Telangana CM advocates uniform policy on agriculture
HYDERABAD: Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao appears to be utilising his current Delhi visit to further strengthen his bonding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid talk of ‘early polls’, fuelling speculation on possible ‘political alliances’ the state might witness in the coming days.
On a day when the Prime Minister disclosed his plans to hold simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies with the slogan “one country, one election”, Rao urged Modi to introduce ‘uniform policy’ even for agriculture across the country to raise the living standards of farmers. Rao gave some constructive suggestions to the PM on improving farmers’ income at the governing council meeting of NITI Aayog held in New Delhi on Sunday.
Speaking on ‘how to double the income of farmers’, the Chief Minister said the Telangana government was taking steps to revive the farm sector. “Outstanding agricultural loan of Rs 17,000 crore was already waived in four instalments, benefiting more than 35 lakh farmers in Telangana,” Rao said.
In addition to this, the State government has recently announced an innovative scheme to provide investment assistance of Rs 4,000 per acre in both the crop seasons for purchasing seeds, fertilizers and pesticides which will benefit 55 lakh farmers in the State.
“This will go a long way in reviving the agricultural sector and help farmers to come out of debt trap. The Centre should support such initiatives by the state governments to address the agrarian distress,” he said.
To double the income of farmers, the chief minister suggested, the entire country needs to be divided into crop colonies for specific crops, based on agro-climatic regions, besides linking MGNREGA to agriculture.
Rao will have one-on-one meeting with Modi at 11.45 am on Monday and is expected to request him to give Centre’s consent for Muslim reservation bill.