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| .Sonia asks Congress CMs to deal with terror, farmers suicides | | |
Nainital, Sep 23 With an eye on the coming assembly elections
in four States, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today asked the UPA
Government to make agriculture the focus of the eleventh Five-Year
Plan and tackle firmly the challenges on the internal security front
while ensuring that no community felt under siege or as an automatic
target of suspicion.
''The suicides of so many farmers in some States of the country
are a challenge to our collective conscience and beckon us to
immediate action,'' she observed while inaugurating the Seventh
Conclave of the Chief Ministers Congress-ruled Sates.
Agriculture and internal security are the two issues that will
dominate the proceedings at the two-day conclave, being held in this
tourist resort of Uttaranchal amid tight security. Top party
leaders may also discuss the strategy to be adopted in the coming
assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab and Manipur.
Referring to wheat imports, she said largely because of
stagnation in production and fall in procurement in key states like
Uttar Pradesh, the Government was compelled to take the step.
Ms Gandhi pointed out that the coverage of institutional credit
for small and marginal farmers was woefully inadequate as a result
of which the grip of money-lenders continued.Crop insurance covered
barely 10 per cent of the farmers.
Blaming the NDA Government for being insensitive to the distress
of farmers, she said the NDA had set up a National Commission on
farmers just two months before the elections, but within three
months of Dr Manmohan Singh becoming the Prime Minnister, the
National Commission was reconstituted with Dr M S Swaminathan and
given expanded terms of reference.
The Commission had submitted four reports which were receiving
serious consideration by the Prime Minsiter, Mrs Gandhi said. She
listed inititatives taken by the Congress-led UPA Government and
hoped these would impact positively on the growth of agriculture.
The Congress President referred to the recent meeting of PCC
chiefs of Maharashtra,Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala with the
Prime Minister for a special financial package for the suicide-prone
districts in their state. ''I understand the Prime Minster has
responded to this request favourably and we can expect an
announcement soon.'' |
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