'CM, a friend of farmers'

By Our Staff Correspondent

TUMKUR, NOV. 16. Ten Congress leaders, including three ministers, asserted here on Friday, that the S.M. Krishna Government had initiated ``unprecedented measures in agriculture and cooperation fronts to help farmers''.

Participating in the party's workers' convention here, they lambasted Mr. H.D. Deve Gowda, former Prime Minister and President, Janata Dal (Secular), for ``unduly criticising the Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna''.

Mr. T.B. Jayachandra, Minister for Agriculture, Mr. D.K. Shivakumar, Minister for Cooperation, Dr. G. Parameshwar, Minister of State for Higher Education and Medical Education, Mr. K.N. Rajanna, MLC and Chairman, Karnataka State Cooperative Apex Bank, Mr. K. Shadakshari, MLA and Chairman, Karnataka State Agriculture and Rural Development Bank, Mr. S.N. Krishnaiah, Vice-President, Karnataka State Cooperative Marketing Federation, Mr. G.S. Basavaraju, MP, Mr. S.P. Muddahanume Gowda, MLA and President, Tumkur District Congress Committee, and Mr. N. Veeranna Gowda, MLA, were unanimous in their opinion that Mr. Krishna was as much interested in agriculture as in other sectors.

They said there were 28,000 cooperative societies in the State with over 1.83 crore members (nearly 30 per cent of the population), against the five lakh cooperative societies with over 22 crore members in the country. About 7,000 societies were incurring loss. The Krishna Government effected amendments to the Cooperative Act in order to harness the benefits of the cooperative movement for farmers, daring opposition from many vested interests, they added.

They said nine cooperative circles, one each for every three districts, had been formed. Party politics was kept away from cooperative portals. Mr. Krishna recently directed the Apex Bank to provide loans of Rs. 1,610 crore to farmers, and reduce interest on lendings by two per cent. Mr. Krishna was instrumental in securing Rs. 22,000 crore from NABARD for the farm sector, and he had decided to absorb the 1.5 per cent of differential interest on the amount so that farmers were not burdened, they added.

Mr. Krishna had decided to extend loans for education of farmers' children, marriages or other any auspicious function in their families, and other exigencies, in order to free farmers from the clutches of private moneylenders, the Congress leaders said. Cooperative institutions were now geared up to process loans in 30 days, and they would be asked to advance loans to fresh borrowers on priority.

The leaders said the Government had provided Rs. 50 crore to build godowns. Storage of foodgrains posed a problem recently owing to bumper crops. As many as 830 ``raitha mahiti kendras'' were opened to provide farmers, at their doorstep, up-to-date data on modern methods of farming and latest trends in global marketing, they added.

They said the cooperative movement was as important as the freedom movement. It would bring about economic freedom in rural India. They underlined the need to reorient the direction of the cooperative movement in the aftermath of economic liberalisation and adoption of WTO regime by the country. They stressed the importance of cooperative education in rural areas.

Mr. N.R. Jagadhish, President, Tumkur Grain Merchants' Cooperative Bank, donated Rs. 6.16 lakh for the cooperative education fund.

The leaders felicitated 20 persons who served the cause of the cooperative movement in Tumkur District during the past five decades. They asked the party workers to counter the criticism by the Opposition parties, and convey to farmers that their interests would be protected by the Government.

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