district agriculture plan must be drawn up in such a way that it could become a model plan for other districts in the country.

The focus should be on the building capacity amongst those who will be involved in formulating district agriculture plans, more particularly the technological inputs required for formulating a plan.

The Planning Commission member further said one should see how best the technical knowledge could be used to get maximum return.

One has to prioritise the objectives, define constraints and identify the best suitable technology.

Mr B N Yugandhar clearly stated that no national plan could be successful unless there is a proper and good state plan and no state plan could be effective unless it is backed by a good district plan.

Experts in the field of Agriculture from the eastern states are attending two day Regional Workshop on Capacity Building of State and District Level Functionaries for Developing Comprehensive District Agricultural Plan.

KIIT University Chancellor A Samanta who welcomed the guests hoped that the workshop would help formulating plan taking into account the peoples aspiration.

UNI