The Hindu : PM urges States to resolve river disputes in farmers' interest

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 14, 2003

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PM urges States to resolve river disputes in farmers' interest

By Our Special Correspondent

The Prime Minister, A.B. Vajpayee, being greeted by the national president of the BJP Kisan Morcha, Shivankar, at a function in New Delhi on Monday. The BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, looks on. — Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

NEW DELHI JAN. 13. Development and security are the twin themes that the Bharatiya Janata Party has chosen as its election planks this year, when several States are scheduled to go to the polls.

Addressing a farmers' rally here at the Talkatora Stadium, the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, made this clear today while emphasising that what the BJP would like to see was equitable development.

Economic reforms and liberalisation were not mere slogans and they were not meant only for industrialists — reforms could bring about development at the grassroots, Mr. Vajpayee said at the rally organised by the party's `kisan morcha,' farmers' wing.

The mega project of interlinking rivers was billed as the route to solving the problem of irrigation and availability of water.

Mr. Vajpayee said it was surprising that even after over 55 years of Independence, farmers were rain dependent. Referring to the unsolved river disputes among States, he said they should be resolved in the "national interest and in the interest of farmers."

It was the huge stock of foodgrains — result of hard work of farmers — that had come to the rescue of the country last year, which saw the worst drought in decades.

The Centre was able to provide foodgrains to all the needy States and despite drought, grain worth Rs. 6,000 crores was exported. He warned that summer could see a water crisis and an acute fodder shortage.

The Prime Minister and several speakers before him — the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, the Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, and the morcha president, M.R. Shivankar — spelt out the various schemes the Vajpayee Government has introduced over the years for farmers. Dr. Joshi emphasised the need to use bio-technology to get maximum gains.

The Kisan Credit Card, a crop insurance scheme, higher procurement prices for grain, a recent increase in the price of sugarcane, and waiver of interest on loans taken by farmers in drought-affected areas — these were all cited as proof that the Vajpayee Government was farmer-friendly. Mr. Vajpayee also said that he had sanctioned Rs. 15,000 crores for roads, which would help farmers transport their produce.

The speakers stressed that for 45 years, the Congress Government had done nothing or very little and that it was the Vajpayee Government since 1998 which had begun worrying about farmers. However, Mr. Vajpayee did invoke the name of the former Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, to say that he had given the slogan `Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan.'

Mr. Vajpayee admitted that there was need for a more honest and efficient administration so that people could get what the Government intended them to get.

The Kisan Credit Card, for example, was not decorative or meant to see and show — it was meant to provide an avenue of instant credit for farmers in times of need.

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