Date:12/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/12/stories/2006021208340400.htm

Kerala - Alappuzha

Lack of vision led to farm crisis, says Gouri

Staff Reporter

"We were always twenty years behind in the agricultural sector."

ALAPPUZHA: The crisis engulfing the agricultural sector in the State, at present, is the final outcome of a failure of the Union and the State governments to draft and implement farsighted policies for its growth over the last few decades, taking into account the changes happening in it, Minister for Agriculture K.R. Gouri said here on Saturday.

Inaugurating a public meeting organised here in connection with the plenary session of the Janadhipatya Samrakshana Samithi (JSS), Ms. Gouri said that after implementing land reforms in 1970, successive governments that ruled the State had failed to address the new problems that cropped up in the sector.

The suicide of farmers in the State during the last few years was not the result of any specific policy of the present United Democratic Front Government, Ms. Gouri said. It was not a phenomenon that occurred in a single day. The fact was that constant neglect of agricultural sector after Independence had finally resulted in an agrarian crisis.

Ms. Gouri alleged that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) had always opposed mechanisation of the farming sector blindly. "We were always twenty years behind in the agricultural sector."

Ms.Gouri said the violent agitations organised by the CPI(M) in the agricultural sector had discouraged many farmers in the past. As Agriculture Minister, she had strived her best to increase production of foodgrains and other produce in the State, and the effort was a success to a great extent.

On the issue of social justice, Ms. Gouri said that in the situations existing in the country, there was a caste factor to social justice. "When I said that while in the CPI(M), the leaders of that party castigated me as casteist and ousted me," she said. She recounted that the CPI(M) had earlier ousted P. Gangadharan for attending a meeting of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam.

But, at present, the CPI (M) was found placing the photograph of Sree Narayana Guru at some party meetings, along with the photos of Karl Marx and Lenin, she added.

JSS State president A.N. Rajan Babu, MLA, presided over the function. Party State secretary P.E. Narayanji welcomed the gathering. Earlier, thousands of JSS workers took out a rally from SDV School ground here to Bhattathiripurayidom, the venue of the meeting.