The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Reduce interest rates on farm loans, says Chandy

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Friday, Mar 02, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Reduce interest rates on farm loans, says Chandy

Special Correspondent

Says Centre's agriculture package to benefit five districts in State

AGITATION MODE: Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy inaugurating a dharna held by the UDF in front of the Secretariat on Thursday in protest against the poor condition of M.C. Road.

Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy has said that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government in the State has failed to reduce interest rates on farm loans by 1.5 per cent as promised even though the Centre has reduced the rates by 3 per cent.

Addressing a meet-the-press organised by the Kesari Memorial Journalist Trust here on Thursday, Mr. Chandy said the LDF criticism on the agriculture outlay in the Union Budget was totally misplaced. The budget contained proposals that would help the plantation sector, particularly tea, coffee and spices. The agriculture package announced by the Finance Minister would help five districts in the State. Similarly, Kerala would benefit by the higher allocation for rural development, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, etc.

The budget would go a long way in arresting inflation, but he was concerned at the low agriculture growth rate. The State Government had miserably failed to tackle the price rise. ``Can the Government state that it has succeeded in reducing prices of commodities sold through

Supplyco?'' He did not subscribe to the view that the price rise in Kerala was because of Central policies. The State Government had failed to come up with convincing steps to arrest the upward trend, he said.

He criticised the State Government for the delay in handing over the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology to the Centre. He wanted the Chief Minister to explain the reason for a six-month delay in formalising a decision. The centre had lost Rs.40 crore in Plan funds as a result of the delay. The situation can be retrieved if the State Government processed the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Centre for the takeover. The State Government had failed to take decisions on two other institutions that had been proposed in the Union Budget last year, he said.

Mr. Chandy said he did not foresee any major change in the existing coalition set up in the State in the near future. He felt that the LDF and the United Democratic Front (UDF) were here to stay. There were hardly any differences in the programmes of the two coalitions. The Left parties that had all long opposed mechanisation, computerisation, self-financing institutions and Smart City had now accepted it.

He also did not subscribe to the view that the alternate rule between the UDF and the LDF had been a set back to development in the State. In reply to a question, he said the onus of pushing for the State's development was on the party that gave leadership to the coalition. He also did not feel that coalitions were wary of taking hard decisions that the people could not digest.

Referring to tariff hikes for water and power, Mr. Chandy said the people would accept rational hikes provided they were given good quality services. Opposition would come when there was a mismatch between the tariff hike and the services offered.

He said the State had fallen behind in the higher education sector. It was facing problems in providing quality health service. Analysing the developments of the last 50 years, he said the only achievement that Kerala could boast of was that of its diaspora. Even though Information Technology was identified to trigger economic growth, Kerala had fallen much behind other States.

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