The Hindu : Front Page : `Focus on low income groups'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 05, 2007
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`Focus on low income groups'

Special Correspondent

Concern over suicide by farmers

BANGALORE: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Friday expressed dissatisfaction over the effectiveness of programmes taken up for agricultural development.

Inaugurating a two-day consultative meeting on "11th five-year plan of Karnataka - Perspectives" jointly organised by the Karnataka State Planning Board and Institute for Social and Economic Change, in Bangalore, Mr. Kumaraswamy expressed doubts on whether it would be possible to achieve the desired growth rate of 4 per cent in the agricultural sector going by the present approach.

He expressed concern over the increasing number of suicides among farmers. Nearly 1.5 lakh farmers had committed suicide in the country in the last few years and it called for a serious debate on the steps to be taken up for development of agriculture.

He also observed that of late the plans of the government departments did not focus on low income groups as their main emphasis was to increase the GDP growth rate. He asked the officials to shun the practice of spending the funds earmarked for developmental schemes only in the last two months of the financial year. Such a practice was affecting the development of the State, he observed and asked them to start the implementation of the budgetary schemes from April.

He noted that the broad goals of the 11th five-year plan of Karnataka were to reduce poverty by 10 per cent and increase agricultural growth rate to 4 per cent.

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