CM asks critics of IT, bio-tech to reconsider their stance

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, SEPT. 30. The Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, has told the critics of the Government not to make an issue of the emphasis being given to information technology and bio- technology.

While launching the ``Sankat Haran'' insurance scheme for farmers introduced by the IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance Company Ltd, he said the applications of bio-technology would help farmers. The critics had to consider it. The welfare of farmers was the main concern of his Government. The farmers and the people at large should not resist the adoption of modern technology.

He told the farmers to learn from the rapid strides made by China in agricultural development. Chinese farmers had been reporting record yields. The Government was considering sending groups of farmers to China so that they would have a first-hand experience of the advances being made there.

The Minister for Cooperation, Mr. D. K. Shivakumar, said no government in the past had done so much for the farmers as the Krishna Government although some of the former chief ministers were calling themselves peasants or children of peasants.

The farmers, who had obtained loans from cooperative institutions, would benefit from the two per cent concession in interest rates from next year, which was announced by the Government. Though the NABARD had increased the lending rate by 1.5 per cent, the Government had not passed it on to the farmers.

The Minister for Agriculture, Mr. T. B. Jayachandra, commended the insurance scheme and said it was better than those introduced in the past. The crop insurance schemes tried in the country so far had not benefited the farmers. He also defended the Government's emphasis on bio-technology.

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Section  : Southern States
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