PM lends ears to farmers

After nearly a decade, the Prime Minister met a farmers’ delegation before the Budget and heard them out individually over almost two h...

After nearly a decade, the Prime Minister met a farmers’ delegation before the Budget and heard them out individually over almost two hours.

The main demands of the farmers were timely and reasonable agricultural credit, agricultural prices and technological and marketing support for the farming community. Among the delegation of 21 were leaders from All India Kisan Sabha and Federation of Farmers Association. President of All India Kisan Sabha V.V. Raghavan said despite the change of government in Andhra Pradesh, as many as 446 farmers had committed suicide and asked the state government to act quickly.

Singh assured them he would attend to their problems and seek advice to tackle the issues. ‘‘I attach great importance to interaction with farmers and people in our villages. There is no monopoly of wisdom in government,’’ Singh told the delegation at the meeting. The Government will seek inputs on policy from the grassroots and there is a need for constant flow of information between the government and farmers, he said.

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The Centre will also bring forward a Bill to address the needs of the aquaculture sector. Another priority area will be revitalisation of cooperative credit system, he added.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, chairman of the Andhra unit of Federation of Farmers Association P. Chengal Reddy said Singh has promised to look into the issues and that the government was moving towards removing the irritants in the credit delivery system for farmers.

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