Conference of Governors Concludes With President of India Suggesting Setting-up of Committee of Governors to Evolve Farmer-industry Partnership in Rain-fed Areas

The 43rd Conference of Governors concluded at Rashtrapati Bhavan today, with the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil suggesting the setting-up of a Committee of Governors to evolve mutually beneficial models for a farmer-industry partnership, focusing on rain-fed area farming. The Committee would make suitable recommendations, and would also formulate a Concept Paper to bring about an "Evergreen Revolution to harness the full potential of the agriculture sector", the President said in her concluding remarks.

Covering other issues the President said, there was a recommendation by Governors to provide an enabling climate for them to discharge their statutory duties as Chancellors of State Universities, in a more positive and effective manner, and imparting clarity on the expected interface between Governors and Central Universities in general, and as Chief Rectors in particular.

On the education sector, the President referring to her recent State Visit to Switzerland, said she was impressed to see the vocational education to industry linkage in that country, which also should be attempted here between ITIs and vocational training institutes. This would create a dynamic partnership with the manufacturing and service sectors of our industry, both public and private sectors, which is required for the rapidly growing needs of the future. Speaking on other issues related to the education sector, the President said, taking into consideration the need to rapidly enhance the very low enrolment ratio in higher education, steps must be taken to use the infrastructure of the already existing large campuses of old and new universities. She said there are nearly 600 universities in the country, which are State or Centrally funded, or in the private sector and their capacity to accommodate more students is presently under-utilized. This infrastructure can be upgraded to accommodate more students, to augment the enrolment ratio, without compromising on the quality of education. There also could be an effort to learn from some of the higher educational institutions in other developed countries, which support a much larger density of students, inspite of having small-sized campus.

Addressing the issue of governance the President felt, it was incumbent that the people get better governance through the institutions of democracy. An environment needs to be created that liberates the peoples' creative energy in building an India of our dreams, as a nation of a billion plus people rising to its peak potential, and Governors, who have an all-pervasive moral influence in their States, can play an important role in this, she emphasized.

Speaking on the items on the agenda, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh said Left Wing Extremism continues to pose a major threat to our internal security. Steps that need to be taken to tackle the problem include deployment of additional Central Forces, raising specialized forces and giving training to State Police in counter- insurgency. However, the extent of success will depend on co-ordination between the Centre and States and between different States. Speaking about areas under the 5th and 6th Schedules, the Prime Minister said, Governors have been given special responsibility for the administration of Scheduled areas. The democratic process and popular participation need to be further encouraged in the Scheduled areas, and the growth of democracy in these areas needs recalibration of the way in which Governors discharge their special responsibilities. The Prime Minister urged the Governors to take active interest in the implementation of development programmes for SC/STs, Other Backward Classes, religious minorities, women and children. He also suggested that as Chancellors of State Universities, they should take active interest in toning up the quality of administration of higher education in their States. Speaking about Agriculture, the Prime Minister said Research and Development needs to be focused on to enhance yields in the Eastern part of the country. Existing barriers to free flow of agricultural products need to be removed and strengthening and streamlining their marketing needs improvement. He urged the Governors to encourage their States to make required amendments to the Agricultural Product Market Committees Act where not done. Referring to ragging, the Prime Minister said the Governors as Chancellors of the university system, have a special responsibility to ensure that this menace is rooted out once and for all. It must be made unambiguously clear to authorities of educational institutions, other enforcement agencies and the student community that there is zero tolerance. The Prime Minister also said while referring to governance issues, that Government is committed to take all possible measures to curb corruption in administration and deliver good governance to citizens.

Speaking at the Conference the Minister of Finance, Shri Pranab Mukherjee said that implementation of the proposed Food Security Act will be the joint responsibility of the Centre and the States. Both have to work together to procure the required quantity of foodgrains and ensure their distribution to beneficiaries through an effective delivery system. Referring to social sector schemes, the Finance Minister said the challenge is the need to improve the "last-mile" delivery of various social sector schemes. Government is taking a number of steps for the revamp of public delivery systems, he said.

The Minister of Home Affairs, Shri P Chidambaram while referring to the provision under the 5th and 6th Schedules of the Constitution, said the Governors enjoy special powers in their States in the areas coming under these Schedules. While referring to the situation in the States of the North-East, he said there has been a dramatic improvement there. The Minister also said that the primary responsibility of fighting Left Wing Extremism is that of the State Governments and the Union Home Ministry is always ready to provide every possible help.

The Minister of Agriculture, Shri Sharad Pawar, the Minister of Defence, Shri AK Antony, the Minister of Law & Justice and Minority Affairs, Shri Salman Khursheed, the Minister of Tribal Affairs, Shri V Kishore Chandra Deo, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Women and Child Development, Smt. Krishna Tirath, the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Smt. D. Purandeswari and the Minister of State for External Affairs, Smt. Preneet Kaur, also made presentations during the two-day Conference.

This release issued at 1845 hrs.