The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : White Paper on farm sector sought

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 17, 2006
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

White Paper on farm sector sought

Special Correspondent

Dharam Singh charges Government with neglecting agricultural sector

BANGALORE: Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh on Saturday charged the Government with neglecting the agricultural sector and said 172 farmers had committed suicide in the past 10 months. He demanded that the Government bring out a White Paper on the farm sector.

The former Chief Minister told presspersons here that falling standards of governance under the Janata Dal (S)-Bharatiya Janata Party Government headed by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy were responsible for the increased misery of farmers. Of the 172 cases, 44 farmers committed suicide because of indebtedness.

He said there were no concrete measures in the new agriculture policy for preventing farmers from taking the extreme step.

Onion, copra and sugarcane growers had been put to hardship on account of the failure of the Government's market invention policy. He dismissed as a gimmick the Chief Minister's announcement that he would visit the families of farmers who committed suicide to understand their problems.

Referring to the proposed township at Bidadi, 35 km from Bangalore, Mr. Singh alleged that the Government had acquired 9,684 acres of agricultural land in 27 villages. But the authorities had not acquired 100 acres owned by the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister talked about toning up administration, but administration had collapsed, Mr. Singh said. Nearly 65 per cent of funds allocated in the State Budget (2006-07) was yet to be spent, and only three months were left for the money to be utilised. Similarly, funds provided by the Centre for drought and flood relief had not been fully spent. Nearly Rs. 100 crore out of the Rs. 250 crore given by the Union Government was yet to be released to the affected people.

The Government had not released the fee subsidy of Rs. 25 crore to professional colleges. The Government had failed to honour the commitment made to students and the colleges, he said.

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