October
15, 2006
Dr.
Manmohan Singh
The Prime Minister
Dear
Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji,
Our country
is facing a serious an unprecedented agrarian crisis. The spate of suicides
by farmers continues. Despite your recent packages worth thousands of
crores to the “hot states”, the monthly counts of suicides
have been increasing. The numbers of hungry and poor have steadily been
rising and indebtedness of farming households is all-time deep and wide.
The input-risk-return equation of the farming families has worsened,
the farmer non-farmer divide has further widened and Naxalism is sprawling
fast. The ongoing huge import of wheat and the projected shortfall of
about 10 million tonnes in the current Kharif has further exacerbated
the crisis. Being form a farmer's family, I am deeply moved by this
situation.
I want
to remind you that the NDA government led by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
had taken several serious steps for the welfare of farmers. I had executed
all these efforts as the then Union agricultural minister. The drastic
reduction in the interest rates on agriculture loans and starting a
scheme to ensure a fixed income for the farmers were the few steps to
ameliorate the conditions of the farmers. National commission on farmers
was also set up during the same period on February 10th, 2004.
Now the
Report of National Commission on Farmers is with the government. This
Report of the National Commission on Farmers, is a very significant
one mooting India’s first Policy for Farmers, provides a roadmap
for not only alleviating hunger and poverty but also for revitalizing
the agrarian economy “towards faster and inclusive growth of farmers’
welfare”. In particular, I find its following recommendations
worthy of priority attention and action:
-
Improve the economic viability of farming by enabling farmers to earn
a minimum net income. Agricultural progress should be measured in
terms of the net income of the farm families and not merely in million
tonnes of agricultural commodities produced.
-
In
order to achieve sustained and comprehensive food security, a National
Food Guarantee Act should be enacted which will empower the Nation
to achieve nutritional adequacy and a hunger-free India. Other related
recommendations such as, establishment of community food and water
banks, integrated on-farm and non-farm employment and livelihood security
are topical. This calls for the integration of the Food for Work,
National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme and Bharat Nirman initiatives,
specially bringing additional 10 million hectares under irrigation,
and exploring the untapped potential of Eastern India - Eastern U.P.,
Bihar and West Bengal.
-
Prime
farm land must be conserved for agriculture and should not be diverted
for non-agricultural purposes. The compensation provisions of the
Land Acquisition Act should be reviewed and made pro-farmer. The degraded
lands should be improved and rejuvenated both by the public and private
sectors and after careful matching of the need of the industry could
be allocated for SEZs to bring a harmony between agricutlre and industry
sector.
-
The
Second Green Revolution will be realized essentially through increasing
sustainability and productivity of rainfed areas (in addition to the
defending of the gains and further extending the gains in irrigated
areas). In the era of knowledge economy, gene economy, e-economy and
e-governance, science and technology-led transformation of agriculture,
especially the emphasis on precision agriculture in rainfed agriculture,
is the need of the hour. Against this, unfortunately, there is a general
fatigue in science and technology and mismatch between the human resources
development and their employability.
-
Investment
in agricultural research and technology development in India is far
below the required level. Each student should be an entrepreneur and
the formal and non-farmal education in Agricultural Universities should
be revamped to enhance the employment opportunities of farm graduates
and other youth taking to farming. A greater emphasis is needed for
vocational training for appropriately tooling and retooling the farmers
of the new generation.
-
The
severe slippage between the consumer and producer prices should be
drastically curtailed, if not eliminated. The Minimum Support Price
should be fixed at Cost (C2) plus atleast 50 per cent of the cost,
which should be made universal. Simultaneously, the PDS should also
be made universal and its food basket should be enlarged to include
coarse grains and pulses. The CACP should be made autonomous and a
statutory body.
-
There
is a need for a long-term agricultural credit policy and the role
of NABARD and cooperatives should be reviewed and analysed for timely
and adequate flow of formal credit to the farmers. An interest rate
of 4% on agricultural loans and an Agricultural Risk Fund and a Price
Stablisation Fund have been recommended to insulate farmers from crops
failures due to natural calamities and failures in markets.
You will
agree with me that the various recommendations made by the NCF are of
tremendous importance for improving agrarian economy of the country,
on which the majority of our people depend. Therefore, there is a need
for building a national consensus on implementation of the recommendations
in a judicious manner. I had already demanded an all party meeting on
this issue few days back. However there is no response on it hence this
letter. I urge you to kindly call an all-party meeting to foster the
national commitment and to launch a national movement to bring about
the desired growth with social justice.
With profound
regards,
Thanking
you,
(RAJNATH SINGH)
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