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'Haryana govt siphoned off farm subsidies' -Robin David
-The Times of India


CHANDIGARH: The Congress government in Haryana will soon have to return crores of rupees to the Centre after the parliamentary standing committee on agriculture has found truth in IAS officer Ashok Khemka's allegations that farmer subsidies had been misappropriated.

The committee, headed by CPM MP Basudeb Acharia, has 31 MPs, including Jyoti Mirdha, sister-in-law of Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda. Deepender is son of Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Hooda who is at loggerheads with Khemka ever since the murky Robert Vadra land deals were exposed in Gurgaon. The report was signed by the Lok Sabha Speaker on March 15.

In fact, this is perhaps the first instance of its kind where a parliamentary body has told the Centre to recover money from the state based on an IAS officer's complaint.

The committee found that a limited tender was issued to buy wheat seed from government corporations and cooperatives, which was to be distributed to farmers at subsidized rates under the Centre's Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna. The conditions of the tender kept private players out. However, government corporations bought the seeds from private companies at very high rates, nullifying the conditions of the contract.

The committee said after investigation, "... the DAC (Department of Agriculture and Cooperation) should ensure that open and competitive tenders are floated where central money is spent and that no specific brand names of seeds or insecticides are specified in tender inquiries".

The members have added that if private players are prohibited from participating in a tender, then DAC should ensure that the seeds are produced and certified by the government agency. This is exactly what Khemka, too, had asked for in his representation to the committee.

The committee stated, "The central money spent on subsidizing the cost of seeds purchased from government/cooperative agencies in restrictive or limited tenders where private seed producers were ineligible to bid, but the seeds supplied were certified by the government agency should be recovered from the state government."

Khemka had detected the misappropriation as Haryana Seed Development Corporation (HSDC) managing director from October 15, 2012 to April 4, 2013. He had been sent to the corporation after he had cancelled the mutation of Vadra-DLF land deal.

"During my short stint of 170 days in the company, I discovered a well-organised scam of misappropriation of central subsidies administered by the ministry of agriculture in collusion with some central/state agencies in the northern region," he had told the committee in his December 3, 2013 representation. "The subsidies were siphoned off by corrupt and vested elements employed in these agencies."

The committee has also found irregularities in purchase of fungicide Raxil 2% DS which again was subsidized to farmers. Not only had the state government recommended a particular brand of Bayer CropScience instead o the generic drug, but also recommended it to farmers without it being registered with the Central Insecticides and Registration Committee (CIB&RC). No insecticide can be used without it being registered with CIB&RC.

The committee has asked CIB&RC to investigate why the Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryan Agriculture University had recommended Raxil to farmers without its registration. It has asked on what legal grounds was Bayer allowed to publish a government university's recommendations in its advertisements.

It has also asked CIB&RC to find out if there are studies to show the spread of diseases like loose smut, flat smut and Karnal Bunt, for which Raxil is used. Sources said there are no studies on the incidence of loose smut and flat smut in Haryana.

In his representation to the committee, Khemka had said, "Raxil is a specific brand of M/s Bayer CropScience for the fungicide Tebuconazole and is registered by CIB&RC under the Insecticides Act for treatment of loose smut and flag smut diseases in wheat crop. Raxil 2% DS was recommended by specific brand name in the package of practices for Rabi-2003 of Haryana Agricultural University for use by farmers for treating wheat seeds against three diseases: loose smut, flag smut and Karnal bunt."

The university's recommendation to use a specific brand name was based on "some experiment carried out by its scientists which was published in a journal, Tests of Agrochemicals and Cultivars. The articles published in the said journal are not peer-reviewed and the results of individual experiments published therein do not carry authenticity amongst the peer scientific community. The articles published in the said journal are like advertorials published by the experimenter at his own cost".

Khemka told the committee that as HSDC managing director he tried to check the illegality by issuing a supply order on March 13, 2013 which read: "M/s Bayer Crop Science India and M/s Bayer AG admit that the treatment of wheat seeds with Raxil 2% DS controls loose smut, flag smut and Karnal Bunt diseases in wheat crops. The company will ensure statutory registration of Tebuconazole for control of Karnal Bunt disease in wheat crop with the Central Insecticides Board & Registration Committee u/s 9 (3) of the Insecticides Act, 1968 before commencement of the supplies and shall accept full responsibility for all consequent punitive liabilities otherwise."

Soon after this, he was transferred out of HSDC and a new supply order was issued which had none of these conditions. At present, Khemka is heading Haryana's archives department.