 |
| The Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash
Singh Badal, presenting bouquet to Union Minister for Agriculture
Mr.Sharad Pawar at his residence in New Delhi on Saturday. |
by Punjabnewswire4u (Balbir)
NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH, AUG 25
Punjab
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today urged the Union Agriculture Minister
Mr Sharad Pawar to sanction a financial assistance of Rs1000 crores to the state
for creating necessary infrastructure to develop technology for production of
alternate crops and their post harvest handling towards a major push for
diversification of agriculture.
Taking
part in the deliberations the Chief Minister, who called on the Union Agriculture
Minister at his residence here today, apprised him that diversification of the agriculture
was the need of the hour to bail out the beleaguered peasantry of the state
from the conventional wheat-paddy rotation besides motivating them to go for
other alternate crops by ensuring remunerative returns to them. He said that the
institutional and infrastructural support provided to the state would go a long
way towards a paradigm shift from paddy to alternate crops. Mr Badal also asked
the Union Agriculture Minister to ensure that a remunerative
Minimum Support Price for alternate crops may be announced well in advance of
the sowing season and an efficient procurement mechanism should be assured for
the marketing of these crops, through a designated agency of the Government of
India, as in case of wheat and paddy, so that proper marketing of these crops
could be guaranteed.
The
Chief Minister said that these initiatives would help the state to diversify
away from rice in wake of its increasing production in the Eastern States
including Eastern U.P., Bihar, Odhisa, West
Bengal, Assam and Madhya Pradesh during the last three years. He further said that being an irrigated area,
a large number of crops could be successfully cultivated in Punjab,
which could easily replace paddy and help in conservation of natural resource
base for agriculture i.e. soil and water in the State. Pleading for handsome returns
on alternate crops in lieu of paddy, the Chief Minister underscored the need to
give atleast 15% more returns as compared to paddy to encourage the farmers to
shift to alternate crops. Mr Badal apprised the Union Minister that as the GoI
had ensured procurement of paddy at minimum support price, Punjab,
conventionally a non-rice producing area, took up its production on a large
scale. He said that the area under paddy
which was about 2.4 lakh hectares in 1961 has now increased to about 28 lakh
hectares. The State has been contributing about 90 LMT of rice (135 LMT of
paddy) to the Central Pool.
Seeking
immediate release of Relief package of Rs 5112 crore to bail the Punjab farmers
out of the crisis following the drought like condition due to deficit rains in
the region, the Chief Minister sought personal intervention of Mr Pawar for
sanctioning the same at the earliest. Mr Badal apprised the Union agriculture
Minister that he along with Union Rural Development Minister Mr Jai Ram Ramesh
visited the state on August 10 to have the first hand information about the
extra expenditure incurred by the farmers and the state government in sowing
and nurturing the paddy due to truant monsoon in the state. It may be recalled the package demanded by the State Govt.
includes Rs. 2531 crore for purchase and arrangement of additional power,
Rs. 850.80 crore to compensate for additional cost incurred by the farmers on
of high speed diesel, Rs. 893.49 for conversion/rescheduling of cooperative
credit, Rs. 300 crore on account of additional ground water Irrigation, Rs. 300
crore for restoration of capacity and installation of alternative tube-wells,
Rs. 211.60 crore for arrangement of feed and fodder for livestock sector and
Rs. 26 crore for drinking water supply.
Besides this, the
Chief Minister also demanded a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal for paddy over and
above the MSP which itself needed significant upward revision. The State had
already demanded a MSP of Rs1650 per quintal for paddy in view of the increase
in prices of fertilizers, diesel, labour etc. Likewise, the MSP of cotton
should be raised by Rs 500 per quintal over and above the MSP announced this
year. A drought relief of Rs. 200 per quintal for maize may be provided. The GoI
should direct the Public Sector Banks to reschedule the repayment of loans from
Short Term to Medium Term and a subvention to compensate them for additional
burden of interest due to such conversion of loans may also be
provided.
Responding to
the demands put forth by the Chief Minister, Mr Pawar assured him that GoI
would extend all possible help and support to the state in this hour of crisis.
On the issue of diversification of agriculture the Union Minister assured Mr
Badal that the GoI would help Punjab
financially for diversifying to alternate crops. Showing concern for motivating
the Punjab farmers towards diversification, Mr Pawar informed the Chief
Minister that a two day seminar was being organized at Chandigarh from August 27-28 to create
awareness about the significance of the much needed push towards heralding a
second green revolution in the form of diversification of agriculture.
The seminar would
be addressed by the senior officers of Agriculture department of GoI besides eminent
agriculture experts and scientists from the country to apprise the officers of
the Punjab government, progressive farmers of the state and researchers of
Punjab Agriculture University about the significance of agriculture
diversification especially in the context of Punjab on one hand and to evolve
the consensus on this vital issue on the other. Regarding the subvention of the
loan Mr Pawar assured the Chief Minister that he would soon take up the matter
with the Union Finance minister Mr P Chidambaram. He also appreciated the
efforts of the brave Punjab farmers for their
outstanding contribution in making the country self reliant in food production
and hoped that this year also they would replicate the same despite the
vagaries of weather.
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