Khattar invites those agitating to press demand for reservation for Jat community

Chandigarh, February 17, 2016: The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal Khattar, has invited those agitating to press the demand for reservation for the Jat community in the state for talks at his residence here at 1 pm on February 17. He has also urged them to call off their agitation.
This was disclosed by the Finance Minister, Capt Abhimanyu, while interacting with mediapersons here on Tuesday. The government is ready to discuss the matter and has already filed a review petition on this issue in the Supreme Court. Haryana has about 2.5 crore people belonging to various communities and the state government belonged to all of them. In a democratic set-up, every problem could be resolved through dialogue. Capt Abhimanyu said.
He said that the Chief Minister had already constituted a committee headed by the Chief Secretary to look into this matter. The committee which has been told to submit its report at the earliest is making efforts to explore all possibilities so that the benefits of reservation could be provided to Special Backward Classes to ensure social and economic justice. The minister expressed the hope that the talks would lead to a positive outcome.
The Chief Minister has invited all organisations, committees and Khap representatives involved in this matter for talks through concerned deputy commissioners, he added.
Meanwhile, Capt. Abhimanyu said that the State Government is working on a policy to make the agriculture sector more profitable by bringing in reforms in this sector.
The Finance Minister on Tuesday was speaking at the State Credit Seminar 2016-17 for Haryana on the theme ‘Accelerating the pace of capital formation in agriculture and allied sectors’ organised by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) here today.
On this occasion, Capt. Abhimanyu released the ‘State Focus Paper 2016-17’, which highlighted the sector-wise credit potentials for Haryana as estimated by NABARD for 2016-17. The Paper, presented by NABARD, envisages bankable credit potential estimates of about Rs 1.06 lakh crore under priority sector lending in Haryana for 2016-17, projecting growth of 19 per cent over the State Credit Plan for the current year. The bankable credit potential under Crop Loan has been estimated at Rs 47,857 crore, contributing 45 per cent of the total priority sector credit estimates. The agricultural term loan credit or Investment Credit potential, which supports capital formation, has been projected at Rs 22,885 crore. The credit projections for Micro and Small Enterprises sector and other priority sectors were estimated at Rs 19,487 crore and Rs 16,102 crore, respectively. Overall, the credit potential for agriculture and allied activities, estimated at Rs 70,742 crore, accounts for 67 per cent of the total credit potentials.
The Finance Minister said that banks should provide loans for modern irrigation techniques, water management, dairy development activities and milk processing units. He said that the State Government, working under the slogan of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’, has achieved the targets set under various schemes. He said that 100 per cent of the target under ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana’ has been achieved. Similarly, Aadhaar cards of 96 per cent people have been issued, he added.
Expressing concern over loans being provided by banks under Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA), Capt. Abhimanyu said that banks should work more aggressively under this scheme. He said that Regional Rural Bank has achieved only 69 per cent of its target of Credit Deposit Ratio, which is less than the State average.
The scope for infrastructure projects, which are critical for the development of the State, was presented in the seminar along with the required interventions in the form of projects to bridge the infrastructure gaps and the assessment of corresponding investments. The need for diversification of cropping pattern, measures to improve soil health, measures to augment and conserve water resources and challenges under each of the economic sub-sectors that need to be addressed by banks and the Government were also discussed in the seminar.
Speaking on the occasion, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Mr. Sanjeev Kaushal, said that the State Government has been trying to strengthen cooperative banks so that credit needs of farmers can be met through these banks.
Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Chandigarh, Mrs. Rashmi Fauzdar, and Chief General Manager, NABARD, Haryana, Mr. P.C. Chaudhri also spoke on the occasion.
Those present on the occasion included Additional Chief Secretary, Public Health Engineering, Mr. Alok Nigam, Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Haryana, Mr. Pankaj Agarwal, Convenor, State Level Bankers Committee, Haryana, Mr. Rajesh Jindal, Chief General Manager, NABARD, Punjab Regional Office, Dr. P.M. Ghole, Chief General Manager, IDBI, Mr. Ajay Sharma, other dignitaries and senior officials from banks and line departments of Haryana Government./ (SK Vyas, Jalandhar)