Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Saturday informed the Centre that the State government intends to set up a scientific marketing intelligence cell in order to shift focus on income-based policy to increase farmers’ income.

Mr. Yediyurappa took part in the sixth meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said the government intends to create an online marketing platform for surplus fruits and vegetables supported by infrastructure facilities under the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme. A task force to promote integrated farming system had been set up, he said, explaining various measures taken to help the sector.

The Chief Minister requested the Prime Minister to declare Upper Bhadra Project and Upper Krishna Project as national projects. He also requested approval of six proposals worth ₹6,673 crore under modernisation of canals project and additional grants were sought for river diversion projects.

The Prime Minister was requested to set up a mechanism to fast track disposal of litigation in courts as infrastructure projects were hampered owing to litigation and environmental protests. Financial support was also sought to take up initiatives under National Education Policy. The Union government was requested to provide ₹4,300 crore to create an optical fibre network to provide network connectivity to all government offices.

Noting water security plan was being developed in 41 overexploited taluks under Atal Bhujal Yojna, Mr. Yediyurappa said the State government planned to follow NITI Aayog’s 49 aspirational indicators to monitor the progress of 114 backward taluks. A Corporate Social Responsibility Portal AKANKSHA has been created for the development of backward taluks and sectors, he said.

Despite the pandemic all fiscal indicators had been contained within the limits of the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2002. Karnataka had been able to maintain one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country at 3.6%, he said.