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PM to take up khadi industries' case with States

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI Mar. 14. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, today promised to take up with the States the complaints that they were imposing high rates of tax on khadi and village industries, though the sector mainly involved people from the weaker, rural and even tribal sections of society.

Inaugurating a three-day conference on "rural industrialisation", organised by the Ministry of Agro and Rural Industries and Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), he noted that it was not the Centre, but the States which were imposing taxes on the sector. "I will speak to the States about the matter.''

Mr. Vajpayee, however, said the sector should also be prepared to pay some tax. "Agar thode se jyada papad balne pade to kya hua (so what if some extra `papad' have to be rolled)'', he said.

The Government was committed to developing the rural economy.

The ongoing quadrilateral project to link the four metros with top class highways, for instance, would not only help the people of the four cities, but also help villagers in taking their farm and other products to the market place more efficiently.

The Government was also working on generating more employment opportunities. Last year alone, 80 lakh new jobs were created under various schemes.

Newer employment opportunities were coming up because of measures, such as incentives for developing infrastructure and promoting the housing sector.

Mr. Vajpayee complimented the farming community for achieving high foodgrain production and enabling the country to become a net exporter of wheat from an importer till a few years ago.

The Minister of State for Agro and Rural Industries (with independent charge), Sangha Priya Gautam, applauded the role of the KVIC in promoting self-employment opportunities in the rural areas not only through financing and training of traditional artisans, but also by upgrading their technologies with the help of IITs and other such institutions.

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