by Punjabnewswire4u
CHAPPARCHIRI (MOHALI), FEB 19
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today constituted a high level panel headed by the Chairman of the Punjab State Farmers’ Commission Dr GS Kalkat for suggesting measures that should be taken to improve economic condition of farmers as per the recommendations given by the experts and agri-scientists in the Progressive Punjab Agriculture Summit (PPAS)- 2014.
Addressing the gathering during the valedictory function of the PPAS, the Chief Minister said that due to the shrinking of current land holdings, rising cost of the agriculture inputs coupled with the non remunerative MSP and the apathetic attitude of the centre, agriculture was no longer a profitable venture and was passing through a severe crisis. Mr. Badal said that the committee comprising agriculture scientists, experts, economists and progressive farmers would come forth with vital inputs concerning the welfare of farmers so that the government could finalize a time bound action plan to bail out the beleaguered peasantry of the state from the present crisis besides supplementing their income.
In order to boost Research and Development on Agriculture, the Chief Minister also demanded that the Union Government must reserve atleast two percent of the total agriculture GDP on R&D because the major portion of budget was sent of salaries of agriculture universities and just paltry amount was spent on research and extension services. Likewise, Mr. Badal reiterated that the Union government must present a separate budget for Agriculture on the lines of Union Railway Budget to facilitate the 65% population of the country dependent on agriculture. He even asked the state agriculture department and the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) to strengthen their extension services for benefitting the farmers.
Expressing concern over the deepening of agrarian crisis, the Chief Minister said that it was extremely difficult for any state government, institution or a person to resolve this grave problem adding that the need of the hour was that the union government must take initiatives to make agriculture a profitable venture. He said that the greatest fault lies in the mechanism of fixing the cost of the agriculture produce of the farmers which must be rectified. Mr. Badal said that the Union government neither takes the states nor the other stakeholders related with agriculture in confidence before fixing the MSP of the crops.
The Chief Minister vehemently pleaded that the Union government should exempt excise duty on the import of farm machinery, equipment and high tech implements forthwith to boost farm mechanization in the country to help the farmers to enhance their productivity on one hand and propel the crop diversification program on the other. He said that it was ironical that the Government of India (GoI) in its recent budget had slashed the excise duty on Cars to facilitate the general public to avail of this incentive whereas the farmers had been completely ignored on this count by the centre while showing least concern towards either exempting or slashing excise duty on the imported agriculture machinery.
Justifying the rationale behind providing the free power to the farmers of the state, the Chief Minister said that had we not come to the rescue of farmers the entire peasantry would have been perished. He clarified that though farmers were not paying their tube well bills from their pocket but the state government was reimbursing the entire amount of nearly Rs 5000 crore to the PSPCL annually. Braving all sort of criticism for giving free power to state farmers especially from the opposition and centre, Mr. Badal reiterated his firm commitment that the hapless farmers of Punjab would ever get his incentive till his last breath.
The Chief Minister also announced that PEPSU Tenancy Act would be suitably amended to ensure that the landlords were paid lease rent on the basis of prevailing market rates and not as one third of the crop value as now provided in this archaic law. He said that it would enable the farmers to get more and remunerative MSP as the lease rent paid by them was considered as one of the factors to determine the MSP by the CACP.
The Chief Minister emphasized on the need to popularize the schemes of drip irrigation, solar pumps besides lift irrigation system especially in the Kandi and Bet areas where the irrigation facilities were scarce. He said that the state government was giving huge subsidies on these schemes and the farmers should avail them to maximize profits by adopting the latest farm practices on scientific lines.
The Chief Minister also announced that a single window service would be soon initiated in the state to streamline the functioning of agriculture and animal husbandry departments to extend maximum benefits to the farmers. He also pleaded the concept of allied farming and exhorted the farmers to go for it in a big way by choosing Dairy, Goat Rearing, Fishery, Bee Keeping, Piggery and others to supplement their income generated from conventional farming. In this context Mr. Badal gave a slogan, ‘Minimize Wasteful Expenditure to Maximize Profits’ adding he said the unproductive expenditure by owning tractors and expensive farm equipments just for the sake false prestige must be curtailed and farmers must avail these services being rendered by a well knit network of Agro Service Centers across the state on custom hiring basis.
The Chief Minister also announced that this agro summit would be held every year in future and its ambit would also be broad based to rope in more progressive farmers and eminent scientists not only from the state, country but also from abroad in order to evolve consensus on the economically viable farm policies with a thrust to boost international trade in the agri processing sector.
Buoyed over the overwhelming response and enormous success of this maiden agriculture summit in the state, the Chief Minister informed that during these four days over 1.50 lakh people majority of whom were farmers visited the exhibitions besides attending 11 technical sessions on various topics related to farming.
In his welcome address Financial Commissioner Development Mr. Suresh Kumar said that the unique effort of the state government in holding this country’s first ever agriculture summit would go a long way in mitigating the hardships faced by the farmers and farm workers, whose economic condition was deteriorating day by day. He said that it was a high time to bail out the distressed peasantry in the current agrarian crisis by pushing the state towards ‘second Green Revolution’ in terms of crop diversification.
On the occasion the Chief Minister felicitated the progressive farmers from Punjab and other parts of the country with a cash award of Rs 51000, a momento and a Phulkari scarf. Besides the eminent Manufacturers of farm machinery and equipment were honored with a Phulkari scarf and a momento. (List of the felicitated farmers attached for your kind perusal).
Prominent amongst those present on the occasion included Cabinet Ministers Mr. Gulzar Singh Ranike and Mr. Surjit Singh Rakhra, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Mr. GS Babbehali, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. SK Sandhu, Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar, Chairman Punjab State Farmers Commission Dr GS Kalkat, former Union Minister Mr. Som Pal Singh Shastri, former Chairman Commission for Agriculture Cost and Prices Dr T. Haq and Secretary Agriculture Mr. KS Pannu.
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