Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that he wished to double the income of farmers by 2022 when India will celebrate 75 years of Independence.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that he wished to double the income of farmers by 2022 when India will celebrate 75 years of Independence.
Addressing a farmers’ rally in Bareilly on Sunday, Mr Modi said that there were a lot of challenges before the farmers but these could be translated into opportunities.
“In the last few days, I have got a chance to interact with farmer brothers in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and now UP. Farmers are the pride of India and are responsible for feeding the nation. I salute all farmers who are actually the God of labour,” he said. The PM said that with families growing, the land holdings are being distributed and each family member gets a smaller portion which makes farming economically-unfeasible. “If they cannot feed their own families, how will they feed the nation ” he asked. Mr Modi said that farmers today want at least one member of the family to take up a job because they know that the family cannot sustain on agriculture alone.
“I appeal to the Uttar Pradesh government and all other state governments to address issues related to farmers on a priority basis. The Bundelkhand region has five rivers but there is scarcity of even drinking water and I feel ashamed of this,” he said.
He urged all states to give priority to implementation of the “roadmap” for boosting the agriculture sector with a target of doubling the income of farmers by 2022.
He termed the recently-launched crop insurance scheme as a “protective shield”, and talked about various other initiatives, including plans to launch e-platform for marketing of agriculture products in April, as part of efforts to ensure welfare of the farming community.
Mr Modi said that the “states where some work has been done in the farming sector, have witnessed progress...” He said agriculture should be made employment-oriented to make it attractive to the new generation of cultivators as he noted that agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors were the backbone of the country’s economy.
