Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 2: Lashing out at the successive Governments at the Centre since the time of independence, Union Minister of State with Independent Charge of the North Eastern states, Dr Jitendra Singh today said, that the Congress claims to follow Gandhi, but ignored villages and farmers, whose concern was close to Gandhi’s heart and Bapu had clearly laid out his priorities when he said that true India lives in villages.
Speaking at the day-long “Kisan Kalyan Karyashala” organized as part of the ongoing “Gram Swaraj Abhiyan”, at R S Pura, near here, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it is under the leadership of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi that in the last four years, the lapses of the last 65 years had been sought to be corrected and even though the Congress-led Governments claim to follow Gandhian principles, it is, in fact, the Modi Government which has sought to vindicate Gandhi’s idea of reaching out to the remotest of the remote villages and to work for the upliftment of the farmers even in the most far-flung and peripheral parts of India.
Soon after this Government came, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the decision of Neem-coated urea was taken. This was followed by announcement of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Soil Health Card, MoU for utilization of Space Technology in Agriculture, e-nam and the target to double the farmers income by 2022.
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Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that a Seed Processing Plant (SPP) has been approved by the Government of India to be set up at Kathua soon. The North India’s first-ever Bio-tech Park is already coming up at Gatti at Kathua, he said. As for irrigation, the Shahpur-Kandi Dam which had been stalled for 40 years is being revived, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Jammu region has immense potential for agricultural entrepreneurship which is unexplored. Among other things, he suggested the branding of R.S. Pura Basmati Rice with promotion of its sale in regions where rice is a staple diet. He also called for promoting Start-Up ventures in agriculture and farming.
J&K State Irrigation Minister, Sham Chaudhary, local MLA Gagan Bhagat, Vice Chancellor SKUAST Professor P K Sharma, Dr R K Arora, Dr H K Razdan and Dr Ashwani Jojra also spoke on the occasion.
Member Parliament, Jugal Kishore Sharma, also inaugurated Kisan Kalyan Karyashala at Swankha Samba organized under Gram Swaraj Abhiyan by the district administration in presence of MLA Vijaypur, Chander Parkash Ganga.
Jugal Kishore, while speaking on the occasion, said that aim of organizing such events is to sensitize the farming community about new technological interventions being introduced in the agriculture sector to increase productivity and provide better marketing facilities to the farmers. He asked the Agriculture Department to organize more such melas to create awareness among the farmers about the schemes launched for their benefit.
Exhorting the farmers for using new technological interventions and High Yielding Varieties (HYV) of seeds, the MP said that it would go a long way in increasing their agricultural productivity thus improving their socio-economic profile.
Former Minister and MLA Vijaypur, Chander Parkash Ganga asked the farmers to move towards diversified agriculture and highlighted the initiatives being undertaken by the Government for the farming community. He asked farmers to grow crop according to market demand saying that Government is committed to help the farmers at all levels to improve their socio economic condition.
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