Tuesday, Nov 12, 2002
Tuesday, Nov 12, 2002 |
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Karnataka
By Our Staff Reporter
He was speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of the "International Conference on Vegetables", which he inaugurated. He said Karnataka was bracing itself for a protracted legal battle if that became inevitable, but "there would be no compromise'' on the implementation of the recommendations of the report, submitted 40 years ago and accepted in toto by passing a unanimous resolution in both Houses of the Legislature. While the bone of contention is Belgaum, the implementation of the commission's recommendations will mean that Belgaum is accepted as a part of Karnataka. The Belgaum issue, which has been festering for a long time, makes headlines occasionally. The Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, raked up the issue recently. A few days before the Mount Abu conclave of the Congress, Mr. Deshmukh made statements which indicated that Maharashtra was thinking of going to court on the Belgaum issue. ``I am not saying we'll go to court," Mr. Krishna said. "We are four crore Kannadigas, and Maharashtra has a six-crore population. But if the dispute does land up in the courts, we are prepared to fight every inch of the way, and give as good as we get,'' he added. ``Where is the dispute?'' was his response to the question whether he had discussed the matter with Mr. Deshmukh at the recent Congress conclave at Mount Abu.
`Centre miserly'
Earlier, in his inaugural speech at the conference, Mr. Krishna lashed out at the Centre for its "miserly'' attitude to providing foodgrains to drought-affected States. "The Union Government's attitude is appalling, and poses a serious threat to the spirit of federalism,'' he said. ``I cannot fathom why, when it is well known that there is surplus foodgrains storage, the Union Government is loath to come to the aid of States, which is keen on using the grant for the Food-for-work programme,'' Mr. Krishna said. It was a "cruel paradox'', but the Centre seemed to think that the drought-hit States were demanding the keys to godowns. It was playing favourites with Andhra Pradesh, which had been given 38 lakh tonnes of foodgrains. Rajasthan, on the other hand, being a Congress-ruled State, got only two lakh tonnes, while it asked for 50 lakh tonnes of grain, he added. Mr. Krishna said the States were willing to listen and cooperate if only the Centre made a clean breast of things, and confided with them on the reasons why it could not release foodgrains. He said that under these circumstances, it was good augury that the International Conference on Vegetables was being organised in Bangalore. "Most often, we tend to ignore the goodness of vegetables, and their importance as food and diet supplements, not to mention their contribution to food security and the economy,'' he added. He said: ``Please educate us on how to grow vegetables. Most farmers, particularly in the Cauvery Basin, do not seem to know a third crop after paddy and sugarcane, and this has to change." The conference, on the theme "Vegetables for sustainable food and nutritional security in the new millennium'', is organised by Dr. Prem Nath Agricultural Science Foundation, Bangalore, the Indian Society of Vegetable Sciences, New Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research.
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