The State Government and the State Planning Board propose to hit the road from November 5 to 17 to discuss the approach paper to the 12th Plan with various sections of the public.
Announcing this here on Monday, the Rural Development Minister, Mr K.C. Joseph, said here that views of the public pertaining to various projects proposed under the Plan would be ascertained in this manner.
FIRST STOP
The Planning Board Members, Mr C.P. John, and Mr G. Vijaya Raghavan, were also present on the occasion. Discussions would be held at Kozhikode on November 5 on issues pertaining to agriculture, tourism and education sectors, specific projects relating to which find a mention in the approach paper.
Consultations would be held in Kochi on November 8 with professionals such as lawyers, doctors, chartered accountants and engineers as well as commodity boards and other related institutions. The next day, consultations would shift to Thiruvananthapuram, where Members of the Legislative Assembly would be engaged.
ENGAGING MLAS
Special consultations would be held with the MLAs on Plan programmes for the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes. The State Capital would also host discussions with media representatives and economists slated for November 16. Representatives of local self-Government institutions and political parties would be next in line the following day. The Planning Board also proposes to meet with trade unions and youth, student and women's organisations. It has been decided that the Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy will join Mr Joseph, Mr John and Mr Vijaya Raghavan in the exercise.
CM TO JOIN
The Planning Board will discuss various ideas that get thrown up during the consultations and submit them to the State Government before finalising the priorities for the next five years.
The Chief Minister has already spelt out the development priorities of the State at the National Development Council meeting in Delhi, Mr Joseph said.
He had demanded to redefine the BPL norms and make the norms governing Centrally-Sponsored Schemes more palatable for the State Government. He had also demanded that the compensation given to farmers hit by natural calamities be linked with the production cost.
Separately, he had called for introducing a national policy for holding the priceline of life-saving drugs.