Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda talks about his developmental plans for the state.

You have been consciously refusing to speak on political issues. Tell us about your developmental plans for Haryana.

I want to make Haryana the number one state of the country. For me, development means creating umpteen job opportunities for the people and making life enjoyable for them. When I took over, the first thing I realised was that for 40 years of the state's existence, the rulers had just managed to create some 1,378 Mw of power. I just could not even think of a single development project with this scenario.

My first priority was to invest in power production and generate at least 5,000 Mw immediately. Today, work on at least five major power projects is on and by 2010-11, Haryana would not only be able to meet its projected demand of 8,000 Mw but would also have surplus energy.

Haryana also boasts of having got clearance for the highest number of SEZs in the country. How come?

Yes. Out of some 90-odd applications for setting up special economic zones in Haryana, the Union ministry of commerce has already cleared some 60 proposals. Haryana will also have three largest SEZs in the country, being set up by Reliance Industries [Get Quote], Unitech and DLF. In the last two years, Haryana has received an investment of Rs 28,000 crore, while projects worth around Rs 68,000 crore are in the pipeline. This is excluding the SEZs. We would very soon be reaping the harvest of these investments.

You were lucky enough to have not encountered public protests on SEZs. Are you in a self-congratulatory mood?

Development is ultimately meant to improve the life of the people and if things are handled with this in mind, I do not think there should be any problem with SEZs. For example, take the case of the 135 km Kundli-Palwal express highway. The previous government had offered Rs 160 crore compensation package for acquiring land for the project.

When I took over, I revised the floor prices of the land to bring these on a par with the market rates, and the compensation rose to Rs 650 crore. Consciously, the government did not get into acquisition of land for the SEZs. Besides, the government has made the private companies, which are acquiring land for their projects, to hold on-the-spot counseling sessions for the farmers so that they can utilise their huge money wisely and not waste it away.

In many cases, farmers have gone and bought land at cheaper rates, away from the site of development. Then, I have taken a policy decision not to have SEZ and development projects on more than 1 per cent land area of the state

Haryana's rehabilitation policy for land acquisition seems to have pre-dated the national policy. How is your policy different, and, may be even superior to the national policy in some ways?

In fact, had the Nandigram violence not happened, Haryana's rehabilitation policy would have received more kudos than it has now. The fact is that we were the first state to have a policy on rehabilitation in place. Even when a lot of provisions of the national policy have been borrowed from it, Haryana is the only state which offers an annuity to farmers for 33 years after his land has been acquired or bought.

The annuity would be offered at the rate of Rs 15,000 per acre per year, with a clause of Rs 500 increment per year. The package in the case of SEZs just doubles. This makes it a win-win situation for the farmers. They get market rates for their land, get an assured yearly return for 33 years and the provisions of jobs in the SEZs and the development the SEZs bring is a tempting proposition.

Some 200,000 jobs would be created for Haryana people in the SEZs. Could any government do it? Then, all-round development of infrastructure around the SEZs means the farmer can access markets easily and get better money for his produce.

You are painting an unbelievingly rosy picture of the future. Is there something that still worries you?

My biggest worry today is how do I make Haryanvis employable. The SEZs would create well-paying jobs but are our children skilled enough to take up most of these jobs? My effort is to improve the quality of education and I have already made provisions of reservations for poor children in the education city that we are planning in Kundli.

Haryana has not done well on human development. Issues like skewed sex ratio, low literacy rates among women and social backwardness can not be tackled with development alone.

Our economic indices have already started improving. For example, Haryana's per capita income has increased in last two years. We have surpassed Punjab in wheat production and even our milk production has gone up. I too realise that unless we look at the social scene, we can not really progress.

I was the first chief minister to lay down a labour policy. Today, the state's minimum wages at Rs 3,510 per month are the highest in the country. Noticing the high dropout rates of scheduled caste students, I have introduced a cash incentive scheme to retain them in the schools. We have slightly improved the sex ratio, but I am sure a lot more needs to be done.

Haryana has announced a lot of incentive-based schemes to address the social issues, like female infanticide and girls' education. How far these subsidies are sustainable in the era of development where there are no free lunches?

Haryana is a rich state today. It has the top rank in FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management) in the country today. Our tax compliance has gone up and also the revenue. We can easily afford to invest in improving the lot of our people. This year's state budget would be of about Rs 5,500 crore as against Rs 2,200 crore two years ago. The 'sweat equity' that the Haryana government would be entitled to from the SEZs in 10 years would fetch us Rs 35,000 crore.

You have always played cool to you rivals, be it people like Bhajan Lal or Opposition leaders like Om Prakash Chautala. What does it require to be a cool politician?

I belong to a family which participated in the freedom struggle and obviously my values are inherited. I do not look at my rivals as rivals and consciously pursue my targets and responsibilities with a single-minded devotion. That is enough to keep me busy. I have no time for badmouthing others.