The Hindu : National : Fall in suicide by farmers in Maharashtra, says Pawar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 01, 2007
ePaper

National

National

Fall in suicide by farmers in Maharashtra, says Pawar

Special Correspondent

Media not doing justice to the issue, says Pawar
Key areas identified for achieving 4.4 per cent growth

MUMBAI: Union agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Friday that the media were not doing justice to the issue of farmers’ suicides in Vidharbha. Briefing the press after a joint review of agriculture by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr. Pawar said he came to the conclusion after hearing the State government’s presentation on the package for farmers.

Mr. Pawar said the State’s presentation showed there was a substantial improvement in the situation. The State government figures showed a fall in the number of suicideshe said. He, however, said he did not want to comment on the statistics in response to questions.

Speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister, Mr. Pawar seemed satisfied with the efforts of the Maharashtra government. Referring to the Vidharbha package, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh made a slew of suggestions to improve it and the Prime Minister said these could be incorporated.

Dr. Singh conducted a joint review of agriculture in Maharashtra on Friday along with Mr. Pawar, Montek Singh Ahluwahlia, Member, Planning Commission, and others, and identified some key areas for achieving a 4.4 per cent growth in the sector in the 11th Five-Year Plan period. The issues discussed were agriculture, irrigation, agriculture credit, problems of the sugar industry and cane farmers. Mr. Pawar said the State and Central governments had taken the subject of suicides seriously and this was the reason the Prime Minister announced a Rs. 3,750-crore package last year.

The Additional Central Assistance (ACA) of Rs. 25,000 crore for supporting the agricultural sector would be called the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Mr. Pawar said. This scheme would also give top priority to food security and it would be provided as aid and not in the form of loans. The amount would be given to the States over a five-year period and each State had to prepare innovative schemes to avail itself of this money.

Earlier, Dr. Singh during the review of the agriculture sector said the growth rate of Maharashtra was unsatisfactory in the Ninth Plan and in the first three years of the 10th Plan. However, there was a recovery in the last two years. The farm sector is emerging from a long period of stagnation. He said productivity of major crops, poor irrigation cover and extensive cotton farming were areas of concern. He called on the State to prepare focused, decentralised district plans which take into account local realities and opportunities and said irrigation projects must be completed on time and that they must produce the desired benefits. The state also needed to work hard on improving credit.

In the Maharashtra resolution after the joint review, 18 issues were identified as focus areas including increasing production of cereals, pulses and oilseeds, increasing watershed development, harnessing the potential of horticulture for export, taking steps for legal reforms by amending state cooperative societies act, according priority to seeds production and promoting organic agriculture.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National