Thursday, Apr 25, 2002
Thursday, Apr 25, 2002 |
| National | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | National
By Our Special Correspondent
With this the House has completed the second stage of budget consideration. In the third and final stage the Finance Bill, 2002, will be taken up for discussion on Friday when the House reassembles. Voting on the Bill is likely on Monday. Earlier, the House approved the demand for grants of the Agriculture Ministry for 2002-03 by voice vote after nearly six hours of discussion. Fifteen cut motions were not carried. Although the Agriculture Ministry escaped the guillotine, the reply of the Union Agriculture Minister, Ajit Singh, was cut short because of the time set for the guillotine of all other Ministries. The Minister was hard pressed to reply on the almost unanimous observation of the House that the allocation for agriculture fell much short of the demand and that the farmers were not getting remunerative price for their produce despite the realisation that the farm sector was central to development and the health of the economy. Several members sought convergence of the Ministries of Irrigation, Energy, Fertiliser and Agriculture for concerted support to the sector. Mr. Singh said the agriculture sector was in transition. Even if the agreement under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) had been there, farmers would still face problems, as the world was getting smaller and more competitive. The farm sector needed to be geared for this. He assured the House that at the Doha deliberations of WTO, India's concerns were recognised and taken into account. He said the biggest challenge was how to help small and marginal farmers who formed the bulk of the community. They needed help with new methods of irrigation, new seeds, biotechnology, information technology, credit and marketing. Marketing was more of a problem in horticulture, fruits and flowers, though not so much in foodgrains. The Minister said several Acts meant to protect farmers had become oppressive today, such as the Agriculture Produce Marketing Act, which disallows farmers from selling outside a mandi even to a processor. States also needed to change some of the outdated laws. He appealed to the House to pass the Multi-State Cooperative Bill "which will free cooperatives from Government control''. Mr. Singh said the budgetary allocation was enhanced by 10 per cent over last year. "There are financial constraints but one has to live with them. Still a lot of things can be done.'' He appealed against observations about high minimum support price (MSP) saying "do not punish farmers for being successful''.
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | Home |
Copyright © 2002, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|