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CMs’ Meet
Monitor drought, price rise, Pawar tells CMs
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 17
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today told chief ministers to personally monitor the steps initiated by the Centre and states to counter drought and price rise.

Speaking at the chief ministers’ conference, which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Pawar said the need of the hour was to prepare an early rabi plan and improve irrigation facilities to make up for the damage done during the kharif season due to insufficient rainfall.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, were also present at the special session on drought.

“To salvage the losses in kharif, we need to plan for higher crop coverage in rabi season. Also, every effort has to be made to contain and moderate the price rise, Pawar said.

Pawar said the chief ministers would have to take immediate steps for protecting the existing crops, use powers under the Essential Commodities Act to check hoarding of food grains, sugar and focus on drinking water, fodder. As part of short-term strategy, he said, standing crops needed to be protected by providing supplementary irrigation. He said the government needed to closely monitor water levels at the main reservoirs, ensure efficient use of water for irrigation and help farmers gain better access to funds, fertilisers and seeds for the winter crops.

“There is a need for taking up area specific programmes to assess crop losses in the remaining part of the kharif season and try to make up for the loss during the rabi season. We need to plan for higher crop coverage. Strategic use of quality seeds and fertilisers, pest management and ensuring availability of credit to farmers also need to be taken care of. Boro rice area needs to be our focus with hybrid varieties,” he said.

Pawar said wheat could be timely sown in rice-wheat growing areas, especially in eastern UP, Bihar and West Bengal, to gain higher productivity. He said areas where rainfall had been good, an area-specific strategy needed to be adopted by replacing the main crop with short duration crops, pulses, maize, coarse millets.

“We may supplement through an aggressive strategy for higher production of vegetables and horticulture products, wherever the scope exists. Additional seed has been made available to facilitate taking up of alternate crop plans,” he said.

Punjab for waiver of farm loans
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 17
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today demanded a complete waiver of the agricultural loans of poor farmers in the state to ensure that “opportunistic Left extreme elements did not exploit their economic misery”.

Addressing the Chief Ministers’ conclave on internal security, he sought central compensation of Rs 500 per acre for farmers whose land fell across the border fence. He described the national budget of Rs 1,200 crore annually for modernisation of police force as a pittance considering the enormity of the problem and demanded that this must be raised immediately.

“Peace does not mean just controlling violence. Enduring peace actually means removing the cause that prepares the ground for violence. We have to remove the disease, not just the symptoms,” he said.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda appealed to the Centre to consider giving mega city status to the NCR districts of Gurgaon and Faridabad. He also wanted the Centre’s help to augment the police capabilities of the state to urgently address the unique challenges posed by the growth of business activity and heavy influx of population, including foreign nationals, in Gurgaon. He also asked the Centre to increase the annual allocation of funds to Haryana under the police modernisation scheme.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal asked the Centre to approve the state’s proposal to strengthen the intelligence/CID wing.