By IANS
Pune : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday said his government would soon announce measures to offer relief to debt-ridden farmers in an effort to check suicides among them.
“The government is seized of the problem of farmers in many parts of the country and their sufferings under mounting debt burden. The union finance minister will soon take a decision in the matter to offer relief to the farmers,” Singh said.
The prime minister said this while releasing a commemorative stamp and unveiling a statue of noted economist and social scientist D.R. Gadgil in Ahmednagar, near Pune. Gadgil was instrumental in setting up Asia’s first cooperative sugar factory in 1950.
Emphasizing the vital role of the agricultural cooperative banks, Singh assured the people that the cooperative banking policies would be strengthened further.
“We have already started common peoples’ insurance policy for landless persons, for the aged and the poor. Health insurance schemes have also been started for farmers and labourers. I request all state governments to implement these policies very diligently,” Singh urged.
He said a special package providing relief to drought-hit farmers in Vidarbha region of eastern Maharashtra has already been announced. The current Five Year Plan (2007-12) has made a provision of Rs.350 billion for the agriculture sector.
The prime minister said the government is currently drawing up a national literacy plan till 2020 to ensure that every child in the country gets proper education.
The persistent demand for farm loan waiver echoed at Singh’s rally when a small group of Shiv Sena workers staged a silent, black flag protest against the government’s reluctance to grant relief despite continuing suicides of farmers.
The party workers, carrying placards were immediately bundled away by the local police. Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray had reiterated the farm loan waiver demand at his rally in Pune earlier this week.
Present at the function were Governor S.M. Krishna, union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.